8 minute read
More than 180 students at digital summer school.
Digital summer course exceeded expectations
This year, the University of Gothenburg’s first Summer School for Sustainability was held, a summer school in sustainability – completely digital. More than 180 students from over 20 countries studied together in the month of July.
There was tremendous interest – over 800 people applied for the six courses. – It was very successful, says Annika Larsson, Project Manager at the International Centre.
A DECISION HAS ALREADY
been made to offer the summer school until 2024, with sustainability as its theme. – Now this year’s summer school has been evaluated, and planning is underway for next year. So far, there have been five proposals for courses from as many faculties. We will see if it will be digital or on site, says Annika Larsson.
The unique thing about Summer School for Sustainability is that it is based on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The courses also include social and practical elements where students have to propose possible solutions to climate threats. – The University of Gothenburg has a very clear profile in sustainability, so it was easy to market the six courses, which this summer were aimed at exchange students at partner universities. They study together with Swedish students, which contributes to internationalization at home, Annika Larsson points out.
Photo: PRIVATE
Annika Larsson, Project Manager at the International Centre. THE MORE THAN 180 places were quickly filled and the student mix was very diverse, from about 20 countries, and included students at different levels.
From the beginning, it was Hans Abelius, Head of
the International Centre, who picked up the idea at the request of several of the university’s partner universities who wanted to be able to send students for a shorter period than an entire semester. But it has taken time to get it in place. The plan was to start in 2020, but then the pandemic got in the way.
– THE IDEA WAS also to arrange the summer school on site, but at the end of last year the decision was made to make it digital, so we had to adjust quickly, says Annika Larsson.
Some examples of courses ing their studies at the University of Gothenburg. The evaluations from the six course leaders were also only positive: Everyone thought that the digital format worked much better than expected, despite the fact that the students were in different time zones and sometimes had to get up in the middle of the night to be able to participate.
were “sustainable development in a global perspective”, “inequality in climate change” and “biodiversity in western Sweden”. In addition to the courses, there was an extensive programme of peripheral activities open to the whole group, with lectures, panel discussions, workshops, quizzes and even remote baking. – It was a challenge to create a sense of inclusion, considering that everyone was sitting in front of their screens in different parts of the world, in different time zones. But we had two student ambassadors who did a fantastic job. The purpose was to get the students involved, and I think we succeeded.
THE SURVEYS ALSO show that the students were satisfied with the summer school (4.6 out of 5 points) and that it made them more involved in sustainability issues. Furthermore, many of them are thinking about continu-
ANNIKA LARSSON IS happy with the tremendous commitment, but when it came down to it, it was difficult to get lecturers and researchers at the University of Gothenburg to show up, even if it was only for a couple of hours. – I don’t think that many of them are used to working in the middle of the summer. But we must not forget that this is an excellent opportunity for our lecturers to present their research. The digital format also made it possible to involve lecturers from other countries. One of them was the producer of Planet Earth, Chadden Hunter.
Planning the entire summer school involved a lot of work, but Annika Larsson thinks it was worth it. – It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done. However, it has been a journey with a lot of challenges, next year it will run much more smoothly.
Allan Eriksson
FACTS
Summer School for Sustainability 2021
brought together students from around the world to study issues related to Agenda 2030 and the global sustainability goals for four weeks. Of the more than 800 first-time applicants, 136 exchange students and 46 Swedish students have been placed. The International Office arranges the Summer School.
A perfect model for an international classroom
Hello there, Gregg Bucken-Knapp,
Professor of Public Administration, responsible teacher for the summer course Managing Migration, one of six courses that were part of Summer School for Sustainability 2021.
What did it mean for you to give the course?
The course in Managing Migration course was an opportunity to deliver on something that I have long wanted to do – bring together an international group of undergraduates with an interest in migration and integration and to give them the opportunity to learn not just from me and my colleagues at Förvaltningshögskolan, but also from scholars and practitioners around the globe who work with migration. The online format really worked in our favor this year, and it provides an ideal model for internationalizing the classroom in a sustainable way. It was especially rewarding to have a mix of students from both here in Sweden and students from so many of the GU partner universities. That type of truly diverse classroom is far too rare at the undergraduate level, and opens up so many possibilities for student discussion and collaboration
What do you think is needed to get more teachers to participate during summer?
We Swedes like our long summer vacations, myself included. But, with the course over at the end of July, there was still the chance to take the entire month of August off. And what better way to start vacation than with fresh memories of having just been part of a central GU educational initiative for promoting sustainability? I think the opportunity easily sells itself! That said, planning and delivering a summer course with almost 40 contact hours is very labor-intensive, and I imagine that most of the involved teachers, or those who might be persuaded to be involved, would greatly value having additional resources made available in terms of extra teaching hours.
Among the 200 top universities in the world
Among the 200 top universities in the world
The University of Gothenburg climbs a few places on the British Times Higher Education’s annual ranking list of the world’s top universities and ranks 185th.
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION
(THE) HAS PRESENTED its prestigious ranking list of universities from around the world since 2004. This year, the University of Gothenburg has risen six places – from 191 to 185. But it is difficult to draw any major conclusions from the change, according to analyst Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
”It’s a very small movement that can be considered normal variation and it hardly produces any change in exposure either. However, it is valuable to be just above the 200 mark compared to being just below. Often, only the top 200 universities will show.
The University of Gothenburg gained almost exactly the same total score this year as last year (54.8 points in 2021). But there have been some changes in the various indicators: In teaching, the university has risen from 27.7 points to 29.6, in research it increased from 40.8 to 42.3 but, on the other hand, the university has dropped in the ‘media quotations’ indicator from 94 to 90.5 points.
The number one on the list is for the sixth year in a row the University of Oxford in the UK. Otherwise, the top list is dominated by American universities with eight out of ten top rankings. The California Institute of Tecnhology ranks second, followed by Harvard and Stanford.
KI IS STILL the number one place among Swedish higher education institutions and for the second year in a row it is clinching a place in the top 40 list. The next best in Sweden is Lund University in 116th place and Uppsala University in 131st place. Stockholm University is following on place 176th.
Despite fierce international competition, the University of Gothenburg has managed to climb on the important ranking board. ”The university seems to have situated itself in the range of 150–200, which is a respectable place that gives a significant exposure,” says Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
Allan Eriksson
Please read more on: https:// medarbetarportalen.gu.se/ organisation/utredningar/ universitetsrankning/resultatanalyser/ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/
University of Gothenburg ranked among the best
The University of Gothenburg is ranked in 138th place in the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), more commonly called the Shanghai Ranking.
OUR RANKING this year means that the University of Gothenburg has advanced three places compared to 2020, and consolidates the official position within the 101–150 range, which is the same position as in 2020. The slight advance is probably due to random variation, analyst Magnus MacHale-Gunnarssson believes. – It is the single best position that the University of Gothenburg has ever attained on the Shanghai Ranking, but the improvement is so minor that it could be considered noise, he emphasizes.
The University of Gothenburg’s improved position over the past few years is primarily down to better results in the HiCi indicators (the number of employees on Clarivate’s lists of frequently cited researchers), as well as having more articles published in the journals Nature & Science.
AS REGARDS OTHER Swedish universities with a broad educational remit, there are small differences. Karolinska Institutet is the highest ranked Swedish university, and is number 42 in the world. They are followed by Stockholm University and Uppsala University, in 74th and 78th place respectively. Lund University has fallen a few places and, like last year, they are ranked slightly below the University of Gothenburg.
The biggest change is that the Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology have fallen significantly from 213th to 277th place for the Royal Institute of Technology, and from 359th to 447th place for Chalmers. – This can be explained by the fact that both universities have dropped in the indicators for frequently cited researchers, where Chalmers previously had two researchers, compared to only one currently, and the Royal Institute no longer has anyone on the list, says Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
Photo: OLA KJELBYE
