Mid Sweden University College 10 years (2003)

The publication tells about Mid Sweden University College's creation and development during the first 10 years. In the book, about 20 people give their personal analyses and reflections.

The following text about Mid Sweden University College's history is an excerpt from the anniversary publication written by Alf Gunnmo, Vice-Chancellor of Östersund University College 1977–1981 and 1990–1993, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Mid Sweden University College 1993–1999, and editor of the jubilee publication.

Download the entire anniversary publication as pfd (in Swedish)

Mid Sweden University College

ALF GUNNMO

Mid Sweden University College is a young university, but it has its roots more than 150 years back in time. As early as 1842, a navigation school was established in Härnösand for helmsmen and sea captains. That same year, a decision was made to establish a public school seminar. Naval officer training has now been phased out, while teacher training still forms the main focus of university activities in Härnösand.

During the 1950s, various forces worked to strengthen higher education in this region, but it did not yield any results, and it was Umeå that got a university. It was not until the early 1970s that higher education was established in the region through what came to be known as systematised decentralised university education. It was conducted in collaboration between Sundsvall Municipality and Umeå University, Östersund Municipality and Uppsala University. At this time, the question of the need for a sixth social college and where it should be located was also investigated. The inquiry recommended that an additional social college should be established, and that this should take place in Sundsvall. However, the government's proposal stated that "the regional policy aspects must be given special importance in the choice of location for a new social college in Norrland", which is why  the location proposal was instead Östersund. This was also the Riksdag's decision in May 1971. Already that autumn, the first 60 social work students were admitted.

The formation of the University Colleges in Sundsvall/Härnösand and Östersund

At the end of the 1960s, the influx to universities and colleges increased sharply, and  the government realised that something had to be done to enable universities to cope with the growing interest in higher education. The need for reform was underlined by the fact that representatives of the business and public sectors  demanded that higher education must become more vocational. Quite in accordance with Swedish tradition, a large, comprehensive inquiry was appointed, the 1968 Education Inquiry. The result of the investigation was, among other things, the establishment of the University College of Sundsvall/Härnösand (H S/H) and the University College of Östersund (HÖs). In itself, there was nothing strange about a "double-town college", such were formed in many places in Sweden, but in Västernorrland it was not entirely uncontroversial because from Härnösand's side it was difficult to accept that Sundsvall should be the main town with a vice-chancellor, other management functions and administration. In Östersund, too, it was not entirely painless to bring together university  education and the School of Social Work to the University College of Östersund. The development of the two universities came to take place under the auspices of the regional board of Umeå University Region, which included the four northernmost counties. This meant that the university part of Sundsvall was given a technical and natural science focus, while teacher education continued to have a dominant position in Härnösand. In Östersund, the social science focus came to be accentuated. Important for the continued development, and also unexpectedly, was that the so-called "tick list" had a marking for the systems science line in Östersund when the Riksdag made a decision on which courses should be offered at the various universities. Very early on, the local education lines Ecotechnology, initially called domestic raw material systems, and tourism were also added. In Sundsvall, the region's major industries came to influence the direction of education. Chemistry consequently became a strong subject, as did mathematics and physics.

During the 1980s, engineering programmes were transferred from upper secondary school to university, which meant that education to become a Bachelor of Science in Engineering was conducted in Sundsvall, Östersund and Härnösand, with a "branch" in Örnsköldsvik. A serious dilemma for the new higher education institutions was the requirement in the Higher Education Act that education there, as at the universities, should rest on a scientific basis, i.e. be linked to current research. This was at the same time as the Riksdag, in connection with the 1977 higher education reform, had decided in principle that no research resources should be given to the new higher education institutions. A softening of this position did not take place until  the mid-1990s.

A very clear example of the effect of the Riksdag's position on research at smaller higher education institutions was the result of the so-called Moberg inquiry in Jämtland (DS 1989:31). Former Minister Sven Moberg was tasked with investigating what could be done to strengthen regional development. Among other things, he proposed that seven professorships should be added to the University College of Östersund in subjects that were considered particularly important for the development of society. The only thing that came out was some support money, but no money could be allocated to the proposed services with reference to the above-mentioned Riksdag decision.

The Omega University College Project

In the political debate, there were those who believed that too many higher education institutions had been established and that the smallest should be closed down. The University College of Östersund was among those mentioned in this context.

In Västernorrland, cooperation between the university and the business community came about early on, which resulted in the so-called industrial university project and in the establishment of two different research foundations, SISY and FRY. Within the FRY, the initiative was taken for the inquiry which in the autumn of 1990 submitted a report containing a proposal  for "Mittnorrland University College". The report became an important source of inspiration for the Omega University College project.

Discussions about a deeper collaboration between the University College of Sundsvall/Härnösand and the University College of Östersund gained momentum in the autumn of 1990 when the university boards as well as the two county governors were also involved. During the winter of 1991, a feasibility study was carried out to determine the conditions for development work with a view to a university in the region at the turn of the century. The support for the project was good and  when the county administrative boards provided the necessary financial resources, the five-year project could start in the autumn of 1991.

Perhaps the most important starting point was that this was not a regional policy initiative, but a contribution to the national and international academic system. The motto for the work became: "Sweden needs a new university". This did not mean another in a series of others, but a new university born out of a new way of thinking. Of course, we were aware that the thoughts would run into patrol from different directions. The proclaimed goal of a university in central Sweden with 8,000–10,000 students and 100 professors at the turn of the century was met with many snide comments. The foresight analysis that we made regarding where the strongest resistance would be found showed that it was certainly to be found within the academic establishment and at a high level of officials in the higher education bureaucracy, while we expected to have fairly soon convinced political decision-makers of the project's viability.

Developments have shown that the analysis was absolutely right. With the Omega project came intensive work. The ongoing activities within the two universities were to be conducted at the same time as development work that included international seminars, study visits, meetings with politicians and lots of meetings with different groups.

Mid Sweden University College's birth

In the summer of 1992, the higher education institutions came to the realization that in order to be credible in their claims that H S/H and HÖs would form the basis of the new university, they should merge the two into one university as soon as possible. It had not happened before that two universities had voluntarily asked to merge, so the idea naturally needed to be anchored both internally and externally. After an exciting autumn, the university boards were able to agree on 26 November to request the government to be allowed to establish a new university on 1 July 1993. Not unexpectedly, the issues of the interrelationship between the locations and the location of the Vice-Chancellor and other senior executives caused the strongest disagreements in the final negotiations. The name was not clear at this time, but it became a later question. The government gave the go-ahead for the new university in February 1993 and the vice-chancellors were able to decide, on delegation from the boards, that the new university should be called Mid Sweden University College.

In the first days of January 1993, the planning organisation for the work was finalised for the six months until the two existing universities were to be closed down and a new one immediately created. A large number of working groups were formed with the task of proposing solutions to various issues that they had been assigned. At this time, Mittlinjen, a train that connects Sundsvall and Östersund, had started and the mentioned working groups had to use it extensively. It was at Hotel Mittlandia in Ånge, midway between Sundsvall and Östersund, that the new university came to take shape.

The drama surrounding the establishment of Mid Sweden University College increased as a result of the government's decision on a higher education reform that was to come into force on 1 July 1993. The most profound feature of the reform package was a completely new resource allocation system based on the number of students and their performance. The planning work was to try to guess how many students would come to Mid Sweden University College to start their studies and how much they would achieve, i.e. how many credits they would be able to achieve. There were many education planners who dreamed of HST (full-time student) and HPR (full-year performance) in the summer of 1993. This system means that the university will only know how much money it has actually had to spend during the past year when the financial year is over and the summary can be made.

A really dramatic element before Mid Sweden University College's formation was the process of appointing the vice-chancellor of the new university. Several complications arose, which meant that it took until the first of March 1994  before Mid Sweden University College had a permanent vice-chancellor in place.

Of course, different cultures had developed at the two universities, something that we were well aware of and which we also realised had to be replaced by a new common culture. If either culture was allowed to take over, real integration would be impossible. Therefore, it was important to highlight different things to be able to agree on. It was also important to get a powerful logo and a graphic program. We commissioned five advertising agencies to help us with this. Curiously enough, it was a Norwegian company that had understood the meaning of the ideas behind Mid Sweden University College best and consequently presented the best proposal. It is the logotype that has since been used and for which we have received many recognition reviews.

An issue that had both great symbolic and practical significance was the master's examination that was carried out during the academic year 92/93. Thanks to the fact that the assessment group, headed by former University Chancellor Carl-Gustaf Andrén, made an overall assessment of the resources at H S/H and HÖs, Mid Sweden University College was able to begin its activities with master's degree rights in seven subjects. This showed everyone that together we were stronger than individually. The alternative would have been the right to graduate in chemistry in Sundsvall.

Nursing education

Actually, the integration process  was not only about the two universities mentioned, but the two counties' nursing colleges were also very much involved. In Östersund, the question of an integration between HÖs and the School of Nursing had been investigated  and the parties involved agreed that there were decisive advantages in gathering all higher education under one roof. In Västernorrland, the discussions had not progressed as far, but the decisive reason why the process dragged on was that the government wanted to take a comprehensive approach to the issue at the national level. In order not to lose momentum on an issue where they were convinced that the outcome was a given, the two nursing colleges were invited to participate in the planning of the new university concept in Jämtland and Västernorrland. For the sake of clarity, it should be said that the School of Health Care in Sundsvall also conducted education in Örnsköldsvik. After the government's decision in principle that the county council's nursing education should be nationalized and central and local negotiations had been carried out, the nursing colleges could be established as departments within Mid Sweden University College in 1995.

Network and Campus

A very complicated task was to explain to the outside world what Mid Sweden University College was, and where it was located and where it had its headquarters. The answer that it is a network university with three equal nodes, Härnösand, Sundsvall and Östersund, without a headquarters, did not straighten out the question marks. This difficulty has followed Mid Sweden University College over the years and not least in connection with the university trials, it has become clear how difficult it is for outside observers to absorb the concept.

In practical everyday use, it was quite obvious that we could not use the term node for Mid Sweden University College's locations. We also have to find a way to name the location that indicated that Mid Sweden University College was located in several places. It was against this background that we decided to  use the term campus. Originally the name of a large field in ancient Rome, in modern times often used in Anglo-Saxon countries for university campuses. We found that it would fulfill several functions by marking a collective location, being able to be used in the address, and stating that Mid Sweden University College had several campuses, for example Mid Sweden University College, Campus Härnösand. The activities in Örnsköldsvik, which were initially led from Härnösand, became a separate department and subsequently became the fourth campus town.

The purpose of Mid Sweden University College was summarized in the following points:

• Coordinate and make effective use of resources for higher education and research
• Provide a national boost to higher education and research
• Ensuring the quality of education and research
• Create a creative environment that is characterized by innovation
• Better meet society's continuing education requirements
• Further internationalize education and research in the region

In the continued development work, there was a natural division between Mid Sweden University College and the Omega project. The academic issues were handled within the university, while the anchoring work towards political decision-makers and society outside the university was carried out through the project until its completion in 1996.

University applications

The overarching goal of becoming a full university was always the guiding star and in 1997, after intensive work, Mid Sweden University College was able to submit a university application to the government, which  bears  the hallmark of research director Jan Nordling. Mid Sweden University College is asking for an assessment of its prerequisites to become a university at the turn of the century. A few months later, the three former university branches, Karlstad, Växjö and Örebro, submitted a coordinated application for university status. The government commissioned the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education to  comment on the applications. The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education then chose to appoint an assessment group with the task of investigating the conditions at the four higher education institutions. It is noteworthy that no body noted that Mid Sweden University College's request concerned the conditions for university status in 2000, but the assessment came to relate to the situation at the turn of the year 1997/98. The result, of course, was a statement that Mid Sweden University College was not yet ripe for university status and the media could trumpet that Mid Sweden University College is not up to scratch.

Two years later, the proposed measures proposed by the assessment group had been addressed. A new application , in which Torbjörn Kjölstad mainly held the pen, was submitted to the government.

The procedure followed the template of the previous application. The result was that the assessment group recommended that the university should be awarded the Disciplinary Domain of Natural Sciences from 1 January 2001. This was also the government's decision. This meant that Mid Sweden University College received university status in  the disciplinary domain of natural sciences, i.e. the right to conduct  doctoral education and examine doctorates. On the other hand, Mid Sweden University College was considered to need more time to develop the field of humanities.

The work on the third application fell mainly on the main field of humanities, with its chairman Yngve Mohlin at the forefront. In the meantime, significant investments had been made in terms of professors, doctoral students and doctoral education. The process followed the usual pattern and when the assessment group's conclusions were presented, it became obvious that university status is a judging sport. It depends on who the referees are. The assessment group's report aroused both dismay and indignation. After strong work by Vice-Chancellor Gunnar Svedberg, the Government was able to announce to the outside world on 31 January  2003 its decision that Mid Sweden University College will become a full university on 1 January 2005.

A couple of significant events deserve to be mentioned in conclusion in this overview.
At the long-established universities, there is a Vice-Chancellor's chain that is hung on the Vice-Chancellor's shoulders in connection with the inauguration and then worn on formal occasions. Prior to Vice-Chancellor Kari Marklund's inauguration, which took place at the same time as the inauguration of the Sundsvall campus in 1997, municipalities, county councils and county administrative boards in the counties joined forces and had a beautiful and symbolic chain of vice-chancellors made. The chain is the result of a creative collaboration between silversmiths and goldsmiths.

It has previously been mentioned that environmental education started early at HÖs and it also came to be associated with an environmental profile. This has of course affected the entire Mid Sweden University College and when the former Forest Institute in Bispgården was incorporated into Mid Sweden University College, certification work began for this activity. The work led to Mid Sweden University College becoming the first university in Europe to receive an EMAS registration, i.e. an environmental certificate.

Anders Flodström, President of KTH, may give the following advice to Sweden's next university;
"The future belongs to the universities that are able to prioritise and profile their activities and that use the 900-year-old tradition as a basis for change and not the last thirty years as a template for the future."