New operational plan

The current year should be seen as a springboard to the strategic work that will be done up until 2024, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin explains.

New operational plan with 75 activities

The Vice-Chancellor has now adopted the 2021 operational plan for the University of Gothenburg. New features include a large number of hands-on activities for achieving the objectives adopted in association with our work on the new vision.

THE OPERATIONAL PLAN contains as many as 75 activities within the six focus areas that the university will be working on over the next four years. – Yes, it is quite substantial, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin admits. Each activity has an owner who will be responsible for ensuring that the work progresses well, an idea proposed by the University of Gothenburg Advisory Board.

Even though it looks like at lot, many projects or processes are already underway, says Magnus Petersson, Deputy University Director. – For example, our climate framework has been in place for a year now, and a lot of our other sustainability work has been ongoing for some considerable time.

Calling the document University-wide operational plan instead of its previous designation as a University management operational plan is significant, he concludes. – The idea is for the overarching operational plan to be a matter for the entire university. One such example is the development of a new model for skills supply planning for which the vice-chancellor is responsible. Naturally, it is not about the vice-chancellor coming up with a solution all by herself, it is about working together. That may be accomplished by various task forces led by representatives of the university management.

ANOTHER NEW FEATURE of the operational plan is that not everything needs to completed this year. – On the contrary, the current year should be seen as a springboard to the strategic work that will be done up until 2024, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin explains. The action plan will be an active document and followed up throughout the year, such as by the vice-chancellor’s university management council and the management team.

NEITHER IS THE ACTION plan divided into different areas, such as research and education, but separate, traditionally different operations will overlap, Magnus Petersson explains. – It is a pronounced strategy for encouraging collaboration across boundaries. For example, the work on the new communications strategy will not only be done by the central university administration, it will involve both faculties and departments.

Some activities require more longterm work, such as the investigation into how to organise our future, flexible work situation. – There is a lot happening there as well.