Today our government revealed the new ministers and among them some new names were announced. Within the higher education area, we listened even more attentively when the new minister for Higher Education and Research was revealed. Helene Hellmark Knutsson (S) is stepping down and our new minister is called Matilda Ernkrans. Congratulations to an exciting position, Matilda!
We have a number of important issues to talk about, and my hope is that I and my colleagues have the opportunity to meet soon. You probably have a new commission waiting on your desk. We are of course very interested in how you and the new government will deal with the Control and Resources Commission (Strut). At the University of Gothenburg, we work knowingly to increase internationalisation and are eager to match the national strategy for internationalisation.
We work continuously with cooperation, research impact, and our role in society; at the same time questions about academic freedom are in focus. Certain research has been a weapon in the current debate and the discourse is getting more and more heated. Within the academia we want everybody to express themselves freely, we are always open to criticism, we like a good debate, and we are used to defending our case. But we also have to stand up for academic freedom, to secure a respectful discourse and we should never accept threats and hatred.
We’d like very much to talk about these issues with you. I want to take the opportunity to invite you to Gothenburg. You are very welcome to learn more about our university’s prerequisites, challenges and possibilities. Let’s take a fika and openly discuss matters such as open access, the possibilities of digitalisation, research infrastructures, widening participation, research ethics, teacher education attractiveness, equality, quality assessment systems …
Very Welcome!
Eva Wiberg