A new vision is presented for a common discussion

Update on 16 January 2019: an English translation of the Vision has now been published Vision and Strategies for 2020–2025.

At the beginning of the autumn, departments and units submitted their responses on a number of issues for the future that Vice-Chancellor Hans Adolfsson originally formulated in a blog post at the beginning of the summer.

"It's been important to me from the start that the new vision is developed from the bottom up and not top down," says Hans Adolfsson.
The questions asked were ambitious, including some of the following: "What is Umeå University today?", "What will the University look like in 5, 10 and 20 years?", "What are the most important strategic challenges up to 2025?"

The responses received have been compiled by faculty or equivalent. Hans Adolfsson describes the work as a gradual exploration based on some clear themes:

"One question was about the 'Umeå University spirit', is there such a thing? Based upon the responses, we can safely say yes, there is."

Researchers have been used as a sounding board

The University Management along with analyst Åsa Rudehäll have held discussions and evaluations. Early drafts have been presented to the university's strategic council and for some other groupings in order to obtain additional viewpoints and test the strength of reasoning. For example, participants in the leadership programme ReaL have been used as a kind of focus group, explains Hans Adolfsson.
"I have previous participated in some of the meetings with the group that recently completed step three of the programme. It was a spontaneous offer from the group, and they gladly helped. They have contributed with intelligent ideas."

Open hearing for all who are interested

On 14 January, a first version of the vision will be made available to everyone at the University. A few days later, on Thursday 17 January at 15:00, the University Management invites all to attend a hearing at the Ljusgården atrium in the Teacher Education Building.

"If you are curious about and interested in contributing to how Umeå University will be developed in the future, then I think you should take the opportunity to show up. All employees, regardless of job description or title, are welcome – and I hope there will be a lot of students as well," says Hans Adolfsson.

At the hearing in January, he will give a brief presentation that explains and presents the vision in context. Annakarin Nyberg, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Informatics, will then lead a one-hour long open question-and-answer session.
Hans Adolfsson emphasises that the version presented for questions and comments in January is not the final vision document. There is still time and space for changes and to exercise influence.
"It is now important that the employees who have contributed early in the process can receive feedback on the brief and straightforward vision we have reached," he says.

Sustainability and governance characterised by trust

In addition to the "Umeå University spirit", "trust" and "future responsibility" are two keywords that have existed since the beginning of the process. Regarding the question of what is meant by future responsibility, Adolfsson asserts that the feedback from the organisation has resulted in a stronger focus on sustainability.

"We have raised the UN's 17 sustainability goals (2030 Agenda) as part of the vision. Sustainability is an issue that is very strong here at Umeå University," he says.

"Trust" may possibly be somewhat obscure as a word of value in the first place. But when Hans Adolfsson explains, there essentially is a clear point of view. For him, the beacon is the work with the governance of welfare services in the public sector that the governmental Delegation for Trust-Based Public Management has carried out in recent years.

"Governing with trust is about involving employees at all levels and achieving overall responsibility, to trust in the profession," explains Hans Adolfsson.

Hans Adolfsson sees many common traits with the collegial governance that has long prevailed in the world of higher education, but which in recent decades has taken a back seat to other ideals.

"Trust-based governance is in many respects the opposite of the New Public Management philosophy with its distinctive focus on measurement, management by objectives, and control functions," he says.

Interview: Jonas Lidström
Translated by: David Meyers

Find out more about the ongoing work with the Vision 2020–2025 on Aurora.