In May, the University Alliance Stockholm Trio – comprising KTH, Karolinska Institute (KI) and Stockholm University (SU) – was four years old. The Steering Committee of presidents and university directors met on 7 June at SU, and one of the points on the agenda was the agreement reached by the presidents on a joint master’s programme in biostatistics and computer science.
Last week, the heads of the three universities’ support services also met up at KI to discuss shared development issues. There’s a lot to be gained by supporting the collective scientific strengths of the trio and striving for joint efficiencies in support services. It is clear that by introducing a shared master’s programme, we have remedied quite a few administrative obstacles and challenges, and that in itself is worth celebrating. If we’ve done it once, we can do it again.
Development is under way at the three trio universities, and indeed at virtually all Swedish universities, so it is a real benefit to be able to discuss joint issue with colleagues in different contexts. Many people are curious about what we do at KTH, and I am proud to doff my summer hat and thank everyone at the University Administration for their efforts and commitment.
One success factor is the fact that we can work in a structured, systematic way with our prioritised development activities. As part of our efforts to build the necessary organisational capability, we have produced project manager training, specially designed to drive the operational development of the University Administration. All course participants have a real-life development assignment to work on during the training, and on completion everyone is invited to join a network of project managers who can carry on supporting each other. A new round of training is now open for applications. More information can be found at Basic practical project management (In Swedish).