On Friday 8 March, the Minister for Education, Mats Persson, visited Karlstad University.
– It was very interesting in general. I’m very pleased, he says.
– It was particularly interesting to listen to Birgitta Persdotter and her research on social services. And interesting to find out more about the research on mathematics education, says Mats Persson.
His visit to Karlstad University started off with a presentation of how the research group Rose (Research on Subject-specific Education) contributes to subject-specific education research in general, and science, mathematics and technology in particular, as well as to the development of theory and practice in schools and teacher education.
The people presenting included Christina Olin-Scheller, professor of literary studies education and educational work, Niklas Gericke, professor of science education, and Mats Brunström, senior lecturer in mathematics.
The minister asked several questions following the presentation, in particular about mathematics education.
– It's interesting to learn more about how mathematics education can become more relevant so that pupils’ results improve. Especially with reference to our ongoing STEM initiative. Knowledge of mathematics, among other subjects, is needed in Sweden's green transition and investment in more engineers. The expertise is especially important in a county like Värmland considering the local industries, says Mats Persson.
The next item on the agenda was about strategic collaboration that help develop Karlstad University, as well regional and national partners.
Håkan Spjuth, head of the Grants and Innovation Office, talked about the Academy for Smart Specialisation, a strategic partnership between academia, the region and the private sector that strengthens research and innovation at the university and contributes to regional development.
This was followed by Birgitta Persdotter, senior lecturer in social work and research director of FoU Välfärd Värmland, who talked about ongoing collaboration projects. More specifically, she talked about how research and innovation within FoU Välfärd contributes to the transition of Swedish social services through strategic collaboration with regions and municipalities in Sweden. She introduced several research projects in which more than half of Sweden’s municipalities are currently participating.
– Very interesting, says Mats Persson, who thinks that social science research has something to learn from research in medicine and technology, which often has more practical significance.
– We need to create a stronger connection between academia and the welfare system and learn from each other, he says.
The visit by the minister concluded with a discussion between Vice-Chancellor, Jerker Moodysson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Margareta Friman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Patrik Larsson and University Director, Anne-Christine Larsson Ljung, as well as Student Union Chair, Daniel Vamos, and Moa Andersen, Head of Educational Policy at Karlstad Student Union.
A discussion which centred around the university's future ambitions, opportunities for internationalisation, as well as the importance and influence of the student union.
Vice-Chancellor, Jerker Moodysson, was happy about the outcome of the visit.
– It’s a challenge to plan this type of visit since you need to fit in a lot of information in a limited amount of time. We chose to be quite strict when selecting items for the agenda. Instead of presenting a broad variety of our activities, we focused on a few areas that we know politicians are particularly interested in. The minister’s active involvement in the discussion shows that this was appreciated. He came well-prepared and well-informed about Karlstad University and left with more in-depth knowledge of a few topical and highly relevant areas where we truly have something to bring to the table.
