I would like to start by saying thank you for the warm welcome I have received during my first weeks at Karlstad University. I have already met several of you and I look forward to more meetings in the day-to-day operations.
I enjoy meetings, both planned and spontaneous. It might come as a surprise that someone from management would utter such a thing, given the number of meetings I have attended over the years and the likelihood of a very busy schedule ahead. I would therefore like to elaborate on this statement. By meetings I’m not primarily referring to formal meetings. I mean meetings in the form of talking to you in the everyday activities of the university.
My ambition is to come as close as possible to your daily work. Not to comment or interfere, but to learn. I believe that I can do a better job as vice-chancellor if I listen to those who make up the core of our activities – you.
In the latter part of the summer and during the autumn, I will be asking some of you if I can borrow a free desk in your corridor for a few weeks. I’m sure there is always someone who is away for one reason or another who would not mind me using their desk for a short period.
Another of my initiatives to get to know you better will be to invite doctoral students who are about to defend their thesis for a cup of coffee (or tea) and talk about the thesis and their doctoral studies. I do not expect to gain an in-depth understanding of the research projects, but at least get a little insight.
Before Karlstad University, I worked at Jönköping International Business School, and prior to that I worked at Lund University. For a number of years, I devoted a lot of time to my own research. Even though I spend less time on research today, I still identify myself as active in research.
In the same way, I try to stay up to date as a teacher and supervisor. I have a few annually recurring teaching obligations, and I’m happy to fill in if there is ever room in a course where my expertise might fit.
I’m sure many of you are wondering about my immediate plans and ambitions. I would therefore like to start by establishing a principle that is very important to me: I see myself as a team leader whose main purpose is to ensure the successful performance of the team. In order for my plans and ambitions to be realised, they must be rooted in the organisation. This is the reason why I want to shape these plans and ambitions together with you.
I have, of course, a few initial ideas on what Karlstad University needs to develop in order to continue being a successful higher education institution – in Värmland, in Sweden and in the world. My impression is that the university is characterised by generally high standard, and that we play a central role in the community. I also believe that more can be done to more clearly define the university’s identity beyond being the university in Karlstad.
Sweden is a small country with a relatively large number of higher education institutions and I believe that a certain division of labour is required for us to maintain high-quality education and research. This division of labour needs to be based on existing strengths from which we can sharpen the university’s edge. At the same time, it is of course important to find a balance between specialised and broad expertise since we also fill an important function for the regional labour market. Karlstad University has already made great efforts to identify areas with the conditions to achieve and maintain international edge. I want to continue furthering these efforts.
I can also see opportunities for development through internationalisation, in research but above all in education. I come from an organisation with a large number of international students and I believe there are great opportunities for Karlstad University to attract talent from other countries. Greater internationalisation is not only important for our courses and study programmes, it also boosts research by offering more career paths for international researchers and teachers. Work that has already begun at Karlstad University, such as joining the EUNICE alliance, can function as a catalyst for further internationalisation of our education activities.
All in all, my hope is that Karlstad University will continue to be a mid-sized Swedish university with broad appeal, but with a much more defined edge and a considerably wider international reach and relevance than today.
To achieve this, we need to work as a team and take a critical look at ourselves and reconsider some of the things that we might have begun to take for granted over the years. The absolute worst arguments for the direction of an organisation that I can think of are “we have always done things this way” or “we have never done things this way”. Instead, I would like to urge all us – myself included – to regularly and actively reflect on the use and purpose of what we do.
Use and purpose do not have to generate clearly measurable returns, but I’m convinced that we need fairly clear goals in what we do in order to identify the role we play in the bigger picture – and why.
If you see me on campus, do not hesitate to approach me for a chat!
