DEBATE, the article was published in Lundagård 5/2 2021. Read the article at lundagard.se here
An increasing proportion of resources are going to research. Many researchers work disconnected from education and hardly have any teaching time anymore, writes Simon Edström, chairman of the Swedish National Union of Students.
It's easy to miss the big but long-term changes happening at universities. All eyes are on the coronavirus pandemic and the transition to digital education. Decisions about more permanent structural changes are being overshadowed.
Such a change is visible in the research bill that the government presented just before the turn of the year. The research bill sets out the path for higher education policy for several years to come. Among other things, it includes an increase in research funding of SEK 3,4 billion.
We students can benefit in several ways from increased research funding. It is at the core of universities that research and education go hand in hand. Our teachers are researchers. If they do not have enough time to do research, they cannot stay current and up-to-date on the research front. Therefore, research funding is a necessity for all education.
We students can are also positively affected by investments in research infrastructure. Large projects such as MAX IV and ESS may not always be used primarily by students. However, they contribute to creating attractive research environments and attract prominent researchers. This can lead to us students meeting teachers with absolutely cutting-edge expertise.
But that requires that research and education must continue to belong together. Unfortunately, there is a shift in the proportion of university funding. An increasingly large proportion of resources are going to research. Many researchers work disconnected from education and hardly have any teaching time anymore.
The long-term trend is that we students have to make do with less. Between the years 2000 and 2019, funding for education has been reduced from 114 thousand SEK to 104 thousand SEK per student, adjusted for inflation. If you take into account the development during the 1990s and take into account that the costs of higher education institutions have increased more than the costs in other areas of society, the total loss of resources becomes even greater.
We as students need to take this seriously. One consequence of the reduction in resources for education is that the number of teacher-led hours per week will be fewer, or that there will be more students per teacher. This means that we receive less support and are expected to cope more on our own.
It affects study results, but it doesn't stop there. Even before the pandemic, problems with stress and high workload were common among students. These are factors that contribute to students having more problems with mental health than others of the same age.
Now it sets The rapid transition to digital teaching is creating new demands. When there are a lack of resources for education, no one should be surprised if teachers don't have time. But it affects the quality of our education.
It has indeed has received some resources in recent years. But they have mainly gone to extra training places. Partly it is about meeting higher application pressure during the corona pandemic, partly it is part of a long-term ambition that more people should have access to higher education. It is a sympathetic ambition. However, more places do not solve the need for quality reinforcements.
Now the resources must to education should increase, so that research and education do not drift apart. In the coming years, the pressure to apply to higher education will probably decrease. A simple solution for the government would then be to maintain current funding levels despite the number of students falling. This would provide space for digital transformation, a healthier study environment and higher quality in education.
Simon Edstrom
Chairman Swedish National Union of Students