Yvonne Svanström: Super election year at Stockholm university

A colleague recently pointed out to me that this is a “super election year” at our university. Across all faculties, appointed nomination committees are currently working to draw up proposals for future faculty boards and dean’s offices. It goes without saying that it is not always easy to find people with the right knowledge and experience who are willing to take on such roles, but it is important to uphold this governance model. It gives us staff the opportunity to vote on the nomination committees’ carefully considered proposals – or to submit alternative proposals. The four faculties differ in terms of size and, for example, the scope of their educational and research responsibilities. There are also differences at the academic area level. For Science, the area board also serves as the faculty board, while for Human Science the area board consist of deans, deputy deans and vice deans from the three faculties that make up the academic area. This autumn, elections will also be held for the boards of around 50 departments, with staff once again having the opportunity to vote for the members they want to see take on responsibility for the departments.

We often say that we govern ourselves best, just as we are best suited to evaluate our own scientific work through peer review. If collegial bodies were to be weakened in favour of, for example, line management, our professional influence over both education and research would also diminish. However, it is not always easy to define exactly what collegiality entails, especially since we have an organisation that combines both collegial and line management – some managers are designated and appointed, while others are elected. Together with the Human Resources Office, we are developing a course that will address precisely this topic, namely collegiality and academic organisation – mainly intended for academic staff. We hope to attract several senior and experienced colleagues to participate and share their perspectives on what collegiality can entail and contribute to. More information will be available this autumn.

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.