Towards the end of December every year, just before the Christmas holidays, the government makes changes to the authorities' regulation letters. The regulation letters are the publications that adjust the authorities' work - this includes universities, colleges and the authorities (eg UKÄ, UHR and CSN) that regulate them. So there are usually many changes - we read these lice so you do not have to!
Some changes were expected, others surprising. Several changes will be good for students and others we are unsure of. Just like on Christmas Eve, there are some wishes that do not come true, but it is still with excitement that we open the college Christmas presents together with you. Of course the Christmas tree has already been thrown away, but feel free to light a candle, maybe gather the family because now it's time for the very last Christmas presents in a long time.
New headphones
The first category is the gifts that were at the top of our wish list. A pair of brand new headphones approximately - long-awaited, in demand, much-needed. In the regulation letters, CSN received a new assignment to follow the students' social and economic situation with special focus on mental illness. More knowledge and follow-up of students' mental illness is something SFS prioritises very highly. SFS's work to shed light on this need is also mentioned in the Government's press release on the assignment. Our goal is for the government to ultimately work with the issue from a holistic perspective within, for example, a state investigation, but all steps along the way are good.
Another thing that was high on the list is that The Royal Library is commissioned to establish a national digital platform for openly available Swedish scientific journals. The ambition is that scientific publications produced with public funds will be openly available from 2020. A large part of the world's research is behind paywalls that ordinary people usually cannot afford - SFS wants all research to be freely available. Furthermore, the government will continue the work with gender mainstreaming, and introduces new requirements for higher education institutions' sustainability reporting. In our opinion, it is obvious that the government should work against all types of gender-based misconduct, for example, sexual harassment, by working to change the norms that permeate life at universities. The new directives regarding sustainability reporting mean that the higher education institutions' sustainability work is coordinated on the basis of the recommendations in UKÄ's thematic report in this area (2017:12).
Warm socks
The second category is the gifts that have not taken obvious number one places on the wish list but which are received with joy and will certainly come in handy. Imagine a pair of nice socks from grandma approximately - you will probably on a cold day discover a huge need for something warm of wool to wear on your feet. One such gift is the return investment support for rental apartments. Subsidizing the construction of rental apartments for students is obviously something SFS views positively, what we just hope is that the Minister of Housing takes further steps to actually ensure that construction takes off this time.
Furthermore, the government will introduce a new national entrance examination to the university, in order to enable people with experience such as nurses and teachers to receive further education. SFS believes that we need more paths to the university, where an entrance exam can be a good way to go. However, it is very important that it is carried out in a legally secure manner, that everyone should be able to afford it and that the value of higher education eligibility is not eroded.
Trisslot
Then there are some changes where the future may reveal what they will lead to. A roller coaster, for example, is always quite fun to get, but there is some uncertainty in exactly what return it will give. One such change in the regulation letter is that more higher education institutions will offer summer courses for teacher education and another is that the government should expand work-integrated teacher education. It is a little difficult to know in which direction the development is actually going. The shortage of teachers, and by extension teacher education, has been debated so intensely among politicians and the result has been so many small reforms that it is difficult to know what effect will be achieved.
SFS believes that politicians should be careful with detailed political control of higher education, even if certain forms of political control may be justified from a societal perspective. Regardless, a more stringent holistic perspective will be needed to achieve the political goals and at the same time to ensure that the education is of high quality.
Thank you for taking the time from your January month to open college Christmas presents. Now it remains to follow the development to see what the actual result of the new directives is. That and more will of course be available on SFS channels on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.