ITM's Office for student affairs reshapes

The School’s Office for Student Affairs currently consists of officers, administrators, study counsellors and international coordinators who, in various ways, enable the school's programmes to run smoothly and students to leave with a degree in hand. Among other things, they manage the administration of courses and programmes, provide study guidance, support international exchanges and take the lead in setting up and monitoring courses.

Now it is time for the division to regroup. The Office has been given a great deal of responsibility for providing input to the newly established Faculty Board, and another reason is that two offices will become one when the Södertälje activities move to KTH campus this summer. In addition, former head of division Andreas Alm Arvidsson wants to focus on other tasks. Jenni Hollbrink , Head of ITM's management office, leads the reorganisation:

“To contribute to KTH's balanced finances, we will not be able to rehire positions, which means that we must find new ways of working and reduce vulnerability. We have also seen in some units’ employee surveys that unclear leadership and tough work peaks have created stress. We want to rectify this with the new organisation.

The new education support will group staff into three units: Education Management and Doctoral Programmes, Student Support and Department Support.

The organisational change in brief:

• Andreas Alm Arvidsson will leave his position as Head of Division with personnel responsibility and focus on the role of Education administration manager (UA).
• The education administrators get a new manager, Annika Lilja, who also heads the Service Centre. The new unit is called Service & Department Support. Their former head Henrik Sahlström has been given new assignments at the School’s Office.
• The unit Education Management and Doctoral Programmes moves organisationally to the Management Office and Carina Brunn remains head of unit. Carina reports to Jenni Hollbrink.
• Jessica Matz remains Head of study counsellors and becomes new Head of international coordinators. Study counselling and international coordinators form the new unit Student Support.
• For employees in Södertälje, things will remain unchanged until summer 2025.

Together, the units will now develop new working methods characterised by cooperation and joint processes.

“Many administrators, study counsellors and international coordinators have worked very independently for one or two specific educational programmes, without any colleague being familiar with the details. We want to eliminate this vulnerability in the new organisation. We also believe that working more closely together will be more fun.”

The employees affected were notified at the beginning of October and the new organisation came into force on 1 November. Organisational changes may also take place at KTH centrally where the education offices are affected. The ITM School’s Office will adjust to the central changes when they occur.

Will the faculty notice any difference?

Those who have previously been in contact with the School’s Office for Student Affairs will not initially notice any difference. The contact routes and procedures are the same as before, but under new, clearer unit names. But in the long run, Jenni believes they will be met with even higher quality and faster delivery, as staff can more easily cover for each other in case of sick leave, for example.

Text: Ulrika Georgsson