Temporarily paused Russian course

It is extremely topical and student interest is greater than ever. Then the University of Gothenburg cancels the Russia course.

PER MÅNSON HAS directed the course Russia Between the Past and the Future for 20 years.

– It’s had its ups and downs. In the middle of the 2000s we had very few applications, but we kept going, and since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, interest has grown. The course has always been part-time, in the afternoons, with very eclectic groups, some students taking extra credits, a few pensioners and some people who come straight from work. It has been a very pleasant course to hold, he says.

But the years go by and Per Månson has now been Professor Emeritus of Sociology for some time. For this reason he has held the course, which is now in English and online, at the Centre for European Studies on six-month temping contracts that really do not offer enough hours for the work involved. This became particularly evident last spring when the course, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had close to 250 applicants. But that was something Per Månson could take – the course is his baby and Russia his great passion.

– IT WAS A VERY successful course. Thirty-three students started, thirty-one completed it, and the course evaluation showed that it was hugely appreciated.

But there will be no course this autumn. According to the

Programme Board of the European Studies Programme, this is due to two reasons: “Firstly, the course needs to be reworked in terms of both form and content, for which there is unfortunately no time before the start of the autumn term 2023. Secondly, the current course director will no longer be able to be the course director in the 2023 autumn term.”

Per Månson find this very peculiar, but even more difficult to understand is why the course could not still be held this autumn.

– THE CRUCIAL THING is that the course, which is more important than ever in light of the current international situation, continues. If necessary, I could almost work for free.

But in reality there was already a plan for how he was to retire. For six years, Senior Lecturer Jens Stillhoff Sörensen has taught the course and has been given more and more responsibility has time has gone by. The idea was that he was to take full responsibility for it next year, but in January he was asked by the Centre for European Studies to take over this autumn instead, something with which he was not entirely comfortable.

– I COULDN’T JUST take over. It would feel disloyal, and I said that I wanted to wait until they discussed with Per whether he would get an assignment or not. I thought I had left it open, but then I suddenly received an email about the course having been cancelled. I was very surprised and astonished, says Jens Stillhoff Sörensen.

Linda Berg, Director at the Centre for European Studies, does not agree with that.

– We asked directly whether Jens was ready to take over responsibility for the course or not, and he responded by referring to Per and that he hoped it would be resolved. We also held a meeting with Per and the management of his department, where Per said that Jens could not possibly take over responsibility for the course on such short notice. We needed to have a course director in place well in advance who was willing and had the time to work on developing the course.

ACCORDING TO Linda Berg, it was pointed out as early as in the spring of 2021 that the course and the reading list needed revising – something that had not been done for the autumn of 2022. The course was also far too ambitious in its structure for the increased interest that had arisen among students.

– It became extremely difficult for anyone correcting and commenting on exams, says Linda Berg.

Per Månson agrees that the exam part is too advanced, but that it could easily be simplified.

– The idea was also that the course would change for 2024 when Jens Stillhoff Sörensen was supposed to take over, says Per Månson who wonders if there is something else behind the decision.

COULD CRITICISM of the course have played a role? Even though the course was very much appreciated, which nobody could doubt if they read the feedback submitted by around 30 students in conjunction with the final exam, there were two critical voices among them. One in particular accused Jens Stillhoff Sörensen of having used “pro-Russian rhetoric” once in a discussion on the war in Ukraine, and then, among other things, called western media “propaganda”.

– In the beginning of the course in September, Jens said that there is a geopolitical restructuring happening in the world. This offended one of the students who thought it was pure Putin propaganda. Last week, precisely the same discussion was held on the evening news programme, Aktuellt.

Jens was just talking about it too early, says Per Månson who discussed the criticism with the two students.

– Of course the students should be critical of what lecturers say, but it is not enough to, as in this case, only have BBC News as the source for one’s opinions. This is a university course where we discuss issues impartially and work with sources and how to evaluate them, the students need to realise this.

BUT THE CRITICISM was passed on through the official and anonymized course evaluation (with a total of seven respondents) that reached all the way to the Programme Board.

– We highlighted the fact that there had been criticism, but that has definitely not influenced the decision to suspend/// the course, says Linda Berg.

Then what did you discuss concerning the criticism?

– We talked about how it was a little worrying and that we had to talk to the lecturer in question to find out their version of the events.

Have you talked to him?

– No I haven’t had time, but I will do so, says Linda Berg.

She completely understands that it may look strange that the course has been suspended now when the interest is greater than ever but at the same time, that is one of the reasons why the course has to be restructured. She promises that the course will be back, hopefully as early as in the spring of 2024.

– FOR OUR programme students spring is better than autumn, because in the spring they can choose an optional course. That would enable more programme students to take the course.

It has not yet been decided who will be taking over the course, according to Linda Berg. But it will not be Per Månson or Jens Stillhoff Sörensen.

Lasse Nicklason