GU Journal no 1-2011

n u m b e r 1 | f e b r u a ry/ m a r c h 2 0 1 1

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

At home in two cultures Andrea Castro is passionate about Latin American literature  only 5 percent travel abroad

feature 9

accept the lists!

Is your DNA good enough?

More should venture out

Ranking is here to stay

How much do we want to know?

news 4

news 8

news 12

words from Vice-Chancellor nyheter

Notiser

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

A new spaper for employees of the universit y of Gothenburg

feb–mars

e d i to r - i n c h i e f & p u b l i s h e r

Allan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se f e at u r e e d i to r

Eva Lundgren 031 - 786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se p h oto g r a p h y & r e p r o d u c t i o n

Johan Wingborg 031 - 786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.se p h oto g r a p h y e d i to r

Mattias Jacobsson 031 - 786 57 06 mattias.jacobsson@gu.se g r a p h i c d e s i g n & l ayo u t

Anders Eurén Björn S Eriksson reporters

Magnus Pettersson Torsten Arpi, Ulf Bjereld, Claes Martinson, Martin Dackling, Marie Norman, Erik Gustafsson, Erik Strandmark and Eva Jonson.

T r a n s l at i o n

Janet Vesterlund proofreading

Robert Ohlson, Välskrivet ­­i ­Göteborg address

GU Journalen, University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Gothenburg e-mail

gu-journalen@gu.se internet

www.gu-journalen.gu.se printing

Geson Hylte Tryck c i r c u l at i o n

6 200 copies

New strategic plan points out the course for the next two years We have an exciting year ahead of us.

Many things are in progress. The Board decided in the middle of December on a new strategic plan – Quality and Renewal – for the University of Gothenburg. The new strategic plan for 2011-2012 is our absolutely most important document in terms of pointing out our direction for these years. It describes not only the strategic priorities in our core activities of research and education but also our cooperation and work with support activities.

There is often a great amount of work involving many people behind all strategic plans. The best plans succeed in a limited space at capturing and communicating a common picture of the way forward, regardless of whether it has to do with a company or, as in our case, a university. In my opinion, our new strategic plan does that. All employees have received a copy of the plan. Don’t let it gather dust on your desk – read it.

But it isn’t enough to be good at developing nice plans and making sure we read them. What has to be done is to put words into action. It is everyone’s responsibility to help. The overall purpose of our strategies is to create a unified university with activities that hold a high quality. Ultimately it has to do with strengthening the University of Gothenburg’s competitiveness nationally and globally at the same time that

we take responsibility for the region in which we work.

We’ve also worked with the organisational changes. At the moment there remain a couple of weeks to give opinions about the proposal that was sent out at the end of January. To get as high participation as possible we chose to send it for consideration in a broad way – about 80 authorities have been asked to respond to the proposal. We’re also prepared for a great deal of work in taking care of the responses that come in. Everyone who wishes shall have gotten the opportunity to give opinions before the basic document concerning the chief principles of the new organisation, in a re-worked form, goes to the Board for a decision on April 7.

started on a small scale. Vision2020, as it’s been christened, will form the basis for a new, long-term strategy for the University of Gothenburg and will include a number of seminars at which different themes about the university of the future will be discussed. This will start later in the spring.

As I said, a great deal is happening and many important decisions will be made during 2011. At the end of the year I believe that we will have come considerably closer to a common goal – a unified University of Gothenburg. pam fredman

Sometimes I hear my colleagues all around the organisation heave a sigh over the large number of projects that are ongoing at the same time at the University of Gothenburg. It isn’t difficult to agree with them, but at the same time it’s important to see how much of what is happening is related. An example is RED10, our comprehensive research evaluation that will be presented in the middle of March. Together with the newly started examination of education programs, BLUE11, and the ongoing investigation of the innovation system, the results will form one of the cornerstones of the comprehensive work on visions that has already

ISSN

1402-9626 p u b l i c at i o n

7 issues/year. The next issue will come out on March 30, 2011. l a s t dat e f o r m a n u s c r i p t s

March 11, 2011 m at e r i a l

We do not take responsibility for unordered material. The editorial staff does not take responsibility for anonymous material.

Feel free to use quotes but give your source. change of address

Inform the editorial staff in writing of a change of address. c ov e r

Andrea Castro, lecturer in Spanish, Department of Language and Literature. Photography: Johan Wingborg

Reg.nr: 3750M

Reg.nr: S-000256

2

g u j o u r n a l e1n| 161 | 1 0

A few words from the Editorial staff Welcome to a new issue of GU Journal and an exciting spring term. The Journal is also on Facebook, where you can give your comments and exchange thoughts about the Journal or give tips to the editorial staff. An advantage is that all fans of the newspaper can read it before everyone else. GU Journal is also an interactive pdf newspaper at site: http://issuu.com/universityofgothenburg. You’ll also find a short version of GU Journal in English and GU Spegeln. Another good initiative on Fackbook is the Högskoleläckan group (a closed group) that Ulf Dalnäs has started. There has been a steady flow of interesting contributions and opinions, which shows the strength of Facebook as an interactive forum. Apply to become a member of the group! It has

been considerably more difficult to get a discussion going about the proposal for a new re-organisation. Not a single contribution had come in by the time of GU Journal’s deadline. A debate will hopefully start, but experience shows that there’s a psychological hinder if it’s necessary to log in (in this case in the employee portal).

This issue has an international theme: we write about mobility, ranking and foreign students applying to the University and we give a portrait of Andrea Castro from Buenos Aires.

We speak a great deal about the importance of greater international exchange, and a large portion of the research at the University is inter­ national, but much more can be done

to increase the exchange of teachers and students.

We’d like to take the opportunity to give our thanks for the tips, even the anonymous ones, that come to the editorial office. It seems to be a trend that many people do not want to give their names and this may possibly be because many feel that there are things that can’t be said at the University of Gothenburg. While we’re happy to receive anonymous tips, it does make our journalistic work more difficult.

Even if we don’t have the time to write about all the suggestions we get in the same issue, we save the ideas for future issues.

Eva Lundgren & Allan Eriksson

contents

9

12

7 4

Mobility without measurable goals Administrators have discovered Erasmus but only 5 percent of the student body travel to another country. It’s a little better among teachers.

7

1.5 billion in unused resources That corresponds to every other research crown. Financial director Lars Nilsson wants to see powerful efforts.

6

A more unified university The proposal for a new organisation is based on strengthening quality at the University. A decision will come in April.

8

Accept the lists!

No one likes it, but ranking is here to stay. A new report has come out.

15 9 Fascinated by the fantastic Andrea Castro reads books that enchant her.

technology 12 Gene of the future Do we want to know whether we belong to a group at risk of a fatal illness? Ethics researchers answer our questions.

reduction 14 Drastic in applications Tuition fees have scared many students away and it isn’t clear how many will actually start at the University of Gothenburg in the fall.

the Antarctic 15 Discover Come along on research vessel Oden on its way to the Antarctic.

The crew kept a blog during the whole trip and GU Journal made a few visits.

g u j o u r n a l 1 | 1 1 3

News

Mobility without concrete goals

World, April 2007

150

90

120

60

30

0

ARCTIC OCEAN QUEEN ELIZABETH

°S

Aruba

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Guadeloupe (FR.) (U.S.) DOMINICA Montserrat (U.K.) Martinique (FR.) ST. VINCENT AND ST. LUCIA THE GRENADINES BARBADOS Neth. Antilles (NETH.) GRENADA

Nouakchott

CAPE VERDE

S

E

D N A

GUYANA

Bogotá

PENEDOS DE SÃO PEDRO E SÃO PAULO

ECUADOR Guayaquil

Annobon

(EQUA. GUI.)

IL E

E

TAINS UN MO

MALAWI

Tromelin Island (FRANCE)

Juan de Nova Island (FR.)

MOZAMBIQUE Mozambique Channel

Bassas da India

BOTSWANA

Antananarivo SaintDenis

MADAGASCAR

Port Louis MAURITIUS

OCEAN

(FRANCE)

KALAHARI DESERT

Reunion (FRANCE)

Europa Island (FRANCE)

ID

Pretoria

Johannesburg

Y

S

I

H

FEDERATED STATES OF MI Melekeok

PALAU

Celebes Sea

A

N

D

Jakarta T

R

E

Christmas Island

NC

O

N

E

Java Sea

G

Maputo

Mbabane

I

Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Port Moresby

Timor Sea Gulf of Carpentaria

(AUSTL.)

(AUSTL.)

Tropic of Capricorn (23°27') Alice Springs

A U S T R A L I A

E

Lake Eyre (lowest point in Australia, -15 m)

GREAT VICTORIA DESERT

Brisbane

Perth

Lord H Islan

(AUST

Cape Town

Canberra (Fr. S. and Ant. Lands)

TRISTAN DA CUNHA (St. Helena)

Île Saint-Paul

S

Melbourne

(Fr. S. and Ant. Lands)

Tasman Sea

(St. Helena)

D RI

Tasmania

French Southern and Antarctic Lands (FRANCE)

G E

60

PRINCE EDWARD ISLANDS (SOUTH AFRICA)

ÎLES CROZET (Fr. S. and Ant. Lands)

SNARES ISLANDS (N.Z.) AUCKLAND ISLANDS (N.Z.)

ÎLES KERGUELEN (Fr. S. and Ant. Lands) Heard Island and McDonald Islands (AUSTL.)

Macquarie Island (AUSTL.)

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (administered by U.K., claimed by ARGENTINA)

SOUTHERN OCEAN SOUTHERN OCEAN Antarctic Circle (66°33') Amery Ice Shelf

Bellingshausen Sea

Weddell Sea Ross Sea

Ross Sea

A n t a r c t i c a*

Ronne Ice Shelf

Humanities Faculty

+ Vinson Massif (highest point in Antarctica, 4897 m)

120

90

Sahlgrenska Academy 60

30

Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts 0

30

Faculty of Science 60

90

Faculty of Social Sciences 120

Faculty of Education/LUN Ross Ice Shelf

150

180

5 percent of students travel to other countries to study Official statistics show that 408 stu­ dents left Sweden last year for another country. But this is only students that are registered in Ladok. In fact, many more study abroad. At least 1 800 stu­ dents leave for some form of exchange or training. That means that 5 percent of students do some of their studies abroad.

Tomas Larsson, student representative in the University’s internationalisation council thinks that that isn’t enough.

“I think that’s a ridiculously low number. All students at some time during their studies should have an opportunity to attend schools outside the country. Doing foreign studies is an important experience gujournal 1 | 11

Campbell Island (N.Z.)

60 SOUTH ORKNEY ISLANDS

SOUTHERN OCEAN

Amundsen Sea

4

Sydney

Mount Kosciuszko (highest point in Australia, 2229m)

Great Australian Bight

Île Amsterdam

Bouvet Island (NORWAY)

Scotia Sea

150

Co S Coral Sea Islands

Ree f

Durban

Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) (administered by U.K., claimed by ARGENTINA)

Laguna del Carbón (lowest point in South America and the Western Hemisphere, -105 m)

Drake Passage

Ross School of Economics Ice Shelf

Bismarck Sea

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Arafura Sea

EAST TIMOR (deepest point of the Indian Ocean, -7258 m)

(AUSTL.)

A

Dili

H

(AUSTL.)

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

S Banda Sea

Surabaya

Bandung

LESOTHO SWAZILAND Maseru

Gough Island

PATAGONIA

A

R

(U.K.)

Punta Arenas

10

(FRANCE)

N

St. Helena

Stanley

Antarctic Circle (66°33')

Glorioso Islands

Mayotte

EA

Montevideo

Moroni

(administered by FRANCE, claimed by COMOROS)

OC

URUGUAY

Buenos Aires

Diego Garcia

Gaborone

T

Cerro Aconcagua (highest point in South America, 6962 m)

ANDE

50

DESER

MI D-A TLANTIC

Santiago

IB

DESERT

Córdoba

ARCHIPIÉLAGO JUAN FERNÁNDEZ (CHILE)

M

AMA

Asunción

Pôrto Alegre

Lake Nyasa

Lilongwe

ZIMBABWE NAMIBIA

Windhoek

L

I

(U.K.)

The faculties that don’t appear in the graphics have no students or teachers registered outside the counSOUTH AFRICA try according to official statistics.

Walvis Bay

BRUNEI

Singapore SINGAPORE

British Indian Ocean Territory

Dar es Salaam

SEYCHELLES

NA

ATAC

ANO IPL ALT

Isla San Ambrosio (CHILE)

(BRAZIL)

(BRAZIL)

Rio de Janeiro

São Paulo

Kuala Lumpur M A

Guam

(U.S.) Challenger Deep (world's greatest ocean depth, -10924 m)

Barrier

N Isla San Felíx (CHILE)

Isla Sala y Gómez (CHILE)

Victoria

Dodoma

Harare

Medan

Mt. Kilimanjaro (highest point in Africa, 5895 m)

BURUNDI

ZAMBIA

SPRATLY ISLANDS

Bandar Seri Begawan

MALDIVES

Lake Victoria Bujumbura

Lake Tanganyika

Saipan

Hagåtña

Nairobi

RWANDA Kigali

Kinshasa

(U.S.)

PHILIPPINES

Ho Chi Minh City

NICOBAR ISLANDS (INDIA)

SRI LANKA

Mogadishu

KENYA

Lusaka

Martin Vaz

Trindade

Male

Colombo

Northern Mariana Islands

Sea

t Grea

TR

D

(23°27')

UGANDA Kampala

Namibe

St. Helena

Laccadive Sea

(JAPAN)

Manila

South China Sea

CAMBODIA

Phnom Penh Gulf of Thailand

Andaman Sea

(INDIA)

Marcus Islan

Philippine

VIETNAM

Bangkok

LAKSHADWEEP

SOMALIA

K

PARACEL ISLANDS

THAILAND ANDAMAN ISLANDS (INDIA)

Chennai

EY LL

COMOROS

Teachers out. We report the number of teachers OCEAN PARAGUAY that have used Erasmus resources for an exchange or have received funds from the International CHILE Programme Office for Education and Training (the so called mobility ARGENTINA effort).

Belo Horizonte

Yaoundé

Libreville REP. OF THE GABON CONGO

Lubumbashi

ATLANTIC

BOLIVIA

(YEMEN)

Luanda

(St. Helena)

Socotra

Djibouti

Administrators out. Both Erasmus and the special DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC work on international administrator mobility. In OF THE CONGO TANZANIA of administrators working outaddition, the number side ANGOLA the country at the common administration was 8, the IT Faculty 4 and the University library 2. I N D I A N Brazzaville

N

SOUTH

Brasília

DJIBOUTI Gulf of Aden

U

Hainan Dao

Rangoon

Bengal

Bangalore

ETHIOPIA

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Bangui

(Cabinda)

A

Lago Titicaca La Paz

S

CAMEROON

- Hyderabad

Bay of

Arabian Sea

Gulf of Vientiane Tonkin

A

H - C

H

Mumbai

Sanaa

Y

S.A.R.

LAOS

Nay Pyi Taw

V

RU

S O U T H P100 ACIFIC a OCEAN

C

Salvador

Addis Ababa

Abuja

ANGOLA

(St. Helena)

E

Lac 'Assal (lowest point in Africa, -155 m)

NIGERIA

São Tome

Ascension

Lima

SUDAN

Gulf of Guinea

(BRAZIL)

Asmara

R

Hanoi

JA

PE

S MARQUISES Fr. Poly.)

INDIA

Taiwan Hong Kong Luzon Strait Macau S.A.R.

Mandalay

BURMA

YEMEN

ERITREA

Khartoum

CHAD

N'Djamena

Malabo

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

Equator

ARQUIPÉLAGO DE FERNANDO DE NORONHA

Belém

Manaus

NIGER

Kolkata Dhaka

- Ahmadabad

MID - INDIAN

Students out. The numbers are taken from the Ladok study documentation system. Since a large part of the exchanges are not registered in Ladok it PERU BRAZIL gives a distorted picture of student mobility.

(BRAZIL)

Muscat

OMAN

MALI

Tombouctou

Okinawa

Taipei

CH TREN

Cali

Georgetown Paramaribo French Guiana (FRANCE) SURINAME Cayenne

VENEZUELA

L B' A

LI

A KH

East China Sea

Thimphu

BANGLADESH

E PPIN

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Caracas

Medellín

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

ARABIA

Shanghai

Wuhan

Chongqing

I PHIL

Port-of-Spain

Maracaibo

MAURITANIA

Dakar

Fortaleza

Easter Island (CHILE)

Jiddah

Chengdu

BHUTAN

Kanpur ¯ Karachi

RU

SENEGAL Niamey Banjul BURKINA Bamako FASO THE GAMBIA Ouagadougou Bissau GUINEA GUINEA-BISSAU BENIN Conakry CÔTE TOGO Freetown D'IVOIRE GHANA SIERRA Yamoussoukro LEONE Lagos Lomé Accra Monrovia PortoAbidjan LIBERIA Novo

Praia

COLOMBIA

Pitcairn Islands (U.K.)

Red Sea

A

VA

Santo Puerto Domingo Rico

(NETH.)

Quito

Adamstown

R

(highest point in Asia and the world, 8850 m)

AS

NC

I C

T

N

M I D AT L A

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS

HAITI

(U.S.)

Isla de Malpelo

Tropic of Capricorn

A

AY

Kathmandu

PA

Yokohama

O

Navassa Island

Caribbean Sea

Isla del Coco (COSTA RICA)

(ECUADOR)

H

Mt. Everest

AL

NEPAL

Osaka

Pusan

Tokyo

OT

Kingston

COSTA RICA Panama PANAMA

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

A

IM

New Delhi

OMAN

Abu Dhabi

Manama Doha Riyadh QATAR

CHINA

JAPAN

Seoul SOUTH KOREA

)

JAMAICA

San José

(FRANCE)

SAUDI

EGYPT

Western Sahara

H

Lahore

PAKISTAN

Persian BAHRAIN Gulf

Yellow Sea

H - S

Prince

(U.K.)

BELIZE Belmopan

GUATEMALA HONDURAS Tegucigalpa Guatemala San Salvador NICARAGUA EL SALVADOR Managua Clipperton Island

IRAN KUWAIT

NO

Sea of

NORTH KOREA Japan Pyongyang

Tianjin

DESERT

Line of Actual Control

¯ Islamabad

occupied by the SOVIET UNION in 1945, administered by RUSSIA, claimed by JAP

Sapporo Shenyang

Beijing

Indian claim

JORDAN

The number of students that left the University for schools abroad according to official statistics Cayman Is.

Puebla

Baghdad

Jerusalem Dead Sea (lowest point in Asia, -408 m)

Kuwait

LIBYA

Laayoune (El Aaiún)

S

Kabul

RT

TAKLA MAKAN

1972 Line of Control

AFGHANISTAN

SE

PO

Guadalajara

Mexico

Milwaukee Deep Turks and Caicos Islands (deepest point of the (U.K.) Atlantic Ocean, -8605 m) British Virgin Islands (U.K.) Port-au- DOMINICAN Anguilla (U.K.) REPUBLIC

CUBA

Ashgabat

DE

BI

AN (JAP

Havana

MEXICO

Amman

ISRAEL

Alexandria

Dushanbe TAJIKISTAN

Mashhad

Tehran

IRAQ

Tashkent

TURKMENISTAN

GO

Bishkek KYRGYZSTAN

M

THE BAHAMAS Nassau

Miami

Gulf of Mexico

Monterrey

Damascus

Beirut

Cairo

ALGERIA

SYRIA

LEB.

CYPRUS

(GR.)

Tripoli CANARY ISLANDS (SP.)

Baku

Aleppo

Nicosia Crete

Mediterranean Sea

(SP.)

Rabat

MOROCCO

Houston

Tropic of Cancer (23°27')

Casablanca

Yerevan ¯

(IT.)

Tunis MALTA Valletta TUNISIA

Melilla

MADEIRA ISLANDS (PORT.)

Ankara

MONGOLIA Ürümqi

UZBEKISTAN

(lowest point in Europe, -28 m)

A TRE

I

Ceuta (SP.)

E

Caspian Sea

KURIL ISLANDS

IAN

OCEAN

(U.K.)

G

S.

ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN

TURKEY

·Izmir

.

Aral Sea

US MT

Athens

Sicily

Algiers

Gibraltar(U.K.)

Istanbul

MACEDONIA

GREECE

(IT.)

Tbilisi

Khabarovsk

Ulaanbaatar

NA

Tijuana

D

ALB.

Tirana

CAU C AS

GEORGIA

S

AR

Bermuda

Rome

Sardinia

BALEARIC ISLANDS (SP.)

BULGARIA Skopje

Lake Balkhash

Gora El'brus (highest point in Europe, 5633 m)

Sea of Azov

Black Sea

Sofia

T

M

Dallas

SPAIN

AZORES (PORT.)

ATLANTIC

Atlanta

Los Angeles

Barcelona

SER.

MONT.

Podgorica

M

-

NORTH

Washington, D.C.

VATICAN CITY

(FR.)

AY

-

N

Madrid

PORTUGAL Lisbon

ITALY Sarajevo

Corsica

Sakhalin LT

KAZAKHSTAN

IS L A N D S AN )

HIA AC

Marseille

BOS. & HER.

MARINO

MONACO ANDORRA

ALE

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy

Irkutsk A

Kharkiv

Sea of Okhotsk

U

Denver

L PA AP

(FRANCE)

Lake Baikal

Astana

Kyiv

UKRAINE

SLOVAKIA

Bratislava MOLDOVA SWITZ. AUSTRIA Budapest Chi sinau FRANCE S HUNGARY Bern L P SLOVENIA ROMANIA Odesa A Ljubljana Zagreb CROATIA Belgrade Bucharest Milan SAN

Bay of Biscay

St. Pierre and Miquelon

Samara

BELARUS

Prague

CZECH REP.

Vienna

LIECH.

60

Bering Sea Novosibirsk

Omsk

AP

Lake Erie

STATES

Montréal

Lake Ontario

Boston NS AI NT OU New York M Philadelphia

Moscow Minsk

Y

Chicago

Berlin GERMANY Luxembourg

BELGIUM LUX.

Yakutsk

Yekaterinburg

(J

Toronto Detroit

NETH.

Brussels Paris

A

E

Lake Huron Ottawa

Lake Michigan

POLAND Warsaw

Hamburg

Amsterdam

KINGDOM

Guernsey (U.K.) Jersey (U.K.)

I

R U S S I A

Nizhniy Novgorod

RIF T

M O U NT A I N S

Minneapolis

UNITED

Isle of Man (U.K.)

London Celtic Sea

Vilnius

RUSSIA

R

RIDG

Island of Newfoundland Gulf of St. Lawrence

DENMARK

Copenhagen

E

ST

Dublin IRELAND

Lake Winnipeg

Lake Superior

North Sea

Belfast

Saint Petersburg

B

TY E A

UNITED

Labrador Sea

Helsinki

Tallinn EST. Baltic LAT. Sea Riga LITH.

I

NINE

CANADA

Death Valley (lowest point in North America, -86 m)

ISLAS REVILLAGIGEDO (MEXICO)

Stockholm

L

Oslo (U.K.)

FINLAND

Gulf of Bothnia

(DEN.)

Tórshavn

Rockall

URA

Reykjavík

Edmonton

Y Seattle

NORTH

NCE)

Sea

S

White Sea

SWEDEN

Faroe Islands

Hudson Bay

Vancouver

P o l y n e s i

Chukchi

NORWAY

ICELAND

Denmark Strait

Nuuk (Godthåb)

R

ROCK

DS

Wrangel Island

East Siberian Sea

Norwegian Sea

(NORWAY)

Davis Strait

Great Slave Lake

Whitehorse

SLAN

RCHIPEL DES TUAMOTU (Fr. Poly.)

NEW SIBERIAN ISLANDS

Laptev Sea

Barents Sea

Arctic Circle (66°33')

Gulf of Alaska

150

180

ARCTIC OCEAN

Kara Sea

NOVAYA ZEMLYA

(NORWAY)

Jan Mayen

Great Bear Lake

Anchorage

200

Svalbard

150

120

SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA

(DENMARK)

Baffin Island

60

San Francisco

90

Arctic Circle (66°33')

U. S.

OCEAN

Longyearbyen

Greenland

Baffin Bay

Victoria Island

Mt. McKinley (highest point in North America, 6194 m)

PACIFIC

60

FRANZ JOSEF LAND

Greenland Sea

ISLANDS

Banks Island

Beaufort Sea Barrow

30

ARCTIC OCEAN Ellesmere Island

GRE AT

a of special sovereignty

up

and has been shown to be a great advantage in getting a job afterward.”

The action plan for internationalisation efforts states: “The University of Gothenburg shall work to increase interest in studying for a period of time at a foreign university and improve the conditions for receiving students from other countries.”

The goal in Erasmus is also to strongly increase mobility in higher education in Europe. Much has happened in recent years – more and more seek studies outside the country – but the fact remains: it’s considerably more attractive to do studies here.

According to Ull a Nylin at the Inter­ national Mobility Office, the number of students outside the country was 1 862 during the 2009/2010 school year. She

Since a central register doesn’t exist today and not all types of exchanges are reported, we don’t know how large the exchange actually is.

included as many students as possible: in Erasmus, bilateral agreements, short field studies and training. Still, it’s only 5 percent of all students.

There is no official goal for how much the exchange should increase, according to Pernilla Danielsson, international coordinator.

“It can be much better, but we shouldn’t chain ourselves to Erasmus exchanges.

Student mobility can be increased by looking at the courses that are offered and at the possibilities that teachers have to hold a course week in Birmingham or offer a training period in Uganda. It’s also very important that we work on internationalisation here at home, I mean, that we invite the world to the University of Gothenburg for those students who can’t travel abroad.

Best in class The University of Gothenburg is best in Sweden in teacher exchanges in Erasmus, with 71 teacher exchanges during 2010. There were also 113 teachers who took the chance to travel for at least one month during the year.

Pernilla Danielsson is an international coordinator.

Global Week is part of this work, but we have more in the pipeline. A lot of it also has to do with removing administrative obstacles in order to make exchanges easier.”

Pernill a Danielsson also points out that there are probably unrecorded cases in the statistics: “Since a central register doesn’t exist today and not all types of exchanges are reported, we don’t know how large the exchange actually is.”

A reason for student mobility having become an increasingly important question is the ranking lists. The number of students that come here and travel abroad is one parameter in the Times Higher Education and QS lists.

“A more correct reporting can give us a higher placement on the lists,” says Pernilla Danielsson.

All colleges and universities compete over being international to be able to be in the running for students, researchers and research funds. The action plan states that: “The University of Gothenburg wants to create a profile as being a global university that looks not only to the traditional partners in Western Europe and the US but also to a long period of research and cooperation with developing regions.”

The latest effort by the University of Gothenburg for a “global university” is an attempt to start livelier cooperation with partner universities in developing countries. The point is to increase the mobility of students, teachers, researchers and administrators.

One project that has received a million crowns over a three-year period is the long cooperation that the Faculty of Education has had with the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in

South Africa. What’s new is that the humanities and social science faculties are also included.

“It’s extremely good to continue to build on stable partners with whom we already have good cooperation,” says project leader Lars Gunnarsson. Almost all the money goes to financing student, teacher and administrator exchanges and to paying salaries to teachers who have moved outside the country and would otherwise have a difficult time financing travel.

Most student exchanges at this time take place in Erasmus. The University of Gothenburg sent out 260 students last year – considerably fewer than the 360 students from Lund University. The goal of the International Programme Office for Education and Training is for a total of 3 000 students to study outside the country via Erasmus. That’s quite a jump from today’s numbers.

“Our position is fairly good but we should be able to interest considerably more students in an exchange,” says Johan Ahlgren at the International Mobility Office. “An effective way to make student exchange more popular is to work on getting more places at fewer partner universities with whom we already have good cooperation.

For example, geosciences signed more agreements with more than 10 places for students.”

Johan Ahlgren thinks that it’s a shame that there aren’t measureable goals.

“We’ve always said that we can be better. But what does that mean? It’s far too vague. What we lack is concrete plans and the strength to act.”

According to Johan Ahlgren, one problem is that there isn’t a main entrance on the web where students can go in and see what exchanges there are.

The information is largely decentralised at this time. Even though a new system, Move-On, is being launched, it will take time before it can be used throughout the University.

Thomas Larsson, a law student, thinks that a good goal would be to have equally as many foreign students as incoming students.

“If we come up towards 10 percent, that would be really good. What we have to do is get rid of all the administrative obstacles and get information out about what possibilities there are. Many students are worried now about not having their credits counted and risking having to repay their study debts. That doesn’t work.”

More and more teachers discover possibilities for seeking money for exchanges. In terms of Erasmus exchanges, the University is at the top with 71 exchanges during 2010.

Since some of them travelled more than once, however, it was actually 51 teachers that were granted Erasmus funds, although the total number of teachers that travelled was considerably higher.

“We’re really good in terms of teacher exchanges, but we can be much better,” says Pernilla Danielsson, international coordinator at the University management office. She believes that there are many unregistered cases.

“The numbers for teacher mobility are actually larger, but we only see the ones that apply for funding. Many of them travel in the framework of their research projects, and it would be very good if we also had good central statistics about these trips. The University’s success in Erasmus exchanges has to do primarily with two departments, geosciences and the Academy of Music and Drama.”

“We have them to thank for making the University best in Sweden. They’re incredibly good thanks to two enthusiasts – Sandor Nemethy at geosciences and Margaret Hanning at the Academy of Music and Drama. The more teachers that go to different countries, the more money we have to distribute,” says Johan Ahlgren, who works with Erasmus at the University.

The greatest increase is other­wise among administrators. During 2010, 31 administrators travelled via the University’s special effort for administrator mobility. Another 16 administrators travelled in “Erasmus Staff Training”.

There’s no effort of that kind as yet for teachers.

“We in the internationalisation council have tried to start work for teachers for the whole University but haven’t succeeded in establishing it.”

Why aren’t there measure­

able goals for how much teacher exchanges should increase?

“A number isn’t very interesting,” says Pernilla Danielsson. “The most important thing is to identify the problems and try to eliminate them. How can we create courses where exchange would be suitable? It has to be easy to travel.”

Professor Lars Gunnarsson has worked for a long time with internationalisation at the Faculty of Education. He feels that what is most important is that there are extra funds that both incoming and travelling teachers can apply for.

“The one gives the other.

When teachers come home and give enthusiastic reports, both students and other teachers become inspired. Since many teachers are worried about working double, the best solution is for more courses to be exchangeable, so that one teacher comes here and one teacher travels to another country, and that they give instruction in each others’ courses. This may be difficult to do, however. Unfortunately, our teachers who are on travel often give instruction abroad and at home without pay for extra hours, which doesn’t increase interest in travelling.”

Lars Gunnarsson thinks that there has to be a change of attitude.

“It’s strange that working outside the country at a university isn’t counted as work time.

It is in other places. It should be seen as a merit, and it’s important that you can count instruction as a merit.”

In spite of the problems, there is strong agreement that teacher exchanges are important.

“If we’re going to be an international university, we have to get exchange going on all levels, students, teachers and administrators. The most effective way to make student exchange popular is for teachers to travel outside the country,” says Pernilla Danielsson.

Allan Eriksson

Allan Eriksson g u j o u r n a l 1 | 1 1 5

News

It’s time to give your opinion!

Management’s proposal out for comment that are spelled out at recruitment. Persons that are recruited or who apply have to be interested in the tasks and their legitimacy has to have an anchor in the organisation. In the proposal, a person can have an external chairman, for example from another school. We also suggest that the mandate period be extended to six years.

If the proposal is accepted, every dean and every committee has to be re-appointed.”

The proposal holds no recommendations about the size of departments – why?

“It’s hard to say precisely the exact size because of the different characters of the institutions, but they have to be large enough to manage the responsibilities and the authorities that they have according to the delegation and work order. A department that has to let personnel go just because it’s lost a half a million crowns in funds, for example, is too small.”

Illustr ation: Anders Eurén

The controversial question of faculty divisions has been put on ice. Now work and delegation order is being given priority. In one year a completely new organisation will be in place – if the proposal is accepted.

The Universit y management has now reworked the proposal presented by Göran Bexell and Christina Rogestam on December 15 and made it concrete. The proposal has been sent to about 70 authorities and responses have to be in by March 1.

Vice-chancellor Pam Fredman has also held a number of breakfast meetings at which employees have been given the opportunity to ask questions.

“We’ve gotten a number of valuable viewpoints, some of which we hadn’t thought about before and that we’ll take consideration to as we continue our work,” says Pam Fredman.

The board will make a decision on overall guidelines for the new organisation on April 7. A more detailed decision will be taken in October.

One of the most important ambitions of the re-organisation is to create a more unified university. This has to do with increasing cooperation and thereby creating better quality.

“It’s important that we are one university, internally and externally. But that isn’t the same thing as standardisation.

For example, we don’t want to change the

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fact that the Sahlgrenska Academy and the School of Economics are different in certain respects. But we do want to work for greater coordination and cooperation over various boundaries.”

The relationship between the Vicechancellor, the deans and the prefects is also important. The administration must be coordinated so that everyone contributes to the core activities of research and education so that resources are used in the best possible way.

The investigators’ proposal for a faculty division was greatly criticised. Is that why you’re waiting for a change?

“We’ve listened to the criticism and found ourselves that there aren’t grounds for changing the division of faculties at this time. But we still want to look at that division, even though it won’t happen until after a decision that will be made in 2014. The reason is that we have very much to do before that, such as extensive evaluations of our research, Red 10, and our education, Blue 11.”

Are there any international models that you want to use?

“No, we don’t have any direct models. If there was a perfect organisation we’d already have had it. We have to work from our own goals and needs and learn to compete in the only way that works: with good quality.”

There aren’t grounds for changing the division of faculties at this time.

In what way will the new organisation support cooperation?

“It’s important that our large organisation has a forum where we can discuss different questions freely. We think that there should be a research collegiate.

Cooperation in the departments is created by smaller groups in which everyone who wants to can participate.”

According to the proposal, the faculties’ administration will be coordinated in a common administration. Why is that important?

“The common administration will be coordinated with the faculty offices to create better coordination and cooperation. We have to achieve unification as an authority. But it’s important to emphasise that this doesn’t mean that individuals have to move purely physically.

Administrative support at the departments must increase at the same time so that it comes closer to their activities.”

Why is the response time so short – just one and a half months?

“I think it’s long enough. In essence we’ve talked about these questions for a long time. We can’t let a new work and delegation order wait. It has to be ready by 2012 when the present interim organisation ceases to exist. But even if we make a decision about the direction of where we’re going in April, we’ll continue to work with what that means in detail.”

EVA LUNDGREN & ALLAN ERIKSSON

In what way will managers’ roles change?

“Deans and prefects will have clear roles

Discuss the proposal at: www.vision2020.gu.se

photo: Johan Wingborg

announcements

Excess of 233 million crowns u According to preliminary figures, the University of Gothenburg has been on the plus side by 233 million crowns. This is more than twice as much as planned.

The greater part of the money, almost 180 million crowns, is in research. All the faculties report a clearly better economic result than they had calculated, where the Sahlgrenska Academy showed the greatest plus figure, 91 million crowns. The reason is higher contributions and lower costs than planned.

“We need to employ 50 to 100 researchers,” says financial director Lars Nilsson, who wants to see long-term efforts.

“We can afford to make long-term efforts” The University of Gothenburg is number three on the list of schools with the most unused research money: 1.5 billion crowns of unused funds.

Financial director Lars Nilsson wants to see more action and less talk in 2011.

1.5 billion crowns is half of the total grant money for research and doctoral students.

“It’s a huge amount of money.

To give a drastic example: if the University of Gothenburg didn’t get one more crown in research grants starting today we’d still be able to run things as usual for half a year,” says Lars Nilsson.

The development in Gothenburg follows the national trend. According to the National Accounting and Audit Bureau, unused research grants totalled almost 13 billion crowns at the end of 2009. That’s an increase of 74 percent since 1998. The report describes the large increase as an effectiveness problem. The Bureau’s conclusion is that: “The lack of followup makes the system not sufficiently transparent and it is not possible to see how much money is unused.”

The increase wasn’t quite as large at the University of Gothenburg but unused funds have increased by 22 percent since 2004 and are now 1.5 billion crowns.

An important reason for this is

that the University of Gothenburg has been successful in attracting money, especially from strategic efforts such as Linné support. But the University has also gotten large research funds from the Swedish Research Council.

“There are explanations for why the money hasn’t been used at the pace that was intended. Current research policies favour areas of strength and that’s led to a concentration of research funds to a small number of research groups. It takes time to use money, not least for employing new people,” says Lars Nilsson.

According to him the problem is that there is a cautiousness on the department level in employing new people because there’s a lack of knowledge about the long-term planning. there are extenuating circumstances such as decisions on the distribution of funds that come at the end of the year and during a time when other projects are being run. The University also gets money for a research project that is accounted for as income in one year but where the expenses run for a period of several years.

Not surprisingly, Sahlgrenska Academy, which is the clearly largest player at the University, stands for almost half of the unused funds.

The National Accounting and Audit Bureau has looked closely at the natural science and humanities faculties and finds that there is also a clear trend there.

“At the same time

“We need to strengthen the infrastructure and employ 50 to 100 researchers,” says Lars Nilsson.

Easier said than done – the question is on what level the responsibility will be taken.

“The departments feel pressure that they have to keep to their budgets at any cost, which leads to a kind of squirrel mentality, that it’s better not to spend than to be courageous enough to make a strong effort. We’re focused too much on budgets and too little on following up. It’s possible that the department environment is too little for people to dare to take responsibility for employing new people with respect to strategic efforts.”

Lars Nilsson emphasises that there have been quite a few projects in recent years, such as RED 10, BLUE 11, an infrastructure fund of 130 million crowns and EU and guest teacher programs. But to this time these have had only a small effect on the results.

Today the Univer sit y has a collective surplus of 700 million crowns, the greater part of which has accumulated in the past five years. Lars Nilsson feels that the time has come to act and not just save money waiting for harder times.

“All universities and colleges are in the same boat, but we have to take our golden opportunity to make long-term plans for our teachers and researchers.”

More and more students charged for cheating u A total of 15 students were suspended for cheating during 2010. Most of the cases had to do with plagiarism, either of a fellow student’s work or directly from the internet. That is considerably more than in 2009, when nine students were charged with cheating. The most common consequence is suspension for six weeks.

An investigation by TT shows than more than 500 students were suspended last year in Sweden – an increase of almost 50 percent.

Trend for the University of Gothenburg u The country’s universities and colleges use their resources effectively, according to the new report Do our Schools Use our Resources Effectively? by the Swedish National Audit Office. However, altogether, it can be better. The University of Gothenburg is one of the schools that the National Audit Office studied closely. Their conclusion is that the University of Gothenburg has a somewhat lower effectiveness than average during the period 2004–2008.

“The report doesn’t show a clear trend,” says financial director Lars Nilsson, “but effectiveness was clearly better in 2008 than in 2004. That’s at least a positive trend.”

Allan Eriksson g u j o u r n a l 1 | 1 1 7

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GU in English covers research at the University of Gothenburg.

“Instead of a general brochure in English we’ve chosen to publish a magazine with, hopefully, interesting and worthwhile articles. Our intention is for the magazine to continue past this summer. Take it with you when The GU magazine

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Our network y of Technolo with researchers gy includes 450 studying for environmental example deforestation, car use and environm carbon dioxide reductio n, We are continuo ental economi usly trying to vironmentally make our operatiocs. friendly. The ns more enUniversity of university in the Gothenburg is world that is environm the only to both EMAS entally certified and ISO 14001. according We are also part Sustainable Campus of the Internatio Network. nal If you would like to coopera what we do to te tackle the climate with us or know more about www.gu.se issue, please visit us at Ida Hellmark and Martin Persson matters at the University of Gothenb work with climate-related the research urg. Ida Hellmark network coordinates gy, climate change Focali, which focuses on forest/bio-enerand poverty ducts research issues. Martin on reduced tropical Persson condeforestation.

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News

Doubtful that the lists will get better Interest in ranking lists has never been greater and they’ve never been debated as they are now.

So, what attitude should we have toward the lists? A new report suggests that we accept them: the lists are here to stay and it’s just as well to make the best of the situa­ tion, regardless of what we think about them.

The sec tion for analysis and evaluation has a special task – to keep an eye on ranking lists. In the latest analysis, Att leva med universitetsrankningar (Living with university rankings), investigator Magnus Gunnarsson goes through different conceivable attitudes toward rankings. He distinguishes roughly three views: Dissociation: None of the existing lists is of sufficient quality to function as a measure of university quality. It’s doubtful whether rankings fill any function at all. Use of the lists has a directly injurious effect because it fools university managements into focusing on the wrong activities, which has a poor impact on the quality of research and education. What happens is that there is work against the lists or a refusal to report information.

Acceptance: Even if we don’t like how the lists are used, they’re here to stay. There’s no possibility to ignore them or get rid of them; we just have to learn to live with them. One reason is that the lists get such attention. A high placement on the lists can have a strong marketing value among students, cooperative partners and the general public. The ambition should thus be to get as high up on the list as possible, but without that affecting our own work for quality.

P ositive recognition: The lists can actually be used as a measure of quality. A poor result on the lists is a sign that a university has problems.

The weaknesses that the ranking lists have can be ameliorated by having a

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Magnus Gunnarsson is behind the new report ”Living with University Rankings”.

close dialogue with the people who create them.

“Different approaches have different consequences,” says Magnus Gunnarsson, “and it would be good if the University decided on a strategy so that we respond in a unified way to questions about rankings. It isn’t easy to choose a strategy, but personally I think that the accepting approach is the most reasonable one.”

The Universit y of Gothenburg declined to report information to the QS list last year and still came in 183rd place.

“The QS list has gotten a lot more attention that we thought it would, so we’ve decided to report in the future.

But there’s no reason to make a big effort to get a higher placement if we’re already on the 200 list. On the Times Higher Education list it would be good from a marketing point of view if we improved our placement a little; it could motivate small, cosmetic changes.”

Even though there are complaints about poor placements, Magnus Gunnarsson points out that Sweden in a total sense is high on all ranking lists. Taking into consideration Sweden’s population, it comes in fourth place in the world, after Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark.

“We’re in a good place. On average, there are five Swedish schools among the 200 highest ranked universities on the three big lists. When you meet representatives from other

countries you’re sometimes asked, ‘What are you complaining about?’”

Only a fraction of the world’s universities and colleges are on the big lists (the Webometrics list has over 20 000 institutions of higher learning).

Do you think that the existing rankings will get better?

“On a micro level they can of course get better but the basic problem remains, that it isn’t possible to measure all universities using the same measuring stick. I think that it only has a marginal effect, the lists won’t get better as long as they have large, fundamental methodological weaknesses and aren’t transparent.”

How does the future look?

“There will be more and more lists. I think that interest will get even bigger. A market is growing that sells detailed analyses. I think we’re moving toward more specialised lists, the same way as in the US, where there are a number of lists that measure things like ‘the most popular education’ or which school gets you ‘the highest salary after graduation’.”

for that. Less drastic measures might be to recruit often cited researchers, encourage researchers to publish more in Nature and Science and to write articles with foreign researchers to a greater extent. But that isn’t either something that I recommend.

I think that all eventual adaptations to ranking lists should be limited to smaller, cosmetic changes that don’t disturb our own work on quality.

For example, we can put effort into marketing to attract students and top researchers. A popular and well known university automatically gets a high placement. But what we do at the present might be quite enough.”

Despite that today’s lists have considerable weaknesses there are still positive signs. According to Magnus Gunnarsson, the German Zeit list that ranks individual subjects is best.

Another that will come this year is EU’s U-Multirank, which is a large collective European initiative.

“If it’s as good as they promise, it can be really good. But I’m sceptical. It’s an enormous amount of material and numbers that have to be collected and weighed together, from countries with very different university systems. The risk is that in the end it will be a compromise and then we’re back in the same position as with other lists. Another development that can help the Swedish schools to get a good placement is that many universities in the US and Europe will probably have less money as a result of the financial crisis.

Expensive research is rewarded in the ranking lists. A strong crown or fewer research resources in foreign universities can lift Swedish schools on the THE and QS lists.”

Allan Eriksson

What can the University of Gothenburg do to improve its placement on the lists?

“We can shut down the humanities, social science and education faculties and put all the money into medicine and natural sciences instead. I’m sure that would help us climb up in the rankings. But I don’t think that we’d be a better university

Read more about rankings in GU Journal no. 6-2010, www.gu-journalen.gu.se/ arkiv/2010/nummer-6-10/.

The University of Gothenburg’s placement in the three big lists 2010: Jiao Tong University (the “Shanghai list”): 211 Times Higher Education: 281 QS World University Rankings: 183

g

Profile

text: Eva Lundgren

| photo: Johan Wingborg

Enchanted by the magic of books One of the things that Andrea Castro learned during the years she did aikido was to follow the opponent’s strength instead of fighting it.

“It was hard, really hard, but at the same time I also learned something else: that confrontation is seldom the solution and that softness can lead farther.”

g u j o u r n a l 1 | 1 1 9

ith our cup s of steaming hot spicy tea we look for an empty table at Café con leche near Oscar Fredrik Church, not far from where Andrea Castro lives. She is lecturer and subject coordinator in Spanish with origins in Buenos Aires. Her greatest interest is Latin America around the time of the last century, especially the developments in Argentina.

“For example, do you know who Eric Boman was?” she asks when we sit down on the soft couches. “He was a Swedish archaeologist that studied South America about a hundred years ago and who is still important for how Argentines see themselves. He described an Indian tribe in great detail, which was found later never to have existed. Maybe it was something he thought up.

Even if he’s not always reliable he did know a great deal about Latin America, as his colleague Erland Nordenskiöld did. I hope to be able to get funding together with two archeologists, one Swedish and one Argentine, for a study dealing in part with these two researchers and how the picture of Argentina developed a hundred years ago.”

This is only one project that Andrea Castro is involved in. She’s also one of the editors of a language history of Spanish literature to come out in the fall, intended primarily for students in compulsory school and upwards.

“Many of my students are uncertain when we discuss literature; they think that it has to do with figuring out the only right way to explain a text.

But what’s interesting is that ambiguousness, that a text can’t be closed in a little box. Different people see things differently because of their experience, at the same time that the text also has to be understood in its historical setting. What reality does the text discuss, what aspects of the environment does it question? There’s an important double character here: learning to see at the same time that you have to be aware of the things you yourself take for granted. To show this I’ve made a comparison of different translations from the 1800s with new translations of Edgar Allan Poe’s novel The Oval Portrait. The interpretations are very different, which depends of course on the translators having lived in different times and societies.”

Andrea Castro loves literature. Even though she has to put a scientific perspective on it, she feels that there has to be a love of the texts.

“I like fantastic literature most, like the Argentine authors Borges and Cortázar. I think that social realism, like detective stories, is boring.

I want to wonder and be surprised. But I do in fact

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read all kinds of literature and I have since I was little when my father gave me all sorts of books, from Five Go Adventuring Again to Shakespeare.”

When I ask Andrea Castro to tell me about her childhood in Buenos Aires there are two things she mentions particularly, one of them the mornings in the British school where the children weren’t allowed to speak Spanish.

“We did anyway, of course, but when the teachers found out we had to write ‘I should speak English’ five hundred times on the blackboard.”

The other thing she describes is the literary workshop she was part of during her high school years where they read and discussed intensely.

“For me, whose environment was mostly family and school, this was like opening a door to a whole new world. I got to meet all different kinds of people from all over Buenos Aires. And sometimes we did things that felt frighteningly dangerous, like listening to the musical Evita, which was forbidden at that time.”

But when Andrea Castro explained that she wanted to study literature her parents thought that she should become something more sensible instead, a teacher for example.

“I was only 23 years old when I met a Swedish musician in 1988 who got me to come with him to Gothenburg. My parents were probably pretty miserable about it – they were worried about losing me. But I didn’t understand that then, I just wanted to go. After a time I started to study Swedish, Spanish and comparative literature here and without having made so many active choices I became assistant lecturer. I’ve visited Argentina several times during the years, with my family or alone, and both my mother and my sisters have been here.

But it wasn’t until a few years ago that my father came to visit and only then did I feel like he had finally accepted that this is where I live.”

Andrea Castro says that a person’s native language exists in his or her whole body. It takes a long time to learn to joke or make small talk in a natural way in a foreign language. That’s why it’s important to her to speak Spanish with her children so that they learn the language in a natural way.

“Luisa explained the other day that she’s a hundred percent Swedish and fifty percent Argentine, and I think that sounds good. Spanish is fortunately an important language with a high status in Sweden that the children are proud of being able to speak. But for a lot of other people with a foreign background it can probably be more difficult keep up the native language.”

The University of Gothenburg also thinks that language and internationalisation are valuable, where 2011 has been appointed as a special language year.

“Still I can get irritated when the teachers at my department have to answer questionnaires, in the name of internationalism, about how good they are at teaching English. It’s extremely important for us to become more international but there are many significant languages, such as German, French and Arabic. And it isn’t true that you can manage everywhere with English, not in Latin America, not even in Europe.”

The Spanish language has long drawn fairly stable, high interest. It’s one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world and many people in Sweden have their origins in a Spanish speaking country.

“But Spanish is also ‘in’ among many young people, partly because a lot of popular culture comes from Latin America, although in a filtered form via the US. The University of Gothenburg offers a number of preparatory courses in different languages but the introduction in Spanish is gone. It isn’t considered to be a part of a university, but I don’t really understand why. What decides whether a course is preparatory – isn’t an orientation in philosophy also preparatory?”

To have the energy to manage all her projects, instruction and administration, Andrea Castro tries to find the time to exercise. She also started to run a few years ago.

“First I was exhausted after only a few kilome-

Andrea castro Occupation: Lecturer and subject coordinator in Spanish Family: Husband Nils and daughters Luisa and Alma.

Background: Born in Buenos Aires, moved to Gothenburg in 1988.

Lives: In Masthugget.

What you didn’t know: Andrea is good at knitting.

Interests: Literature, film, yoga, running.

Strengths: Enthusiasm and curiosity. tres. But last year I ran Göteborgsvarvet and the first thing I did when I crossed the finish line was to sign up for next year’s race. But before I had children my thing was aikido.”

There was a note on the Department’s bulletin board that got Andrea Castro to start doing the Japanese combat sport, plus the fact that it was easy to pop into the gym because she went by it on her way home. four times a week for five years.

It was a way to challenge myself and also a way to come in contact with my aggressive side. In Argentina children are told that they should be quiet, it’s adults who talk, and I’d learned to hold back a lot of anger. When I trained aikido I got to use my aggression in a positive way. And it’s probably made me better at having conversations too.”

I understand how aikido relates to the art of conversation when Andrea Castro describes the significance of softness.

“Discussions can easily become a taking of positions, not least in the world of academics, where both parties think that the important thing is to win. But regardless of how intelligent the people are, that kind of behaviour doesn’t lead anywhere.

Real conversations are a difficult art built on mutual respect and a desire to truly arrive at something important. It has to do with having trust in that the other person has something worthwhile to say. Common sense isn’t everything, not even in the most intellectual discussions. Sensitivity and awareness are also important.”

“I trained aikido

Real conversations are a difficult art built on mutual respect and a desire to truly arrive at something important.

Weaknesses: Impatient, maybe a little too enthusiastic sometimes?

Afraid of: A lack of love between people, people who are cocksure of themselves.

Favorite food: Grilled meat with a good salad.

what Andrea Castro would like to work for, which isn’t the same thing as accepting weakness or a let-go mentality according to Andrea.

“You see it sometimes at seminars when someone takes criticism personally. The whole atmosphere changes and you can’t hold a good conversation. You have to manage the difficult balancing act of both being able to criticise – because you have to be aware of the weaknesses to be able to do something about them – and at the same time being open to the other person’s views.”

A softer climate also means that it isn’t necessary to have a bad conscience over everything you don’t have time for.

“I’ve stopped feeling like I don’t do enough because I give priority to my children. When I get old and start to think about my life it probably won’t make me sad that I missed a few hours at work. What I would regret is if I hadn’t been there for the children. The simple fact is that you can’t work around the clock, and if there isn’t enough time there’s something wrong with work, not me.”

A sof ter societ y is

Most recently read books: Karl Ove Knausgård’s Min kamp (My Struggle – which Andrea liked) and Vario Vargas LLosa’s El sueño del celta (that Andrea didn’t like).

Her tips on authors: Cristina Peri Rossi, Juan José Saer, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Luisa Valenzuela.

Film tips: Kvinnor utan män (Women without Men), Hämnden (Revenge), Beutiful. And at the Film Festival: 108 Cuchillo de Palo.

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talking with researcher Christian Munthe

text: Magnus Pettersson

| photo: Johan Wingborg

Gene techniques

put ethics to the test Gene technology is developing at a galloping pace. But we have to take more responsibility for guidance and pedagogics to be able to orient ourselves in the broad number of gene tests that will come in the future.

“It’s important that health care takes its time, that the patient is given time to digest results,” says Christian Munthe, professor of practical philosophy and an expert in ethics and gene testing.

What risks and diseases can be found with gene tests?

“A classic array of diseases, both hereditary and non-hereditary. Damage to chromosomes isn’t hereditary. The the most common is the one that causes Down’s syndrome.”

And the hereditary ones?

“Well, we have classical genetic diseases that are dependent on one single gene. There are many, but they’re rare.

Many of them start in the foetus or shortly after birth and break down the person’s ability to survive. They often cause great suffering. Some of them can be cured or prevented, such as PKU (phenylketon­ uria). All newborns are tested for it, and if the child has the PKU gene we can rapidly adjust the diet so that the child doesn’t get the disease. Another serious disease, and uncurable as yet, that breaks out later in life is Huntington’s disease. Then there are genetic injuries that cause an increase in vulnerability and thus an increased risk of illness later in life, such as some kinds of cancer.”

Diseases can also be discovered with foetal diagnostics. Doesn’t that bring in some ethical complications?

“Yes, but most often what’s discovered is chromosome diseases. It’s been hard to discover other genetic diseases unless the parents know that there’s a certain disease in the family. But new techniques are coming where parents can be scanned and the foetus can be tested if something is found.”

Aren’t there ethical problems if parents see that their unborn child has a disease and decide to abort?

“Looking at actual foetal diagnostics you can see that it’s a kind of family plan1 2

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ning tool. Parents have ideas about what kind of children they want. It’s a way to choose children to the extent that you’re interested in doing that. But there’s a risk of miscarriage when amniotic fluid tests are done. New techniques, such as the CUB test, make it possible to make a more precise judgement of risk before people take the step toward taking that risk.”

Is there a risk that we want to give birth to the perfect child?

“Yes, but it probably isn’t created by technology but by a wish to have perfect children. But perfect children won’t ever be able to be created with this technology. And most people would probably get an unpleasant feeling giving a definitive answer to what a perfect child is.”

Let’s say that it’s possible to find out that we carry a gene with a risk for a certain kind of cancer. Making certain choices in life, we could try to minimise the risk for getting that disease. But isn’t there a risk that we get stressed and that our quality of life deteriorates if we know too much?

“Yes, and this is also relevant for the question about foetal diagnostics. There’s a risk that health care causes worry. Experts in genetics have thought about this. There has been an idea since the 1970s about so called genetic guidance – in other words, the art of helping people to deal with this kind of difficulty.”

How should we deal with gene techniques?

“It’s important for health care to take its time and for patients to get a clear picture of what they’re doing before they take a next step. They have to have time to digest results. This requires time and expert com-

Most people would probably get an unpleasant feeling giving a definitive answer to what a perfect child is.

petence – and resources. I’m working now with transferring this kind of thinking to other areas in a project at GPCC (Centre for Person-centered Care at the University of Gothenburg). It has to do with organising care on the basis of seeing people as being basically capable of making decisions themselves. But we have to have resources so that people get the support they need. I’m involved in a project about diabetes in children. We’ve found that most of the problems that diabetes patients have are caused by the difficulties of living with diabetes, the choices we make.”

“What we achieve when we give information about genetic risks has to do with the nature of an individual and how the information about risks is communicated.

Most people think about risks in a different way than the concept that science has about risks. It’s easy for there to be misunderstandings. Feelings also come into play and there can be incorrect ideas about what can be done about the risk.”

Are you critical about anything in today’s management of gene tests?

“All parents-to-be are offered a CUB test regardless of whether they are interested, and I don’t understand that. I’m against it – it’s a waste of health care’s resources.

The purpose seems to be to find as many foetuses with Down’s syndrome as possible, even if the parents aren’t interested.

The risk is that health care instead creates an interest in it – and that kind of goal is doubtful in terms of ethics because it gives the message that people with Down’s syndrome are worth less than other people.

We should be more restrictive and offer CUB primarily to those who actively ask for foetal diagnostics. The usefulness of CUB is that it gives better grounds for decisions about taking the risk of an amniotic test.”

announcements

Year of languages

Christian Munthe is particularly critical of dating companies that match singles on the basis of genetic analysis of the immune system. He calls it fraud.

You can pay for a gene analysis in the US. Switzerland has dating companies that match singles on the basis of genetic analyses of the immune system. Do you think that the same thing is about to happen in Sweden?

“Yes, it’s already here because it’s available on Internet. I think that Swedes use it too. There isn’t anything wrong with gene technology but I think that this is a kind of anxious way to organise it. It’s possible to cause people an enormous amount of injury. It would be like having fast food chains but for surgery.”

What would be the problem with that?

“Most of what goes on in this area is fraud. There isn’t any genetic information about how people fit together. You might as well read horoscopes. It shows how important it is for society to understand this new technique. We’ve seen in the US that a moral standpoint has resulted in

not wanting to use federal funds for new gene techniques, and this makes it a virtual Christmas Eve for private companies.

Another reason is that the US has allowed patents for genes. But the commercial drive has clearly shown that they’re not interested in serious health care.”

What do you think will have happened in the area in Sweden in ten years or so?

“New methods in foetal diagnostics, where you get a reliable answer from a normal blood sample from the pregnant woman. If we can take that step we’ll have foetal diagnostics 2.0 without a risk for miscarriage. But that will make genetic guidance more important.

Sweden has no regular education in genetic guidance, and it’s truly needed: if we like opportunities for genetic testing, we should love guidance. However, we have to respect that some people won’t want to do the tests.”

Christian Munthe Occupation: Professor of practical philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science Age: 48 Born: in Dalarö Lives: in Gothenburg (Masthugget) Family: Daughter 10 years old Interests: Plays free improvised and experimental music

u 2011 is the year of languages at the University of Gothenburg.

This means a number of different activities, such as a seminar series with national and international lecturers.

“The seminars will be spread over the whole university and one of the people we’ve invited is Tomas von Brömssen, to talk about how to talk in front of the public,” explains Pernilla Danielsson, international coordinator.

“Lars-Gunnar Andersson will hold a lecture, and invitations have gone out to other interesting lecturers. We’ll also give short competence development courses, such as a two-day course in English for administrators in May. We’re participating in a project with Århus University about the multicultural and multilingual classroom, and we’ll connect this with a workshop during the year.

We have students who speak English but who have another native language, and that can lead to problems that aren’t always given attention.”

On September 26, which is the European Day of Language, a large number of students of education will be involved in different activities.

“Global Week, November 21-27, will also deal with the year of languages,” says Pernilla Danielsson.

The Department of Language and Literature is particularly involved, of course.

“It’s possible to study a total of 21 different languages at the University of Gothenburg, which is pretty fantastic,” says Vice Dean Mona Arfs. “We’ll draw attention to this in a poster exhibition that will move around to different places in the University.

We’re also working on developing a new educational program in language that will address the relationship between language and culture, among other things.”

Only e-salary statements! u There will be no more paper salary statements for the University’s employees. In the future salary specifications will only exist in individual reports. The reason is to spare the environment and save money. Salary statements on paper will still be sent to employees who receive temporary salaries or who are on leave of absence or sick leave, however.

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News

Many students scared away by tuition fees 12 000 people sent applications last year. This year the number is down to about 4 000 and half of those haven’t paid the appli­ cation fee.

It may be an illusion that the number of serious applicants has dropped so dramatically, accord­ ing to Mats Edvardsson, head of Student Affairs. the majority of applicants haven’t had the proper qualifications,” Mats Edvardsson explains. This probably isn’t the situation this time.

It was expected that the number of applicants would decrease by about two thirds because of tuition fees in the fall. But on the 28th of January, the last day to pay the 900 crown application fee, only 801 applicants had paid. A further lsomewhat more than 1 000 were exempted from payment. That means that the number of students whose qualifications had to be tested will be about 2 000; there is still a number of applicants who have to confirm their right not to have to pay the fee.

“There are some uncertainty factors that make it impossible to say how many they will be,” says Mats Edvardsson. For example, there are students that don’t have to pay the application fee because they’re already students here, but who still have to pay the tuition fee.

“In earlier years

“We’re going to analyse student groups more carefully now,” says Mats Edvardsson. Why do they apply and what other schools, nationally and internationally, have they applied to? And how competitive are our programs? Building up a bank of experience takes a long time, several years. One of the programs that has the most international students is software engineering and management at the IT faculty. “There continues to be great pressure on applying,” says Carl-Magnus Olsson, who

It’s also uncertain how large the decrease actually is. There can be a number of reasons for a decrease in the number of applicants. The application fee has probably meant that the number of applicants that lack the right merits has strongly decreased. It isn’t possible to say how many yet.

Top ten list of applicants to Master programs that pay tuition or are tuition-free.

The table indicates the country in which the students have earned their basic degree (preliminary numbers): Germany Ethiopia Bangladesh Great Britain China Iran USA Turkey Pakistan India

93 92 80 80 73 65 59 56 48 43

Top ten list of Master programs (indicates applicants that pay tuition or are freed from paying tuition): 1. Global studies 2. International administration 3. Master in communication 4. International business and trade 5. Finance 6. Strategic human resource management 7. Computer science 8. Marketing and consumption 9. Social work and human rights 10. Science in management

Welcome to the International Café!

The International Café takes place on the first Monday of every month and is an informal meeting place for international researchers, international staff, PhD students, their families and hosts.

Location: Ågrenska villan, Högåsplatsen 2 Guest Services: www.service.gf.gu.se/gast

is a guest professor in the program.

“But we’ll probably have another student composition with more from Europe and fewer from the rest of the world. That’s a shame and it feels very wrong. All system development is going toward greater globalisation. Our education programs will lose some of their international feeling – that has otherwise been a strong characteristic.”

T wo new schol ar ship systems have been started to make it a little easier for non-European students to come to Gothenburg. One is administrated by the Swedish Institute and the other is an effort on the part of the government that this year gives the University of Gothenburg 1.2 million crowns. The scholarship is meant to cover half of the tuition fee.

“That’s far too little,” says Mats Edvardsson. “Since a Masters costs 200 000 to 385 000, the money isn’t enough for more than about ten students. If the chance is so small of getting a scholarship, there’s no real point in applying and then the whole thing is meaningless. We have to develop new scholarship systems, both nationally and at each school.

But that will take time, of course.”

An opposite trend is that applicants from Great Britain and the US have increased, probably because of the increase in tuitions there.

“Even if it’s too early here to give exact numbers, it seems like we’re starting to be interesting for new groups of students,” says Mats Edvardsson. “We have good programs that are free for students in the EEs area and obviously cheap for Americans too. We’re facing a completely new situation that we have to learn to manage.” eva lundgren

The University recruits students in India Why the University of Gothenburg?

That’s a question that Kerstin Jöns­ son was frequently asked during her exhibition tour in India.

“The students knew exactly what they were interested in and many had also prepared themselves by visiting the University’s web site or our Facebook group.”

Late last fall, Kerstin Jönsson from Student Affairs, together with Urban Nulden at the Department of Applied Information Technology and student Åsa X, participated in the QS World Grad School Tour, where schools from the entire world present their Master and post graduate programs. The Swedish Institute and representatives of a further six schools also participated. It’s become important for Swedish universities to market themselves abroad because of the tuition fees that students outside the EES area will have to pay starting in the fall.

The group visited six cities during the tour: Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

“We started to prepare ourselves for the tour last spring to be able to present as good information as possible,” Kerstin Jönsson tells us. “In the fall we also sent out personal e-mails to everyone who had indicated that they were interested and started a Facebook group, Study at the University of Gothenburg, that has things like contact information for some of our international student ambassadors. The exhibitions were held at different hotels and we also had two special receptions.”

The students were primarily interested in Master programs at graduate schools and programs in economics, the natural sciences, information technology and some in the social sciences.

“Many of them asked questions about stem cell research and pharmacology, and there was also great interest in odontology, but unfortunately we don’t have any education programs in English there. There was in fact almost no one who asked what it costs to study here. Tuition fees are so natural in other countries that they probably don’t think about it.”

The Facebook group and web site will now be evaluated and Student Affairs will then put together a strategy for future activities.

“It’s of course valuable that good foreign students come to Gothenburg,” says Kerstin Jönsson, “but it’s just as important that we give them help when they come and develop an alumnus activity. I’m sure it will take a few years, but it will give many valuable contacts in return.”

Eva Lundgren

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AT L A

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Weddell Sea

South Pole

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INDIAN OCEA

PA C I F I C

Antarctic

Ross Sea

Ice-breaker Oden’s route to the Antarctic December 13

Iceberg sighting We’ve had a calm trip since we left Punta Arenas on the 8th of December.

After we drove slowly and waited out a storm farther south, the captain dare to begin crossing the notorious Drake Sound. The waves have been high even if the weather has been good, and decks 1 and 3 were closed off for the whole voyage.

December 16

baking gingerbread cookies, putting up Christmas decorations and trimming the tree to get the feeling of Christmas on board. The kitchen staff has tried hard to make a good Christmas smorgasbord for this evening, and we’re grateful for that. The traditional Donald Duck clips will be shown in the film room at 15:00 so that we can feel like it’s a classic Swedish Christmas Eve. December 30

Quicksilver in the polar ice and sea

Polar feeling Now we’ve passed the southern polar circle, the surface of the ocean has gotten colder and we’re in the Bellinghausen Sea, just east of the Amundsen Sea. There’s a steady flow of icebergs of varying sizes and shapes and we can see colonies of resting penguins while others swim away from Oden. A single adelie penguin is standing on an ice floe. The polar feeling is here.

We’re going to drill up seas ice cores, take samples of snow (and take pictures of the crystals), air and sea water, and make different flow measurements to find out how the sea ice and the snow covering affect the exchange of carbon dioxide between the sea and the atmosphere. We also want to find out how the elevated carbon dioxide content affects Antarctic water and the organisms that live there and build limestone shells, such as pteropods.

December 24

Christmas in the Amundsen Sea You could hardly wish for a whiter Christmas than this. Even if it’s a very different Christmas Eve for many of us, it will definitely be an unforgettable one. The last days have been full of

We’ve been away for almost four weeks and have had the time to make measure­ments of a number of different parts of the southern and Antarctic waters and air: first the Drake Passage during the crossing from South America to the Antarctic peninsula, then the Bellings­hausen and Amundsen Seas and we’ll be moving farther west to the Ross Sea. But our measurements have been going on almost all the time on board, the whole way from Landskrona where Oden started its voyage south in October. We measure quicksilver – the first measurements in the Antarctic – in the sea water, the ice and the snow. We’re also measuring ozone and quicksilver in the layer of air closest to the sea water.

January 9

Close contact with Weddell seals We lift off over an endlessly beautiful world of ice floes and blue. Large, silent ice masses float in strange positions and look like they’re light in spite of weighing several thousands of tonnes. Soon we see an ice floe with a round seal hole in the middle. Four Weddell seals are sunbathing. When we go down to land they hop a few meters to the side

and look suspiciously at us. The first one has soon been hit by a dart with an anaesthetic, shot by Olle Karlsson from the National Natural History Museum and ten minutes later it’s apathetic and pretty easy to handle. We take blood samples and take skin samples for virology and bacteriology. We cut a little of its fur for heavy metal analyses.

A biopsy for DNA and environmental poisons. Measure and weigh. Wow, 265 kilos! The next one weighs 400 kilos!

January 14

Ozone and quick­silver in the air The voyage is coming to an end. We came to the entrance to McMurdo

Sound in Ross Sea yesterday. We see land again after almost six weeks. Ross Island is off to the left. There are two high mountains on the island: Mount Erebus, 3 794 meters, and Mount Terror, 3 262 meters. Everything around us – the sea, the ice, the mountains and the sky – are just different combinations and nuances of white and blue. We’ve completed our research for this time.

Ice-breaker Oden has begun its work to break up a channel in the ice to the American research station McMurdo. It’s been a successful expedition. We who measure production and flows of greenhouse gases have succeeding in studying the flow of these gases through snow, ice and water. The gaseous form of quicksilver has been measured in sea water and ice in the Antarctic area for the first time, which means that an empty page can be filled in.

Excerpts from travel blog Ice-breaker Oden’s route to the Antarctic that you can read in its full version at: www.science.gu.se/antarktis

All the participants in the Oden Southern Ocean Expedition 2010-2011. Back row from the left: Anders Torstensson, Katarina Gårdfeldt, Anna Wåhlin, Lars Arneborg and Niklas Forsgard. Front row from the left: Karin Hårding, Anna Granfors, Sarkka Langer, Melissa Chierici, Agneta Fransson and Katarina Abrahamsson.

the Next issue will be published mars 30

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