It has now been a few days since the SFS general council meeting (FUM21) ended and we would like to thank everyone who participated for a very good meeting with exciting and rewarding discussions. Although we would have preferred to meet physically, it was a very successful SFSFUM that took place completely digitally. In this blog post we will summarize what happened at SFSFUM, what decisions were made and what SFS will pursue for policy and operations in the next financial year.
Inauguration and new memberships
FUM21 began on April 15th when the meeting opened for proposals and a number of introductory formalities were handled asynchronously during the weekend. Among other things, we voted in and welcomed three new member unions: the Newman Institute student union, the Malmö doctoral student union and the Student Union in Sundsvall. This means that SFS now has 52 member unions. On Monday, April 19th, it was time to start FUM21 for real and we met synchronously. We showed a inauguration film where we were taken on a trip to a number of student cities and student unions around the country.
new presidium and board
On Monday, the news presidium to SFS and it was clear that Linn Svärd and Oskar M Wiik will lead SFS during the 2021/2022 financial year. During FUM21, a new board was also elected. Congratulations to: Paulina Samuelsson, Timmie Hansson, Sofia Holmdahl, Sandra Magnusson, Johanna Mikkelsen Strömstedt, Jacob Färnert, Gustav Ekström, Cornelia Lindgren, Anna Larsson, Johan Heder and Emelie Björkman.
New business plan
This weekend it was time to pick up the discussions again and open up for plenary debate. The first to be discussed was SFS's operational plan 2021/22. The operational plan outlines the political and organizational direction for SFS's upcoming operating year. Among other things, decisions were made on a new political three-year focus issue and a number of one-year issues where the political issues are categorized according to conditions for the academy and conditions for studies.
New three-year political focus issue: Conditions for high educational quality
SFS's political focus issue for 2021/2022 through the 2023/2024 financial year is: Prerequisites for high educational quality. SFS's political focus issue runs over three years to enable solid and long-term advocacy work.
High quality education is a right for all students. There are many different aspects that constitute educational quality, such as the competence of teachers and supervisors, the design of courses and programs, access to complete research environments and the usability of the education. Common to all aspects of educational quality is that there need to be good conditions to achieve high quality. This focus question identifies key areas where conditions need to be strengthened.
The two overall ambitions that SFS will work from are:
- Stop the underfunding of higher education
- Better conditions for higher education teaching activities
Prerequisites for the academy
Within the framework of the academy, FUM21 decided to focus on two issues: the dimensioning of education at the undergraduate and graduate levels and the design of the degree scheme.
Dimensioning of education at the undergraduate and graduate levels
Dimensioning is about planning the size and focus of the educational offer. Today, there are several examples where the government has allocated more educational places solely with regard to the needs of the labor market. SFS believes that such measures have no point if they are not of interest to prospective students and can even be detrimental to quality. SFS therefore needs to counteract this worrying development.
SFS will work to ensure that it is the students' demand and the conditions for high quality in education that govern the issue of the dimensioning of education at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The design of the degree scheme
A degree scheme determines what constitutes a higher education degree, for example based on study subjects and credits. The degree objectives are currently decided at a national level by the government and can then have local adaptations. The fact that the degree objectives are decided by the government is problematic, the degree scheme becomes a way of implementing political measures that risk undermining the quality of education. When the number of degree objectives is increased without the higher education institutions being given proper support, the higher education institutions are given an impossible task in practice. SFS therefore believes that the responsibility for deciding on the degree scheme should lie with an authority that can anchor them with both the sector and stakeholders in a good way.
Prerequisites for studies
Within the framework of conditions for studies, FUM21 decided to focus on three issues: mental health, disciplinary matters, and more flexible study resources.
Mental Health
SFS is concluding the focus question “Students' psychosocial health and work environment” for the 2020/2021 financial year. However, the issue of students' mental health is far from over, and the government announced in July 2020 that a number of authorities will submit supporting documents for a forthcoming national strategy on mental health and suicide prevention. SFS will work to ensure that the government includes students in a clear and prominent way in its work on mental health and suicide prevention. SFS will also work to ensure that recommendations from surveys on mental health and work environment for students and doctoral students are carried out and implemented.
Disciplinary matters
The number of disciplinary cases has increased drastically, the reason for this is unclear. Currently, there are major differences between the universities' handling of the cases, not least in the outcome of different types of cases. The handling at the universities may differ, but the assessment and the penalty should be as similar as possible regardless of which university the student works at. SFS should therefore act so that disciplinary matters are handled and assessed in an equal and legally secure manner.
More flexible study funds
The student aid system that exists today is good because support can be secured during the study period and the student aid system is a basic requirement for an open and equal university. However, there are parts that need to be developed that primarily relate to lifelong learning. The student aid system has not kept up with developments in higher education when education programs have been extended and therefore a general increase in the number of student aid weeks that can be applied for is needed, among other things. SFS will therefore work towards more flexible student aid.
Strengthening the perspective of doctoral students
In many cases, postgraduate students face challenges that are different from undergraduate and graduate students. During FUM21, SFS sharpened its policy in this area. “SFS position: Higher education scope, supply, financing and admissions” as well as SFS’s principle program were updated to provide a strengthened perspective for postgraduate students. Some of the parts that were added were:
- There should be broad access to postgraduate education throughout Sweden to ensure a strong connection between research, education and society, and to make postgraduate education widely available.
- Higher education institutions should not be dependent on external funding to maintain the necessary scope of doctoral education.
- Doctoral student positions should be advertised publicly and assessed against a clear description of the program and position, and should be available to all prospective doctoral students. It is important that universities actively work to counteract the occurrence of so-called “shadow doctoral students”, individuals who are active as doctoral students but who have not been admitted to doctoral education.
SFS adopts the position: The sustainable academy
During the Extra-SFSFUM in autumn 2020, it was decided that SFS would develop opinions on sustainable development. As a result of this, FUM21 adopted the SFS position statement: The sustainable academy. The position statement focuses on both economic and social and ecological sustainability. As economic and social sustainability is addressed in other SFS position documents, however, the ecological aspect is more prominent in the current version. The position statement clarifies SFS's views on the role of academia for a sustainable world where education and research have a prominent role.
Other decisions and events at FUM
During FUM, SFS has also
- has decided that the SFS board should investigate how students in commissioned training can be represented by the student unions, as this is not the case today. This applies, for example, to police training.
- strengthened the perspective for students with children. Students with children are currently a vulnerable group financially. There should therefore be satisfactory systems for student parents to be able to receive grants to cover the extra costs that result from being a student parent. It is important that all student parents who have extra costs are entitled to the additional grant, regardless of the family situation in general. Other circumstances, such as where the child is registered, should also not affect the possibility of receiving the grant.
- Listened to speech from Minister of Equality and Housing Märta Stenevi.
- Elected Nomination Committee for SFS. The Nomination Committee 2021/22 consists of: Karl Kilbo Edlund, Sophia Fröberg Liljenberg, Axel Andersson, Mårten Andersson, Marcus Bäcklund, Araz Farkosh and August Goldhahn. Lucas Ravens was elected as a replacement.
- John Lindskog and Joel Cevey Tärnholm were elected as SFS's auditors for the 2021/22 financial year. Alexandra Billett and Anton Berglund were elected as replacements.
We would also like to extend a big thank you to our exemplary meetingpresidium: Anna Bergkvist and Erika Darljung from Styrelsepost! who did a fantastic job throughout the meeting.
Many thanks again to everyone who participated for a well-run council meeting. We now look forward to the coming year.
Simon Edström, Chairman
Linn Svärd, Vice Chairman