Chalmers University of Technology
On Friday, 26 March, the Presidents of Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg, University of Borås, University of Skövde, University West and Jönköping University signed an agreement on cooperation. The new collaboration is called Lärosäten Väst, and its aim is to increase the quality and diversity of all the partners' operations.
"By developing our collaboration in education, research and utilisation, we will strengthen the reputation and attractiveness of both Chalmers and the other universities of western Sweden, increasing our national and international competitiveness," says Chalmers President Stefan Bengtsson.
The partners already cooperate today in various forms, but with the new agreement as a starting point, the leaders of the institutions want to take the collaboration to the next level. This will mainly concern education at undergraduate and advanced level, postgraduate education, research, utilisation, and innovation, as well as the operations support.
Specifically, this increased collaboration will address skills supply and development, efficient administrative support processes and increasing the opportunities for students to study at several of the universities.
Representatives from the Västra Götaland and Jönköping county administrative boards, as well as the Västra Götaland region, were also present at the signing. Helena L Nilsson, Regional Development Director at VGR, has followed the development of the collaboration and views research and education as crucial for the region's progress:
"We offer our congratulations on the signing of the agreement and we feel involved. It is interesting that our vision The Good Life speaks of the idea of "the university of western Sweden", based on collaboration between independent universities and colleges. Sometimes visions become reality."
Steering and coordination groups have been appointed
To support the development of Lärosäten Väst, a steering group has been formed consisting of the heads of the universities, a group of administrative heads and a coordination group. An administrative resource is linked to the coordination group and financed jointly by the parties. The chair will rotate annually, being held initially by Eva Wiberg, University of Gothenburg.
Lärosäten Väst consists of:
- Chalmers University of Technology
- University of Gothenburg
- University of Borås
- University of Skövde
- University West
- Jönköping University
Priority areas for cooperation:
- Efficient administrative support processes.
- Skills supply and development at foundational and advanced level within, for example, healthcare, educational training and engineering.
- Enabling leading supervision in postgraduate education.
- Increasing the opportunities for students to study at several of the universities during their education.
- Synchronising the course offerings at advanced and doctoral level in selected areas, in such a way that it increases students' opportunities to choose courses and modules from all the partners.
- Identifying areas for sustainable international cooperation.
- Identifying multidisciplinary research areas where collaboration can be encouraged
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