Newsmail #13, 2022-01-11

Dear all,

New Covid-restrictions were presented yesterday by the government, followed up today with specific recommendations for Universities. We expect that KTH will update the web within a few days and that there will be more detailed information shortly. The new restrictions are based on the increased infection rates just the recent weeks.

My interpretation is that we do not expect a lock-down as we had in the beginning of the pandemic. There are no formal restrictions for the Universities, only recommendations.

There’s more and more talk about the negative aspects of remote work and studies, so, therefore I believe that we will plan for a semester where we do lots of work from home, basically everything that can be done remotely, but on the other hand we also plan for physical meetings both with students and staff – when it’s motivated, when it’s feasible.

If there is one keyword for this semester, it should be the Swedish word “lagom”. We will work on campus, not too much, but “lagom”. We will have on-campus teaching, not too much but “lagom”. We will have written exams in a “lagom” amount. I will ask staff to join physical meetings on campus. Not too often, but “lagom”.

One good aspect of the word “lagom” is that it’s flexible. Something that is “lagom” for me might not be “lagom” for you, so we need to trust each other to define what’s “lagom” in our courses, division meetings and other gatherings.

Best,

Martin