One year with the Faculty Board - we have learnt to structure our work
It has now been a year since the SCI Faculty Board began its work. Much has happened during the year, and structures have become clearer. Board member Outi Tammisola reflects on the past year and discusses the key issues from the last meeting.
What were the main points of discussion during the last meeting?
"This meeting covered quite a lot of subjects. We discussed the new roles that the School will have from January 2025 in terms of recruitment, appointments and docent matters. The Faculty Board has an important role to play here, along with the new committees, the Appointments Committee and the Docent Committee, which are now in place. We received an update on the new roles in the doctoral programme with the new structure decided in December. We were also informed about KTH's planned internationalisation strategy for the next four years."
Why are these issues particularly important to the Board at this time?
"From January 2025, the school will take over several recruitment and employment functions that were previously centralised at KTH. It is of course important to ensure a smooth transition. We discussed the structures and routines for the Faculty Board and the committees in order to use the new structure in a meaningful and transparent way. We discussed how the Faculty Board can make a more long-term contribution beyond individual cases. It is also felt that recruitment cases at KTH generally take a long time, sometimes to the extent that we lose candidates in the process. We would like to shorten this time if possible.
As far as doctoral programmes are concerned, the new structure has been created to facilitate the long-term quality monitoring of doctoral programmes. Here, too, it is of course important to have clear roles."
It has been a year since the Faculty Board started its work. Do you have any reflections?
"We are in a period where many things are happening within the school and centrally. When we started our work a year ago, there was a clear desire for more collegiality at KTH, but the working methods and guidelines for the Faculty Boards were not so clear. During this first year, we have learnt to structure our work so that simple decisions can be made efficiently and important and strategic discussions are given more space, which we are happy with. Our responsibilities and mandate have also become clearer. We have already been able to influence some decisions that are important to colleagues, such as the fact that our feedback and yours has led to changes in the new course evaluation system.
I look forward to a second year and to making an even more positive and long-term contribution together with the Faculty."