To realise our vision, we must work in a purposeful manner. To this end, the vision is supplemented with goals, strategies and activities on various levels within the University.
The university-wide goals and strategies are decided on by the University Board. These are formulated for three years at a time in order to provide the necessary flexibility to deal with changes in conditions and priorities, whether internally or externally. The strategy periods are 2021-2024, 2025-2027 and 2028-2030.
Based on the university-wide goals and strategies, an annual university-wide operational plan is prepared containing prioritised activities decided on by the Vice-Chancellor.
University-wide goals and strategies for the initial period 2021-2024 are presented here. These are formulated based on the vision’s commitments and gathered into six focus areas. Each focus area has one overarching goal, a description of the area and strategies for achieving the goals for the period.
Click on the headings below for a presentation of each focus area in Swedish (to be translated).
Our goal: By 2024, the University of Gothenburg will have strengthened its position as a leading university with regard to sustainable development.
Work on sustainability issues in education and research is an internationally recognised feature of the University of Gothenburg. The University will take this work further in the years ahead, augmenting its relevance as an agent and a partner in society at large and thereby contributing to Agenda 2030 and the global goals set for sustainable development, including economic, social, and ecological dimensions.
This commitment entails responsibility for developing specialist competence, as well as for building new knowledge by means of interdisciplinary collaboration in education and research. The University will also cooperate with other agents in society in ways that enable students and staff to evolve fresh insights and contribute to joint solutions. As a large organisation, the University of Gothenburg has a considerable impact on its environment. Consequently, it is under an obligation to increase its internal efforts in the field of sustainable development.
Our goal: By 2024, the University of Gothenburg will be generally perceived as a natural partner in sustainable social-development work based on knowledge.
Good relations with the surrounding world are necessary if the University is to play an active part in social-development work based on knowledge. Ever since its creation, the University of Gothenburg has cooperated closely with the world around it. In order to be a University for the World, the University will need to reinforce and build on that profile, meeting increasing demands and expectations that the University will be a prominent agent in society.
Top-class education and research develop within the framework created by the quality criteria and procedures that govern the scholarly-scientific community, but also in relation to the world around the University. Carefully integrated internationalisation efforts form part of this context. Cooperation at local, regional, national, and international levels will see the University extend its contributions to social development in a variety of spheres. Thanks to responsible and dedicated collaboration which engenders palpable benefits for all parties, higher education and research have a favourable social impact while encouraging continuous development in the University and augmenting its relevance as a force for good in society.
All collaborative schemes pursued by the University will be rooted in its core values.
Our goal: By 2024, the University of Gothenburg will have strengthened its ability to recruit and foster staff-members who contribute to education and research of the highest quality.
The competence of a university’s staff is the most essential factor when it comes to achieving internationally distinguished education and research. As the world around us keeps changing, the demands on the University keep growing: as an employer, it needs to offer a working environment which promotes equal treatment for all as well as a culture of cooperation among colleagues. At the same time, attractive terms of employment will encourage both national and international recruitment.
As articulated in the University’s Vision, the commitment to top-quality education and research will guide the development of the University’s competence-provision efforts in conjunction with its aim to create complete academic environments.
Our goal: In 2024, the University of Gothenburg will be widely recognised for its success in creating physical and digital environments which are fit for purpose and serviceable in the long term, satisfying the needs of all those who work here.
Investments in physical premises, infrastructures, and digital systems solutions account for a large share of the University’s total costs, and they entail long-term commitments. In addition, the University, being a public authority, is expected to keep streamlining and digitising its operations. Taken altogether, these conditions call for clearly defined procedures governing strategic decisions and coordination with regard to the development of physical and digital environments.
Serviceable, cost-effective, and well-functioning physical and digital environments and infrastructures are crucial to the University’s ability to foster top-quality education and research while forming a coherent organisation. Besides, such environments are instrumental in opening channels between the University and the wider world. On the basis of the University’s long-term requirements, its development of premises will contribute to the creation of strong centres for teaching and research, as well as of vigorous arenas for collaborative schemes involving external agents.
The University’s need of physical meeting-places for learning, pedagogical development, and research will be balanced against the potential gains and effects of increased digitalisation.
Our goal: By 2024, the University of Gothenburg will have expanded its efforts to promote a sustainable environment for work and study.
The Vision states that the University of Gothenburg will provide plenty of opportunities for learning, knowledge formation, and exchange of experiences while constituting an attractive place of work and study. The quality and relevance of the University’s activities will be developed by way of stable conditions, a sense of involvement, and cross-border collaboration of various kinds, all of which will be imbued with respect, reciprocity, and joint responsibility.
Promoting a sustainable environment for work and study will result in high-level performance over time; but it will also encourage fruitful cooperation of various kinds, enabling participants to contribute to the activities of the University and make them even better. A sustainable environment for work and study which benefits every student and member of staff is vital to their health, and the achievement of the University’s long-term goals depends on it.
Stress-related ill-health is a growing challenge throughout society, not least because of the gradual disappearance of boundaries in working life. Consequently, the University will pay particular attention to conditions in the environment of staff and students that might reduce or prevent stress-related disorders, such as workload over time, the distribution of working and teaching hours, and the digital work and study environment.
Safety and clarity are also crucial to the working environment of students and staff, not least when unforeseen things happen. Anyone who is nevertheless exposed to hatred, threats, or violence in relation to his or her University activities will feel safe in the support provided by the University.
Our goal: By 2024, the University of Gothenburg will be operating management and governance procedures adapted to its Vision of being A University for the World.
Greater autonomy has increased expectations that institutions of tertiary education will work on developing their organisation and their internal management. The Vision states three over-arching commitments regarding the development of the University: top-quality education and research; sustainable and knowledge-based social development; and a coherent organisation, providing an attractive place of work and study. It is also clear from the Vision that the University leadership will apply long-term perspectives, decentralise operations wherever possible, and work in a spirit of trust; and that the University will evolve into a coherent organisation which emphasises the idea of the University as a whole. The management and governance of the University will be rooted in a continuous endeavour to enhance the quality of its operations thanks to stable conditions, a sense of involvement, and cross-border collaboration. Achieving these aims calls for development on the part of governance.
Combined with active leadership, extended dialogues and the evolution of processes based on the cooperation of peers will shape transparent and purposeful procedures for planning operations, and for ensuring that decisions are made on the basis of careful preparatory work. These procedures will utilise the range and the competences offered by the University as a whole.
Based on the University’s common vision, goals and strategies, as well as external demands and conditions, faculties and equivalent organisational units prepare operational strategies for education, research and collaboration.
These strategies, which are decided by faculty boards, are elaborated on in annual operational plans containing prioritised activities.
The University Library and Central University Administration have prepared corresponding strategies and plans based on their own operating conditions.
This figure shows how strategies and plans contribute to achieving the vision over the ten-year period.
University of Gothenburg:
Goals and strategies for
the university as a whole 2021-2024University-wide Operational Plan 2023 (in Swedish)University-wide Operational Plan 2022 (in Swedish)University-wide Operational Plan 2021 (in Swedish)
Operational strategies faculties/equivalent
(in Swedish):
School of Business, Economics and Law
(in English)Faculty of HumanitiesIT FacultyFaculty of Fine, Applied and Performing ArtsFaculty of ScienceSahlgrenska AcademyFaculty of Social SciencesFaculty of EducationUniversity LibraryCentral University Administration
© University of Gothenburg, Sweden • Postal address: Box 100, SE-405 30 Göteborg
Invoice address: Box 115, SE-405 30 Göteborg
Phone: +46 31 786 0000 • Contact (gu.se) • Organisation number: 202100-3153, VAT No SE202100315301
This page is printed from the following webpage:
https://medarbetarportalen.gu.se/Organisation/vision-2021-2030/goals-strategies-plans/?selectedSegment=competence-provision-&languageId=100001&skipSSOCheck=true
Print date:
2023-10-01
Tools