The nations receive 690,100 Swedish kronor from the University to promote their non-alcoholic activities in 2015.
The University has decided to allocate the nations 690,100 kronor, to promote social activities for students. That is a decrease of 60,500 kronor since last year.
“The disbursement is based on the number of full-time students, and the nations receive 25 kronor per full-time student at the University. The decrease is due to the smaller number of students last year compared to 2013”, Tim Ekberg, planning director at Lund University, says.
Photo: Lukas J. Herbers
Thirteen nations
The disbursement is allocated to Kuratorskollegiet who, then, distributes the money to all thirteen nations.
“Half of the money is distributed evenly between the thirteen nations. The other half is distributed according to the mean number of members each nation has had during the academic year”, Carl Mauritz Artéus, the chairman of Kuratorskollegiet, explains.
How important is the money?
“They are welcomed, but not essential. Usually, these non-alcoholic events have a zero budget, and with this money, it’s possible to do something special. Some nations have also chosen to pay more members of the kuratel.”
An extra 200 kronor
The nations get 25 kronor per full-time student, while the student unions get 225 kronor per full-time student.
According to Tim Ekberg, education assessment and social activities should not be compared, since it is legislated that students should be present when the University takes decisions, following the Higher Education Ordinance.
“At Lund University, we see the students as a part of the management, and with the union grants, we guarantee that students can be involved in the decision making”, Tim Ekberg says.
“The nations do not represent the students in the same way as the unions do. They are external agents and are not related to the University in the same way, which dictates that we can’t grant any sum of money. But we can support social activities. The 25 kronor per student can be seen as an incentive to encourage non-alcoholic activities.”
The chairman of Kuratorskollegiet, Carl Mauritz Artéus, is of the same opinion.
“The unions have a different purpose, and we haven’t thought about it like that. The basis is that the nations do not get grants from the public sector, so it is entirely unproblematic that the unions receive a greater share.”
Services for a million kronor
The University also purchases services from Akademiska Föreningen for 1,080,000 kronor. Among other things, the University supports Studentlund with 250,000 kronor, study places at Café Athen for 250,000 kronor and the project fund of AF with 30,000 kronor.
“We buy services from AF to distribute information and also to support social activities. They do it in a more cost-effective way”, planning director Tim Ekberg says.
Is public procurement needed for that purpose?
“No, they have unique qualifications for social activities for students, and the costs are below the limit for public procurement”, he explains.
Text: Carl-Johan Kullving
Translation: Lina Johansson
