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On Thursday June 15 at 13.00 the ITM School has a joint Faculty Club and Summer celebration in M1. The main focus of the Faculty Club is to discuss the first draft of the KTH Development plan 2018-2023. You all have the draft now attached to the calendar invitation in your e-calendar. By the way, this seems like a good time to remind us all about a previously announced ITM policy:
- All employees should use the Outlook calendar for planning time, and the calendar should be open (for time slots, but not content) within ITM.
As we all know, KTH is currently subject to a quite substantial reorganization and the first reports are as earlier announced available here . In the case of integrating CSC, ICT and EES the first report outlines two different solutions, one of which implies a transition to two schools rather than the proposed one-school alternative. It seems however that our president will go for the one-school solution.
During the spring, an up-to-date slide presentation of the ITM-school has been prepared. It is available for all to download here. After the summer it will be complemented by short department presentations as well.
Summer is approaching and times are hectic in terms of correcting exams, reporting results, performing course analyses and graduating PhDs. After this hectic period I would like to wish all ITM co-workers a nice summer and relaxing holidays.
On Thursday June 15 at 13.00 (starting with the Faculty Club) we will celebrate our efforts with some prize ceremonies, some School information and certainly mingle and refreshments!
/Jan Wikander, Dean of School
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A very intense week is about to be completed, since the term is about to end. Time to summarize all P4 courses and complete the work of writing and correcting all the examination. But this week has also offered other exciting and interesting education-focused events. For instance, yesterday (on Wednesday) all the schools GA & PA had a rally discussing both the program analysis, that all schools recently have developed, as well as different prioritized development inquiries, performed during the spring. It was interesting to note that there are several common progress areas where we can benefit from networking and collaboration. For instance, lots of the presentations discussed the need for increased sustainability, gender equality and quality assurance in several of the educations.
Next week we can look forward to having a dialogue focused on educational quality with e.g. the President Sigbritt Karlsson and also the vice dean of faculty Per Berglund (who is responsible for the education at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels). It will give us the possibility to describe and discuss the strengths and opportunities, as well as threats, for all of our education on 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle level at the school. Hopefully it will be rewarding.
But for now, let’s enjoy the coming summer weather and bring e.g. the master thesis reading with us outdoors.
/ Anna Jerbrant, GA
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The Dean of the School has set up two new projects to define what needs there are with regard to
- The school’s MSc programmes as regards the producer side. Caroline Ahlstedt has been appointed project manager. The project is already underway.
- The school’s centres of excellence. Sarah Golibari has been appointed project manager. The project is already underway.
The projects will be run in project form beginning with a round of interviews concerning needs and wishes that exist at the school. A reference group has been appointed.
Computer workstations
Work is going on at KTH to coordinate IT operations and support with the aim of minimising work duplication and using KTH’s resources more efficiently. A further aim is to reduce the total cost of activities such as investments, operation and development in local platforms at KTH. Five of KTH’s schools are already in this environment.
The Dean of School has decided to transfer the school’s IT services to KTH’s IT department. The process for this is as follows:
- Prerequisites and scope
- Inventorying and mapping
- Implementation of requirements/needs
- Design of services
- Introduction projects
- Administration
The school has appointed a reference group. The project is being run by KTH’s IT department under the management of Hans Wolfarth.
Service centre
ITM’s newly set up service centre is now up to speed and cases are dropping into our new case management system. At present we’re working hard to adapt quickly to demand. If you have questions or suggestions for improvements, don’t hesitate to contact:
Annika Lilja, anlil.kth.se
Christina Carlsson, chrisinta.carlsson.itm.kth.se
We really need your views and comments to be able to offer the basic services we have set up.
Yours sincerely
Christina Carlsson, Head of Adminstration
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Så inledde rektor Sigbritt Karlsson sin blogg i måndags, och jag kan bara hålla med. Det har den här veckan har Campus känts annorlunda, stillsamt; kanske eftersom många av lärarna haft påsklov och kanske för att många av studenterna förberett sig inför omtentorna, men troligtvis eftersom ni, liksom jag, på olika sätt funderat och reflekterat kring den tragedi som inträffade på Drottninggatan i fredags.
Men samtidigt händer det också mycket medryckande saker kring utbildningsfrågorna på KTH & ITM just nu. I skolledningen har vi arbetat med det skriftliga underlag som ska lämnas in i slutet av april inför dialogen med rektor kring våra utbildningars kvalitet. Som nybliven GA har det varit väldigt roligt att få en snabb och ansenlig insikt i både styrkor och förbättringspotential hos våra utbildningar. I mitten på mars arrangerade också rektor en work-shop då fakulteten fick möjlighet att diskutera digitalisering och internationalisering, det var mycket intressant och givande. Dessutom pågår just nu ett förberedelsearbete med KTHs nya utvecklingsplan, både centralt och i ITMs skolledning. Utvecklingsplanen som ska gälla från 2018 kommer fokuseras på tre viktiga områden; jämställdhet, hållbarhet och internationalisering. På ITM faculty club mötet i juni kommer vi alla därför få möjlighet att diskutera den kommande utvecklingsplanen så då hoppas jag på stor anslutning av utbildningsengagerade lärare 🙂
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That’s how headmaster Sigbritt Karlsson began her blog this Monday, and I can only agree. This week campus has felt different, more silent; maybe because many of us teachers has had spring break and maybe because many of the students has focused on their re-exams, but most likely because many of us, in different ways, have been thinking and reflecting due to the tragedy that occurred at Drottninggatan last Friday. My thoughts are also with those people who are still trying to heal their injuries.
But at the same time a lot of very compelling things focused on educational issues are happening at KTH and ITM right now. The school administration has worked with the report for the dialogue with the principal about the quality in our programs and educations that is to be submitted in late April. As newly appointed dean of education it has been very nice to get a quick and significant insight into both the strengths and improvement needs of our educations. In mid-March the headmaster also initiated a workshop where the faculty had the opportunity to discuss digitization and internationalization, it was very interesting and rewarding. In addition, ongoing right now is the preparatory work with KTH’s new development, both centrally and at the ITM school. The development plan will apply from 2018 and will focus on three key areas; equality, sustainability and internationalization. At ITM Faculty Club meeting in June, we will all have the opportunity to discuss the coming development plan, so I hope that many of us education dedicated teachers will participate then!
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In an earlier blog I wrote something like this:
In the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2012) the ITM School achieved reasonably good results, and in some cases best in class. A point that was made by one of the review panels was that we could gain a lot by better integration over department borders. In particular this was pointed out between the departments of Production Engineering and Machine Design. This, together with urgent needs on the one hand from department expansions, and on the other hand from needs of our education programs, have triggered a recently started project to modernize our premises at Valhallavägen.
This project is now entering into its second stage. The result of the first stage can be studied here, where it, towards the end, can be seen that five different paths forward are presented as possible alternatives. The naming of the initiative – ITM Innovation arena – should not be taken too literally, it is all about improving the premises, the working environment and the infrastructure to enhance education, research, innovation and collaboration. Last month, we decided do go forward in a second stage with two of those alternatives (alternatives 1 and 5 in the document).
Alternative 1:
Three arenas, one larger in the M-quarters, and two smaller at MSE and INDEK. Existing office and laboratory premises are re-built for more efficient space utilization and with new functionality for meetings and collaboration. Our activities are exposed through more welcoming entry-points facing the central campus pathways, and are strategically opened up for better visibility. In the M-quarters, existing buildings are physically connected via new spaces.
Alternative 5:
Two arenas, one even larger in the M-quarters, and one smaller at INDEK. The main difference to alternative 1 is that the larger arena in this case also includes MSE, otherwise with the same ambitions.
What happens now? The current project leader, Sofia Ritzén, is now forming several working groups to look closer into the needs and integration principles of the following:
- Workshops and prototype centre, maker space, physical model building, communication media production.
- Research infrastructure, the needs of both departments and centres.
- Spaces for innovation, entrepreneurial activities, collaboration and mobility with industry and society.
- Students and education
- Reception, visibility, conferences, meetings, coffee shop, faculty club
- Office work – typical activities and needs, work processes, flexibility
In parallel to these working group activities, the KTH central unit for premises development will together with external architects go forward on building volume estimations, coordination with Akademiska Hus and cost analysis. Both the ITM and the KTH central process are scheduled to be finished during the fall 2017.
We have established an area at the ITM intranet where the idea is that the progress in various ITM-overarching development projects will be published.
/Jan Wikander, Dean of School
