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GUJ 7-09: Vice-Chancellor: We have every reason to be pleased
News: Dec 15, 2009
Christmas is nearing, and to many that means a well-deserved and much-anticipated holiday. It feels extra good considering all the University’s success as of recent. One example is something that concerns all of us, namely the result of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education’s evaluation of the quality development work carried out at Swedish universities. Two universities were awarded the highest grade: the University of Gothenburg and Linköping University. This is of course a feather in the hat and something that has been acknowledged by the media around the country, although not so much here in Gothenburg. The evaluation work involved the entire University, and I would like to thank you all for your efforts. There are of course some areas that can still use some improvements, something we plan to accomplish next year.
It is our strategy to further strengthen the University’s research capacity, and it is therefore of interest to follow the results of the funds granted by the Swedish Research Council. It is also of interest to explore how we compare to other universities and university colleges. We have done well this year. Last year the Council gave us 218 million SEK. This year we received around 280 million SEK.
Yet, it may be misleading to compare the results over time, since the size of the funds budgeted for the different research areas keeps changing. The Council’s grant to humanities/social sciences at the University of Gothenburg increased from 42 million SEK in 2008 to 85 million SEK in 2009, but our share of the total pot for this area only grew from 20 percent to 21.1 percent. The reason for this is that the Swedish Research Council’s budget for humanities/social sciences went up by 90 percent this year.
The grant to natural/engineering sciences grew by almost 10 million SEK to more than 57 million SEK. Yet, since the Council’s total budget for the area grew by 30 percent, our share of the total actually shrunk.
Medical sciences received a larger grant as well; it was up by 30 million SEK to 128 million SEK, meaning that our share of the Council’s total budget for this field grew by a few percentage points to almost 16 percent (the Council’s budget for medical sciences went up by 9 percent).
For several years, the Faculty of Education has received considerable funding from the Swedish Research Council. For example, in 2008 the grant amounted to over 30 million SEK, including 11 million SEK earmarked for a sport science doctoral school. Our share of the Council’s total budget for the area was over 21 percent that year. In 2009 we have received 9 million SEK, equalling 6 percent of the total budget.
The University of Gothenburg has received large grants from other national financiers as well, such as the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, Sida, The Swedish Research Council Formas and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.
I feel we should be pleased with the funding we have received this year. Nevertheless, we should strive to attain a larger share of the total pot. If we don’t, we will risk falling behind the competition.
Another issue that has been most current this autumn is the problem of too few teacher-led lectures at universities and university colleges. This has been particularly pronounced in humanities and social sciences. To alleviate this problem somewhat, we have used the ’Robin Hood tactic’ of transferring resources from the best equipped to the least equipped.
Admittedly, this is not a very good thing to do, since nobody really has an amount of resources that can be described as sufficient. What has happened over the last 15 years is that we have had to add some work for which there is no funding, related to for example gender equality and the environment. While these additional tasks are indeed important, they come with significant financial consequences.
The only reasonable solution would be for the government to compensate us for the additional work we have been asked to do. That way we would not have to transfer money from the poor to the poorer.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work in 2009. I hope your holiday season will be enjoyable, and remember that the next time we meet, in January, spring will be around the corner!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Photo: Johan Wingborg
