The Vice-Chancellor wants increased mobility – Internationalisation is not a goal in itself, but a means of attaining the best possible education and research, says Vice- Chancellor Eva Wiberg about the new internationalisation strategy that was recently adopted. INTERNATIONALISATION was at
the top of the agenda when Eva Wiberg took office four years ago. – I realised early on that internationalisation had been relegated to the departmental level. The University of Gothenburg was less visible and attractive internationally, and we did not have many central agreements. For this reason, we needed to pool our resources and focus them on this issue, and we still do. The first thing she did was to form an internationalisation council, of which she was the chairperson.
– THE FIRST THING we did was to survey the needs of the faculties and departments to ascertain which regions were the most interesting ones. There are almost 30,000 universities in the world, but which ones do we want to work with? High quality and reciprocity in the agreements are essential. The three-page strategy, which is in effect from 2021– 2024, says nothing about the outcomes and instead focuses on values and overarching principles about autonomy and academic freedom. If comprises four areas: Sustainable Development, Relationships and Cooperation with the Community, Responsible Internationalisation and Skills Provision. The idea is to break down the strategy into different action plans. Eva Wiberg stresses that the strategy is global and university-wide. – It aligns with our vision: A
university for the world. This is what we can achieve together on an overarching level. At the same time, there is always the freedom for each department and faculty to set their own priorities. The strategy is a reflection of our efforts over the past few years. Some partnership agreements highlighted by the Vice-Chancellor include MIRAI 2.0 with 11 Swedish and 8 Japanese universities, SANORD which aims to promote collaboration between universities in the Nordic region and southern Africa, as well as CALIE which is a partnership between Swedish and American universities on leadership. – What characterises these agreements is that we join a network of other Swedish universities. We are not only seen as the University of Gothenburg, but as a part of Universities of Sweden. Even though we are competitors, we are stronger together. We are currently planning partnership agreements with South Korea and Indonesia together with other Swedish universities. There is also plenty of interest in more collaboration with North America, Australia and New Zealand. MOST OF ALL, Eva Wiberg would like to see a partnership agreement with the University of California Exchange Programme (UCEAP), which includes the most prominent and highly ranked universities on the American west coast. – Lund University has been collaborating with the UCEAP since the 1960s. I think we have a good chance since our key areas are a good match, but we also align in terms of values. The major digital transition during the pandemic has also impacted the content of the strategy, focusing on responsible and sustainable internationalisation.
– I hope that the Climate Framework will lead to more sustainable travel in the future, which will reduce our CO2 emissions in accordance with the climate goals. We cannot do what Greta did and sail across the Atlantic, but we could travel a lot more by train in the Nordics and Europe. We also need to think about the reason for certain trips and have to accept that it will cost a little more.
I hope that the Climate Framework will lead to more sustainable travel in the future ... EVA WIBERG
INTERNATIONAL recruitment is another matter to take very seriously, according to the Vice-Chancellor, such as by continuing to develop how we welcome foreign employees and provide language support. Eva Wiberg also wants to create opportunities for sabbatical programmes in all faculties. – That is important not only for our own employees, because if we want to attract young, promising researchers, we need to be able to offer contiguous research time over several months. Even though digital meetings have proven to work pretty well, Eva Wiberg wants to strike a blow for increased mobility. It is important, not least for students and doctoral students. – Getting out there and seeing something different, widening your horizons and gaining insight into the fact that there is a world outside, this is the very point of internationalisation. It may never have been more important than it is now, considering that we live in a time of growing populism, xenophobia and nationalism. And internationalisation at home is just as important, to work in an environment that is not homogeneous.
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
GUJOURNAL OCTOBER 2021
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