The University Board decide not to update their placement policy. In addition, the board decide to increase the Vice-Chancellor´s strategic means – despite a current budget deficit of 14 million Swedish crowns.
Before last Friday´s meeting of the board, there have been protests against the University’s rules for placement of donation money. In addition, the Vice-Chancellor has been criticised for overstepping his budget for strategic means.
“There will be no change to the way placements work at this time. The board has to relate to the prescriptions that regulate the administration of the trusts, and the University Board concludes that it has been working in accordance to the university´s policies for sustainable development,” says Vice-Chancellor Per Eriksson.
Photo: Carl-Johan Kullving
The Board deem that the placements are satisfactory and that they follow the University’s common values but want to intensify the discussion about how donation funding is placed. Therefore, the issue will be brought up every six months in the future instead of every twelve months.
“Looking over the placements is an ongoing project. Even if we follow the trust regulations we have in place, we want to see more discussions in the future”, Per Eriksson says.
So despite the 1600 signatures collected, the placement policy will not change.
Increased means for the Vice-Chancellor
Before the meeting, a proposal to increase the central appropriations for 2014 had been put forth which met with criticism from the president of the Social Sciences Student Union, Linnea Jacobsson. The Board decide to increase the Vice-Chancellor’s strategic means from 2014 with 40 million Swedish crowns. The Vice-Chancellor has already overstepped the budget with 14 million crowns.
Acting chairperson of the University Board, Lars Ljungälv, defends the decision.
“It´s a large university and just like in any company and institution we can´t always follow our budget. What is important is that we reach an active decision, which we now have,” Lars Ljungälv says.
Important with an agreement
Lars Ljungälv emphasises that the decision to increase strategic means for the Vice-Chancellor means a withdrawal cap of 40 million crowns. 30 million crowns are already spent, but additional funding is now being looked into, and Lars Ljungälv expects that the final sum will end up below 40 million crowns.
One piece of criticism against the increase in means is that it could lead to a more centralised management.
Photo Carl-Johan Kullving.
“What is important is not how much money is given the central management but that there is an agreement about what is handled centrally and what is handled locally within the university,” Lars Ljungälv says.
Four millions to increase equality
In the resource allocation for 2015, Vice-Chancellor Per Eriksson earmarks 4 million Swedish crowns to increase equality in the appointment of professors. These will be used pre-emptively as support to simplify giving academic merits and expanding research work.
“Many women are much appreciated when they are hired in the academy because there is a shortfall of women. For this reason, they are often asked to join various boards and work groups which could make it hard to profile in research. Therefore, these resources will mainly be used to devote time to research,” Per Eriksson says.
Recruitment of the new Pro Vice-Chancellor is ongoing. At present, there are five candidates being discussed and a decision is expected to be reached at the meeting of the University Board in December.
Text: Josefin Wennang
Photo: Carl-Johan Kullving
Translation: Carl-William Ersgård
