Investigation into local support completed
The investigation into the administrative support is now complete. The next step is to analyse the proposals and assess how they should be taken care of. The inquiry recommends a development of the entire support service, rather than the introduction of a third administrative level.
In order to develop the University's support to the departments, the Vice-Chancellor decided in June to conduct an external investigation of the administrative support. The assignment was to investigate the possibility of three administrative levels and to describe how the departments can receive clearer and more accessible local support. The investigation is now complete and contains proposals on how Mid Sweden University can create more comprehensive, clear and effective support in the university's everyday life, without increasing the total administrative costs.
Investigator Jörgen Tholin has interviewed a large number of employees in both academia and support, as well as students and union representatives. He has also compared Mid Sweden University's support activities with other universities. The result is a series of proposals that will contribute to closer, more equal and more predictable support.
"Many people might say that my proposal to make a major organisational change in support activities is a bitter medicine, but I believe that in the situation the university now finds itself in, it is necessary to redistribute funds so that more of the funding goes to teaching and research." says Jörgen Tholin.
Vice-Chancellor Anders Fällström is positive about the proposals and is optimistic about the development.
"Just as Jörgen says, we are in a situation where funds must be redistributed to teaching and research. At the same time, we must have good support and meet all the external requirements that lie at the university. In this situation, we need to conduct a complete review of the entire support activities, including the faculty offices, to find new ways of working without reducing support for departments and subjects. We must be prepared for quite big changes, but together we will manage this and face a bright future. However, it will require great efforts from many and courage to think in new ways," says Anders Fällström.
University Director Louise Beskow believes that the investigation shows that there is a clear need to work more closely with the departments and provide more accessible and cohesive support to the departments.
"To succeed in this, the joint administration and the offices need to work in a more coordinated way, with simplified and standardised processes, increased digitalisation, but also with cultural and trust issues. How we collaborate, prioritise and meet the core business is at least as important as how we organise ourselves," says Louise Beskow.
The investigation in brief
The inquiry describes Mid Sweden University's current support activities, the challenges that emerge in interviews and comparisons with other higher education institutions, and makes suggestions on how the support can be developed. Jörgen Tholin particularly highlights the need for streamlining, standardization and digitalization as key principles for the continued work.
With regard to local support, the Inquiry proposes that the support activities should as a first step develop a more comprehensive and clear offer to the institutions, instead of introducing a third organisational level. This means that the departments and offices together describe the support that the departments can expect, that contact persons are appointed more collectively and given a clearer assignment, and that attendance at the departments is strengthened. The Inquiry recommends that the work be carried out gradually and in parallel with a larger and long-term development work for the entire support services.
Next steps
The next step will be to set the forms for the continued work.
"We need to clarify how we will continue to work with the various development tracks that the inquiry points to and ensure that they are connected and form a whole. It is a joint development work that needs to take place close to the core activities, where the joint administration and faculty offices together take responsibility for strengthening the operational support," says Louise Beskow.
Jörgen Tholin believes that Mid Sweden University has very good opportunities to succeed with such work.
"My opinion after talking to a large number of employees is that there is a very respectful way of looking at each other's roles, there is a willingness from everyone to find good solutions to strengthen the university's competitiveness, and there are loyal and competent employees," concludes Jörgen Tholin.