Truck driving and future scenarios
Anders Berglund, Affiliate Faculty at KTH and Head of External Cooperation at Scania, reflects on the last meeting with the Faculty Board at ITM.
Anders, you are an external member of the ITM Faculty Board. Why is that?
“Scania has been a strategic partner of KTH for several years and I am an affiliated faculty and work 20 percent for KTH. For me, it was natural to accept the assignment. I want to contribute to KTH developing research and education that is relevant to industry. In addition, I get a personal insight into the academic world. It is exciting!”
Scania was also more present than usually at the last meeting, as you were at your headquarters in Södertälje. Can you tell us about the day?
“We started with a slightly shorter Board meeting than usual and decided on the creation and discontinuation of a number of courses. The ITM School has a total of 47 new undergraduate courses, which is an incredible amount compared to other schools. However, the Education Office and the Undergraduate Committee had done good preparatory work, so the decisions went smoothly.”
“An interesting issue that was raised was that we have an impressive application pressure at the undergraduate level, but that we lose many students to other schools at KTH for the master's degree.”
“A couple of other exciting projects that were highlighted are the reform agenda for next year and a new premises council that discusses how KTH can work smarter with experimental environments, for example.”
What is your view on KTH's educations and the relevance for Scania?
“On the whole, we have good collaborations in many courses at KTH, but it is not perfect yet. During the day at Scania, our industrial doctoral student Maria Jobenius talked about how we at Scania see sustainability and what knowledge we think students need to have in the field. In addition to cutting-edge skills in, for example, solid mechanics and mechatronics, the industry also need employees that understand the system perspective. The ability to think holistically and to continuously learn and absorb new knowledge on their own is something KTH students need to learn.
Did the board members get anything else out of the day in Södertälje?
“Yes, they got to visit the museum and see old products and the history behind the company. But above all, we looked ahead. I gave a presentation on how we at Scania work with future scenarios to be better prepared for uncertainties regarding, for example, geopolitics and climate change. Three future scenarios are currently relevant and they help us to be equipped for an uncertain future. I think the presentation was appreciated by the KTH teachers and researchers who were there.”
“But the best part of the visit was probably at the end. They got to test drive both conventional and electrified trucks and buses. It was probably an aha experience for many to see how easy to maneuver and fun these vehicles were to drive!”
Reported to: Ulrika Georgsson