Roughly five years have passed since the inauguration of Umeå Arts Campus by the Ume River – an area that has become a well-known part of the Umeå image, and which gathers three artistically focused schools and one museum of contemporary arts.
"Umeå Arts Campus is an exciting and creative environment with an amazing location by the river. It's an important part of the University, and also a trademark for Umeå," says Hans Adolfsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
Even if the seven organisations at Umeå Arts Campus are physically located in adjacent buildings, they are still positioned at different levels when it comes to the organisational structure at Umeå University. The Faculty of Science and Technology governs over Umeå Institute of Design and Umeå School of Architecture. The Faculty of Arts governs over Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Bildmuseet and Humlab-X. The Vice-Chancellor governs over Sliperiet and the Umeå University Library governs over the UB Arts Campus library.
In 2015, the then Vice-Chancellor Lena Gustafsson initiated a process of analysing the various operations at Umeå Arts Campus and finding ways to coordinate the operations more efficiently. That work has contributed to a higher level of collaboration between operations at Umeå Arts Campus, but the need to find permanent solutions for this process remains.
According to Vice-Chancellor Hans Adolfsson, the issue of finding the best organisational structure for Umeå Arts Campus has been discussed in-depth for quite some time. A definitive conclusion is that forming a new faculty of fine, applied and performing arts is not a solution in this case.
Apart from this restriction, Hans Adolfsson is open for suggestions and can see huge potential in development and fresh ideas:
"A review of the organisation is necessary in order to find a model that can create long-term stability, and to further strengthen the collaboration between the university's operations at Umeå Arts Campus."
Based upon not making any alterations to the faculty level, an assignment has been formulated for an external analyst. The work requires a person with experience of both higher education management and organisations. It is also an advantage if the person has experience from artistic organisations.
The recruitment of the analyst is underway and on 30 April 2018, a proposal should be presented to the Vice-Chancellor.