News: Oct 26, 2021
The increased importance of sustainability issues necessitates a rethink, and so change work is being initiated in order to streamline the mission of the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development (GMV). This is the implication of a joint policy decision on the focus of GMV made by the President of Chalmers University of Technology and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg.
For 20 years, GMV has been tasked with collaborating between the universities, internally in respective university and with important stakeholders in society to generate and utilise knowledge about sustainable development.
“GMV has really put sustainability issues on the agenda and made a substantial contribution to the success of our two universities’ work on sustainability,” says Eva Wiberg, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg. “However, we feel that the increased significance of sustainability issues requires us to rethink, in strategic and operational terms, the nature of our work going forward.”
“We now need to build further on the strengths and opportunities that GMV has laid the groundwork for”, says Stefan Bengtsson, President of Chalmers University of Technology. “The university’s core operations now want and need to be the driving force for sustainability in a completely different way to before.”
Previously this year, as part of this, the President and Vice-Chancellor launched an investigation focussing on enabling GMV to become even more integrated into each university with regard to sustainability issues and to provide them with even more support. The investigation found that GMV had created a powerful platform for external collaboration but that organisation, management and funding needed development in order to enhance ongoing impact.
In summary, the joint policy decision about GMV’s future mission initiates the start of change work with the aim of streamlining the mission to focus on collaboration on sustainability. The work will also include how centres of expertise and research and other functions should be organised in faculties and departments at the two universities. It also includes how internal support and coordination in the form of environmental management and other management support can best be organised within each university’s operations support function.
The policy decision will see the change work being undertaken in the form of a project in 2022.
“The task of the change project is to implement this new focus working closely and in dialogue with employees, trade union representatives and GMV itself,” says Bengtsson. “The work will also need to involve operational support and other hosting units at our two universities.”
Pam Fredman, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg, will lead the change work.
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Print date:
2024-03-28