AKTUM At the beginning of April, the University Board approved the new vision for Umeå University. Since the first draft was published, many versions, comments and discussions have gone back and forth.
ÅSA RUDEHÄLL, analyst at the Planning Office, is responsible for coordinating the Swedish text revisions.
This is not the first time you have participated in drafting a vision for Umeå University, is it?
"No. I participated in writing the development programme for the Vision and strategies that was approved by the Board in 2003. Inge-Bert Täljedal was the Vice-Chancellor back then."
What is the main difference between this vision document and the previous ones?
"All our vision documents have been different in both scope and setup. This one is different in the way that it only consists of a vision, but no objectives and strategies. Another difference is that this vision is not structured in separate chapters for research, education and collaboration. The University Management made it clear from the onset that such a division wasn't what they wanted."
What role have you had this time?
"My job has been to listen to ideas, views and suggestions and put them into words. The vision that has now been approved by the University Board is the result of at least 20 versions that have been tested on various groups. The biggest influence were all the views that came through the internal consultation."
What had been done when you started writing?
"We started by reading all the answers to the six questions the Vice-Chancellor had submitted for consultation within the organisation in early autumn 2018. Based on the answers, the University Management had some initial discussions that led to the very first draft.
Basically every wording has been revised since then, but one thing that has outlived all the revisions are the three headlines that the vision is based upon: Umeå University in the future, Joint development of knowledge, and Competitiveness and pride."
What was discussed most during the process?
"Some had opinions and wanted to delete the text about the Umeå University spirit that is described in the introduction. Our position in the Arctic was also more prominent in the first version, but it was criticised and thus toned down in later versions.
The consultation contained views that the vision was not edgy enough and does not provide a clear enough direction. We tried to improve that in the last version prior to approval by the University Board."
What lessons have you learnt during all this?
"To trust the process."
JONAS LIDSTRÖM