Response to interpellation 2023/24:536 on university status for Södertörn University
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the university status for Södertörn University. L argues that the government does not intend to appoint more universities as decisions require long-term considerations and stable state financial conditions 1. L believes that previous policy diluted resources by converting regional colleges into universities, which weakened Sweden as a knowledge nation 2. L wants to instead concentrate efforts on excellence, internationalization, and innovation 2. L argues that S has expanded places in independent courses to hide youth unemployment 3 and that the government wants to concentrate resources nationally 3 4. L argues that it is a misconception that universities are the only way to obtain research funds 4. S argues that more people should be given the opportunity for higher education and that higher education should be accessible throughout the country 5. S considers Södertörn University to be a stable institution with significant research 6. S argues that it is a lack of strategic thinking not to grant the college university status 7. S considers the college important for breaking socioeconomic barriers 5. S argues that the college has academic quality and that a university status would mean a marginal cost increase 8. S considers that the government is closing the door for university status 9.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Ingela Nylund Watz has asked me if I intend to issue a mandate to UKÄ to make an assessment of Södertörn University according to the overall quality aspects to be considered within the framework of the educational and research policy reasons when deciding on the designation university, and if I consider that Södertörn University should be granted status as a university.
I want to begin by repeating what I have stated in previous contexts, namely that I welcome debate on higher education and research and that knowledge and competence are crucial for Sweden to be a competitive knowledge nation.
Södertörn University plays an important role for higher education and research in the southern part of the Stockholm region but also for the supply of skills in the rest of the country. Not least, the university has a very important role in the government's goal to combat gang crime by educating the police officers of the future. The university also has a unique mission to conduct education and research related to the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe. I agree with Ingela Nylund Watz that this is particularly important in the current situation due to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.
The government's long-term policy is based on strengthening Sweden as a competitive education and research country. The government's goal is that education and research at universities and colleges shall maintain high quality internationally and be conducted efficiently. Academic freedom shall be promoted and protected, and there shall be good conditions to utilize research results. In order for Sweden to continue to develop as a knowledge nation, we need to make wise and long-term investments that strengthen the quality of education and research at our universities and colleges.
As part of this, UKÄ has been tasked with further strengthening quality and promoting excellence in the national quality assurance system. Quality is also a central aspect in the upcoming research and innovation policy bill, which has the focus of excellence, internationalization, and innovation. The bill is planned to be presented during the end of 2024.
It is the government that decides on the designation university. Such decisions shall be made after a balanced assessment. It is also crucial that decisions to convert colleges into universities involve long-term considerations and stable state financial conditions. In addition, there must, of course, be strong educational and research policy reasons.
Since 2009, colleges have had the opportunity to apply for authorization to award degrees at the research level within a certain area. This creates opportunities for colleges to profile themselves and to strengthen research within a certain area. It is positive that Södertörn University has utilized this opportunity to develop its activities. The Government does not intend to initiate any process to designate more universities during the current mandate period.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the very clear answer: No and no. This government does not intend to start a process to designate more universities during the mandate period. It was exactly as I suspected, and I am not at all surprised.
Madam Speaker! The Minister was clear in his answer, and when one reads a debate article from the Minister in Svenska Dagbladet on March 14 this year, the motive itself becomes even clearer. There, the Minister says in practice that the researching, somewhat newer colleges and universities contribute to lowering Sweden as a research nation by spreading research resources thin across them. It was, however, not exactly what the Minister expressed just a year earlier, on April 12, 2023, during a visit to Örebro University, a young university that conducts exciting research. There he said that Örebro University is a success story and something one can feel very proud of. I will return to this later in the debate.
Madam Speaker! Next year, 2025, it will be 30 years since the Riksdag decided to start Södertörn University. It took place the following year with an intake of a thousand students. It was a long period of investigation that preceded the decision. The Riksdag politicians of that time realized very profitably that the southern part of the Stockholm region was undersupplied with higher education. The transition to higher studies was low, unemployment was high, and the segregation problems in the Stockholm region tended to become larger and larger. The mission for the university was to build up a university structure for higher education and research. I followed this very carefully myself, not least during my time as a county councilor in Stockholm, and I also contributed a good deal of resources from the county council to make this possible.
Today, Södertörn University is a stable institution of higher education with 13,000 students. There is a wide range of programs, and the proportion of research is significant. The university contributes strongly to the academic education level in the Stockholm region and has, as the Minister noted, the authority to award doctoral degrees. I also note that the Minister appreciates the university's education and research in Baltic and Eastern European issues. It is a perspective where we agree that research and education are becoming increasingly important in line with what is happening in our geographical vicinity.
Madam Speaker! The SD-government has therefore not intended to consider the question of granting more educational institutions university status during this mandate period. It is easy to understand from the Liberals' own basic position on higher education, but it becomes even more understandable when one takes into account the position of the Sverigedemokraterna, the largest party in the government's basis. They also want to revoke the university status from some of the new, younger universities.
Madam Speaker! In light of the fact that the government considers that the state has spread research resources across too many educational institutions, it will be very exciting to take part in the upcoming research bill. I am not the only one who is interested. There are probably many educational institutions, for example Örebro universitet, Mälardalens universitet, Malmö universitet and Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, which with some anxiety look forward to the government's decision.
My question today is however: Does the Minister consider that all doors should be closed for all time for the educational institutions that seek university status, including Södertörn University?
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Ingela Nylund Watz for this opportunity to discuss Södertörn University's future status, not least the university's importance not only for the Stockholm region but also for all of Sweden and for the Baltic Sea region. I also thank the Minister for the answer.
Madam Speaker! Since 1996, Södertörn University has grown into a valuable force in the Stockholm region's educational landscape and become a bridge-builder between social development, education, and research. Since its start, Södertörn University has developed with a strong foundation in humanities and social sciences and adapted to the changing needs of society. The university's distinctive focus on the Baltic and Eastern European perspectives, together with the ambition to address directly relevant societal challenges, has strengthened the university's position as a significant source of knowledge.
Madam Speaker! Furthermore, the university's deep commitment to environmental science and important educational programs, such as teacher and police training, which the Minister also addressed in his response, has reinforced its role in nation-building.
The research with a clear focus on the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe underlines the university's status as an influential voice and an actor in regional discussions. The university's invaluable contributions to the Baltic region by contributing to research and debate on security, climate impact, inclusion, and regional development underline its important role in strengthening urban cores and protecting the Baltic Sea.
Through the college's work with broadened recruitment and engagement in regional development, not least in the southern parts of Stockholm, the college plays a decisive role in promoting accessibility and inclusion within higher education. To give Södertörn University status is not about changing the sign at the entrance, but it is about officially recognizing and enabling an institution that already functions as a high-quality knowledge and innovation engine to broaden its horizons, attract more talents nationally and internationally, and intensify its contribution to social development, which it does today. Not to do this, against the background of the college's proven capacity and contribution, appears not only as a lost opportunity but also as a lack of strategic thinking for the future, not least by the SD government.
With this in mind, and in light of the Minister for Education's response, which both emphasizes the importance of higher education and its central role in society, it appears inexplicable that an upgrade to university status is not on the agenda during the current mandate period. I find it difficult to understand this.
Madam Speaker! By granting Södertörn University university status, the government takes a decisive step towards ensuring that the Stockholm region continues to be a leading force in Sweden and in the Baltic region. I also want to emphasize that Södertörn University meets the requirements for university status in international comparisons, as evidenced by the fact that the university has been a member of the European University Association since 2013. For that, it is required that the institution conducts research and has accreditation for degrees at higher levels.
There is much that speaks in favor of Södertörn University becoming a university. I also want to take the opportunity to ask the Minister for Education the following: Given Södertörn University's impressive track record and its untapped potential as a university, what exactly is it that prevents the government from granting the university the status and resources required to fully realize its potential for the Stockholm region, for the Baltic Sea, and not least for Sweden's future?
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank the members for their commitment to the issue. It is impossible to underestimate the commitment you have for the Stockholm region and for Stockholm, which you have expressed in your contributions.
Just as I stated in my response, universities generally play a role in Sweden, and Södertörn University plays an important role for the regional supply of skills. It is important that there is education in many places, so that in that way there will be a supply of skills for teachers, nurses, social workers, and other important professional skills. In the case of Södertörn, there is also a connection to police training and initiatives connected to the core of the welfare system, of which the justice system is a part.
Madam Speaker! I also think the debate shows the danger when the concept of university becomes politicized and where, from a local political perspective, with a strong local or regional interest, the issue is driven that a higher education institution should become a university. It is that approach that the members have in the debate.
As minister, I, like the government, have a national perspective - and thus not a regional political perspective - on these issues. It is about how Sweden shall also in the future be a country that develops the latest innovations. How shall Sweden be a country that also in the future receives Nobel Prizes and does not just award them?
With the strategy that the previous Social Democratic government has had, resources have been spread thin by converting regional colleges into universities. The government's view is that this development in recent years has occurred at the expense of the quality of the system and that this has meant that Sweden is not fully living up to its potential as a research and knowledge nation.
When one spreads out the resources, one does the exact opposite of what Sweden's competing countries do. In that way, Sweden has been weakened as a nation of knowledge and innovation. It is not I who assert this, but several international organizations present it in analyses of Sweden in relation to other countries.
From the government's side, we want excellence, internationalization, and innovation as the three key words for the upcoming research bill. An important starting point for our work is therefore to safeguard the universities' unique role in the system. However, we do not want to dilute the resources but instead concentrate them. All Swedes will benefit from that.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for further comments!
In his response, the Minister accounted for his basic view on research and education. We who have followed the Minister for some time in politics have made clear to ourselves that it is precisely that stance which the Minister expressed, among other things in the debate article in Svenska Dagbladet, that is guiding for him.
The Minister also said that academic freedom, good opportunities to utilize research results, and high quality in an international perspective are important. It is easy to agree with that, and as said, it will be very interesting to see how the Minister will concretize this in the research and innovation bill that will come later this year.
Madam Speaker! I mean that Sweden is a country that should compete with competence rather than with low wages. We Social Democrats believe that more people in Sweden should be given the opportunity for higher studies. We believe that it makes Sweden stronger, and it is for this reason that we have very powerfully implemented an expansion of the number of educational places at the country's higher education institutions and in other education. We also believe that it is important that higher education is accessible throughout the country and that cooperation between academia and the surrounding society in the country's regions strengthens Sweden's competitiveness. I believe that the Minister also thinks so.
Madam Speaker! The Minister said that the regional universities play a role in the regional skills supply. Let me state something of what the regional development plan for the Stockholm region, Rufs, says about this.
In RUFS 2050, it is argued that the Stockholm region will find it increasingly difficult to meet the demand for competence in terms of university-educated individuals, including in the professions that the Minister himself mentioned. At the same time, it is noted that proximity to education plays a major role in students' choice of study location and that this is largely influenced by socioeconomic background. It is apparently the case that students whose parents lack a university education – and we have many such students – tend to study in their home region to a greater extent. A good supply of study places in the surrounding area is therefore an important prerequisite for high school students to be able to proceed to higher studies more easily.
Just having the opportunity for studies in the local area and breaking down the socioeconomic barriers to higher education was one of the fundamental reasons why the college was established with broad consensus. People were actually only in disagreement about one thing. The Moderates at the time wanted a university, but this was not to be placed in Södertörn but in Nacka or where Hammarby sjöstad is located today.
The question then is: Has Södertörn University fulfilled its mission? There are many writings that point to this. For example, it is the case that first-year students in southern Greater Stockholm choose Södertörn University to a very high degree as their first or second choice.
Since the Minister has now closed the door to granting Södertörn University university status, there are other questions to ask: What challenges and opportunities does the Minister see? What role does the Minister believe Södertörn University can and should play in the academic environment in the Stockholm region and in Sweden?
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
It is a bit strange that the Minister wants to narrow the discussion down to a regional perspective when we are talking about such an important institution. I have clearly raised what role Södertörn University plays and what profile it has, not least within the world of higher education. Södertörn University has education and research at an academic level, primarily within humanities and social sciences, in combination with knowledge and research on the Baltic Sea and European perspectives. It is not about any regional thinking, as the Minister is trying to make it out to be.
The Minister also spoke about spreading resources too thin and about the need to consolidate efforts. It is an issue that often arises in these types of discussions and which is very much about financing. There is a justified concern that resources for research and education could become too dispersed if one easily converts colleges into universities; I can understand that.
If we look closer at the actual figures and the context regarding Södertörn University and the role it plays from a regional, national, and international perspective, we can nevertheless state that the traditional universities currently receive a larger share of the grants intended for research and research education. If Södertörn University were to be granted university status and thus receive an increased grant for research and research education, the grant would likely increase by 100 million kronor. That corresponds to only 0.6 percent of the total grant to the sector, Madam Speaker.
Given the marginal economic consequences and the significant potential benefits of making Södertörn University a university, what is preventing the government from granting Södertörn University university status?
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I think it becomes very clear in this debate which ideological starting points the different parties in the chamber have. The Social Democrats describe with pride how they have expanded the number of places at colleges and universities in recent years but do not admit what has been the result, namely that they - because they want to hide youth unemployment - have expanded the number of places in independent courses, which in many cases have very low throughput. It is therefore very few students who take their credits - students enroll but do not take the credits.
We have seen a very substantial expansion of distance courses throughout the entire system. This has been done deliberately because one has wanted to hide the figures for youth unemployment by expanding higher education. This type of academicization of various educations occurs at the expense of the education the students de facto receive. I believe that it is a very unfortunate path the Social Democrats have embarked upon. We have, however, seen it time and again - every time the Social Democrats have been in power, one has done precisely that. I think it is unfortunate.
I also mean, Madam Speaker, that the debate here shows how questions of whether a college should become a university rather have their basis in a strong regional political perspective. In the debate, I have not heard any arguments concerning quality in the operations from a national perspective that would justify converting the operations from a college to a university; instead, it is the regional political perspective that is put forward.
The government has a different view and argues that one needs to start from a national perspective and no longer dilute the resources, but rather consolidate them. We all win if Sweden can take new steps in developing new innovations and the latest cutting-edge research and in that way achieve a research environment in Sweden as a nation that benefits us all.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Madam Speaker! Let me first urge the Minister to read the shorthand report, as Serkan Köse's contribution concerned which qualities are unique to Södertörn University. It is possible that the Minister missed it.
In his answer to me, the Minister also mentions that the government has tasked UKÄ with strengthening quality and promoting excellence in the national quality assurance system and that the upcoming research bill is aimed at excellence, internationalization, and innovation. What lies behind this is still unclear, and I assume it will continue to be so until the research bill is presented later this year. I can, however, already from this debate and from other things the Minister has stated, sense a direction, for in the Minister's world, excellence appears to be achievable only in Lund and Uppsala. I hope to be proven wrong in that assumption when the bill arrives.
Madam Speaker! At the end of this debate, where it has become completely clear that the door is closed for university status for Södertörn University, I think the Minister must nevertheless explain himself on one point. If Örebro University is something to be proud of, as the Minister said last spring on-site at Örebro University, which institutions are then, in the Minister's opinion, less valuable? Or are statements of this kind just something one says in the heat of the moment to flatter the audience? The debate article in Svenska Dagbladet on March 14 this year clarifies, in fact, the Minister's actual basic position regarding the new universities: the research resources shall be concentrated at fewer institutions.
So: Is the door closed forever? Is it Södertörn University or some other educational institution that the Minister feels less proud of?
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank you for an excellent debate.
Colleges and universities are important for Sweden from their different roles in the system. The colleges have an important role in the regional skills supply, and we need a geographical distribution of our colleges to secure this skills supply.
In the debate, one sometimes gets the impression that the only way for a college to conduct research is by becoming a university, and as the Social Democrats have previously handled the policy, it has been exactly so. It has driven a strong will in some, far from all, to convert from a college to a university. I believe it has been a misconception that it should be the only way to receive research funds, which has created the discussion that has existed in the sector from time to time.
I look forward to a continued debate on these types of issues. Of course, very good research is being conducted at both universities and colleges, but the overall policy is that we do not want to spread resources too thin and need to consolidate. Therefore, the government's starting point is that there will not be any more universities during this mandate period.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.