Building on our success: Enhancing the work and study environment
The KTH schools have developed their own reform agendas. SCI has a focus on education, research and faculty renewal with efficient use of resources. Head of School Sandra Di Rocco is committed to creating a sustainable and attractive working environment for both staff and students.
What do you think about KTH's overall goals and vision?
"KTH's goals and vision are clear and concise, making them easy to understand and remember. They provide a clear direction for the organisation by being concrete and specific, clarifying our long-term goals and the challenges we face. The vision acts as a compass to help us focus our efforts and resources correctly, which is essential to strengthen our position as a leading technological university."
Why a reform agenda?
"A reform agenda can be seen as further clarifying the vision. It provides concrete guidelines and focus areas for the coming years. By specifying areas and guidelines, the reform agenda helps us to prioritize our efforts and resources effectively."
What will the school achieve in its activities?
"The School has three focus areas: education, research and faculty renewal. The aim of all three is to create a realistically sustainable working environment in these areas. As our resources are limited and costs are constantly rising, we need to become better at optimizing our resources to create room for development in education and research."
"When I talk about resources, I am not just talking about money - I am also talking about our staff. We have achieved high quality in our recruitment and constructed a strong brand. Now we need to be able to retain our talent and offer stable and stimulating working conditions. By focusing on these areas, we can ensure that we continue to fulfill KTH's overall goals and vision while creating a working environment where both staff and students thrive and can develop."
Why are these changes the most important to make?
"It is about creating a working environment where both staff and students thrive and can develop, as well as being able to offer working conditions that are attractive to both existing and future talent. I think a good recipe for running a successful organization is to recruit the best, create a safe and internationally recognized research environment and develop an active and committed teaching staff. With these conditions in place, we have the momentum to attract external funding and talented and motivated students."
How will this be done?
"It is not an easy task, but we have already taken the first steps by creating a better management structure at the departmental level that mirrors the school’s structure. We have introduced three deputy heads for each department with roles corresponding to GA (Director of First and Second Cycle Education), FA (Director of Third cycle Education), and FFA (Director of Faculty Renewal)."
"In the coming academic year, the School will work more closely with the size of its education and research. We will review our Master’s and PhD programs and their courses. In addition, we will review the School's central infrastructure to ensure that it supports our research and teaching objectives. In the autumn, all departments will formulate a clear recruitment plan for the next 3-5 years. This will help us to plan and allocate resources in a more sustainable way."