One important lesson we learned during the pandemic is that we must build more flexible, student-centric lifelong learning, and lay an even better foundation for KTH to keep up with the competition. Higher education institutions took on the role of safety barrier to some extent during the pandemic, and overnight universities and colleges were forced to make changes to secure students’ education, partly using digital teaching and examination solutions. The key now is not to let things return to their original form but, through the Future of Education programme, to set our sights firmly forwards so that we can be open to a greater diversity of learning and education.

The new conditions for lifelong learning comprise another area that will place new demands on the education we offer in the years to come. We have to find new ways ahead both for pedagogy and for our range of courses and programmes, so that we can better reach the student groups who have already embarked on their careers.

The internationalization of our programmes also continues. We are already highly internationalized, accepting many students from other countries. It is important for the future evolution of our education that we apply the lessons we have learnt in this area.

Educational development, new forms for examination and new technology all bring fresh opportunities as well as new challenges moving forward. There is already a greater breadth of pedagogic models and forms for continuous learning in our programmes today, and it is important that we continue to make positive progress.

The Future of Education programme will include a number of change-oriented projects and will also be reviewed annually. Initiatives being launched in the near future include various kinds of development of our laboratory environments, forms for examination, our range of lifelong learning, extended recruitment, and development of our masters-level programmes, to name but a few.

Student involvement in the Student Union, chapters and associations is important to KTH. Not only is it the primary driver for student influence, it is also an important factor in creating a shared study and work environment for the students, one that’s both inclusive and enriching.

For more than ten years now, membership of a student union has been optional at state-run universities, having been mandatory for a long time. This means that student unions now have to actively recruit their members, and doing this obviously depends on having a well-run operation.

THS managed well in the transition to optional membership and today has a far-reaching field of operations beyond active student influence. This includes important reception activities, careers support, and a wide range of social and academic activities for students. It is good to know that THS is there as a close collaboration partner to KTH.

I have mixed emotions when I think back to student council meetings at my own alma mater, further north in Sweden, where our discussions were dominated by political debate and argument well into the small hours. At the time student union politics was strictly party political, and the council’s work was governed accordingly. Discussing matters that were relevant to university studies was far more uncommon.

Student Union Council work at KTH today seems to be quite different, with a clear focus on promoting academic success and developing KTH’s and the Union’s operations.

Positive collaboration is a guarantee of quality development in KTH’s operations in general, and education in particular. Like all other universities, KTH supports its Student Union with more than we receive in state grants. That is problematic.

A student union should be independent of the university in which it operates. A well-intentioned proposal is therefore being submitted to the government: why not double national funding for student influence from SEK 55 million to SEK 110 million? Government funding for student influence must increase to levels equivalent to before mandatory student union membership was abolished.

This will benefit everyone.

Student influence is fundamental to a university’s development, and important in driving development issues at KTH. We take it very seriously – and not only because we have to in accordance with Sweden’s Higher Education Act, but because it helps to improve overall quality. Student influence is also key in driving and achieving change.

Students are a natural barometer at a university, and also a kind of touchstone for finding out what’s happening in modern society. In other words, students provide important insights into where the future is headed.

But back to the list, which contains 33 different wishes, from greater student influence to stronger links with the business community, broader empowerment, sustainability in teaching, and higher integration of gender equality, diversity and equal conditions (JML). These are just some of the wishes that can roughly be categorised as pertaining to the social study environment, the actual content of the education, and the relationship with the future labour market. I will of course be looking at the entire list in detail, but I can already see that a lot of it is already in progress, particularly in our work on the education of the future.

One thing I can guarantee is that we and the students will be working together to shape the agenda for KTH’s development over the years to come – and strong, dynamic student influence will of course be a major factor in this process. That much I can promise ahead of the festive season.