Yvonne Svanström: Collegiality and the “Stockholm model” at the conference for deans and heads of office

On 8–10 April, Stockholm University hosted the national conference for deans and heads of office at the country’s faculties of social sciences. The conference is held annually, with the higher education institutions (HEIs) taking turns serving as host. This year's conference had 40 participants from 12 different HEIs, and centred around the theme of collegiality. There were several speakers who touched on this theme, as well as lively discussions on topics such as the recruitment of heads of department (which we covered in a previous article).

One element that resonated strongly, however, was when the governance of Stockholm University was presented and discussed. Professors Henrik Cederquist, Astri Muren and Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre, each of whom has served as dean and Deputy Vice President, spoke on the theme of “Quarrels, chaos and collaboration across faculty boundaries”. Over a decade ago, the academic areas of Human Science and Science were established as two organisational units. Human Science consists of the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Social Sciences, while Science has just one faculty. The area reform was not to everyone’s liking, with the greatest displeasure seeming to be in Human Science, where the faculties were “forced” together. Over time, however, the reform has proven to be successful, as several inter-faculty and inter-area collaborations have been initiated, and issues of governance and cooperation in difficult areas have been given new discussion forums and clear views from other vantage points.

Stockholm University is justifiably proud of its effective dialogue and decision-making channels, where the path from head of department to dean and Deputy Vice President, and then finally President is very short in terms of time, not least because the Deputy Vice Presidents are part of the Senior Management Team. At the conference, the former Deputy Vice Presidents discussed the importance of trust, where building trust between the links of the chain and between the faculties is crucial. Things may not always work out the way we want, but in the management context we need to be able to reason and discuss, i.e. have a dialogue rather than a monologue. It is important to be able to be a unified university, with the two academic areas and the administration. I borrow here the closing words from their presentation on their experiences: “rarely quarrels, always a bit of chaos (many issues to deal with) and essential cooperation both within and between our four faculties to make the lean organisation work. We will continue to uphold the Stockholm model”.

This text is written by Yvonne Svanström, Deputy Vice President. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where the management take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in News for staff.