Response to interpellation 2024/25:383 on measures to safeguard the quality of higher education
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L argues that higher education has grown significantly and that the government has increased the compensation for education as well as invested in research 1 2. L believes that the higher education institutions manage their own finances and that market-based rents are necessary to avoid distorting competition 1 3. L advocates for reinforced autonomy where higher education institutions are given increased freedom to choose their own funding methods for their properties 4. L argues that premises should have an efficient management and meet high environmental goal requirements 4. V argues that higher education is lagging behind and that systemic errors such as productivity requirements and the rent-setting model hinder quality 5. V believes that the economic framework prevents the higher education institutions from deciding for themselves 6.
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 Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! Lorena Delgado Varas has asked me how I view the need to guarantee geographical accessibility to higher education and to counter the closure of campus activities in smaller locations due to, among other things, unreasonably high rental costs, and whether I intend to take any initiatives based on my view. Varas has also asked me whether I intend to take measures so that access to common areas and meeting places for students at Swedish educational institutions does not decrease or disappear due to the educational institutions' need for savings.
The state-owned real estate company Akademiska Hus is a large landlord for state universities and colleges. In addition to Akademiska Hus, approximately 200 other real estate companies rent premises to educational institutions, and they occupy approximately 40 percent of the stock.
Educational institutions rent out their properties, and the rent is set at market levels. The authorities are also compensated for the rent level through the annual price and wage adjustment of the grants. The government has simultaneously increased the compensation for education within humanities and social sciences as well as nature and technology. This means that the educational institutions can more easily utilize their entire education grant. The recently presented research and innovation bill, which is before the Riksdag, contains investments that are calculated to be fully expanded to 6.5 billion from and including 2028 for research and innovation of the highest quality.
The Economic Management Authority has investigated which changes in the agencies' activities and costs may become permanent as a result of the pandemic. The investigation showed, among other things, that the pandemic may have accelerated the agencies' work in developing digital ways of working.
Over the last decade, more and more educational institutions have started to measure occupancy rates, that is, what proportion of the time a certain room is utilized or what proportion of the room is utilized. For example, Örebro University has installed several thousand sensors to measure how the rooms are used. This work regarding space efficiency can also be a partial explanation for why the floor space is decreasing. Another contributing cause is likely inflation, which has driven up costs for all agencies, including universities and colleges.
Madam Speaker! The Government is now reviewing the resource allocation system. The Government stated in the latest budget bill (prop. 2024/25:1) that an inquiry shall be appointed to achieve efficient resource utilization and an educational offer of the highest quality that is relevant to society's and the labor market's needs for higher education. The Government has also previously, during 2024, appointed an investigator who shall assist the Government Offices (Ministry of Education) in submitting proposals on how the resource allocation system can be adapted so that a relevant and flexible offer of high-quality courses and programs aimed at professionals shall increase. The investigator, in this case, shall submit their proposals in April this year.
Madam Speaker! It is the educational institutions themselves that decide how their premises shall be designed. It is entirely natural that decisions regarding premises are handled locally. The Government steers through overarching goals for the operations: Education and research at universities and colleges shall maintain a high quality from an international perspective and be conducted efficiently.
Lorena Delgado Varas (V)
Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
Each of the governments, not just this one, has stated that higher education is one of the foundations for having a stable, democratic society. It gives us the opportunity to drive society forward, so that more and more people can achieve security and a future. It also provides strength in a changing world.
Sweden has a relatively highly educated population. This gives us quite good conditions to meet the transition that is needed. People like to talk about competitiveness, and this is an incredibly important part of that, depending on how one wants to compete. Some want to compete with wages and volumes. Others, like we from Vänsterpartiet, want to compete based on innovation and sustainability, both social sustainability and environmental sustainability.
But despite both previous governments and the current government claiming that higher education is placed high on the agenda, the goal is unfortunately missed time and again.
I really do not understand why one chooses not to listen to representatives from academia and to students.
The Minister mentions the 6.5 billion and that the compensation for education has been increased. It can easily be understood as being incredibly generous of the government. But the truth is that higher education has been lagging behind for decades. Year after year, the educational institutions have been forced to prioritize without being given the opportunity to create space to develop further and take steps to improve quality. Sweden risks losing its position. If we see higher education as so important, we must rectify the flaws in the system so that education and research get what they need.
The truth is that for decades, the educational institutions have flagged systemic errors that prevent them from using the resources and thus providing a well-founded and high-quality education. They have pointed to the funding system, the productivity requirement, and the rent-setting model.
Year in and year out, the educational institutions must juggle to try and make it work. Sometimes the budget is a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower. Then they are forced to adapt.
Instead of providing them with a stable basic grant that allows the employees to obtain a secure employment and focus on education and research, they are forced into a lot of administration to apply for funds. One also does not solve the problem of insecure employment within higher education.
This will have further negative consequences for higher education, which unfortunately accumulate. I would like to see some government tackle the systemic errors and not just try to cover them up by reducing or increasing the budget in certain grants and so on, but actually look at how one can achieve a stable higher education where the universities are not forced to cut back on teacher-led hours and on campus in order to survive.
Utbildningsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! I have great respect for the fact that the educational institutions experience that from time to time it can be difficult with priorities and choices that must be made.
From a longer perspective, it is clear that we have seen higher education grow enormously in Sweden, and it is now almost double the size compared to a couple of decades ago.
All this we did because we in this chamber considered it an important way to solve the competence needs that exist for the Swedish labor market and to provide people with employment and thereby also contribute to Sweden continuing to be a country of prosperity and welfare.
We can observe that the issue has not been resolved, rather, a shortage of competence is something that I discuss repeatedly with both the business sector, organizations and authorities, which lack the competence they feel they need. This is rooted in the fact that it is difficult to predict the future.
Education is generally seen as something good. An education, regardless of whether one has completed a good vocational education in upper secondary school, proceeded to a vocational college or studied at a college and university, leads to one gaining increased empowerment for oneself and, together with others, contributing with one's competence for the sake of the country Sweden. This is important.
Regarding the question of the resource allocation system, we are looking at it, as I said in my interpellation answer. I also want to mention that we are working on the question of the form of association. Many universities and colleges point out that they would gladly have more academic freedom and autonomy to design their own operations according to the legislation that is ultimately established by the Riksdag.
We have signaled that we are ready to look at this. It has been looked at before, but I understand that it is complex. Not least, it is linked to long-term financing. As a representative for the Liberals, I belong to those who believe that investments in education pay off in the long run through prosperity and security in Sweden and, not least, for the individual. We do this to address the systemic errors that some point out are built-in.
The enormous increase in resources for higher education must be taken into perspective when one says that one experiences a lack of resources, but it is clear that one must always prioritize and make important choices for quality and excellence, not least for the sake of the students, so that they do not study an education of low quality.
Regarding Akademiska Hus, it is a matter well known in this chamber. We know that its activities shall be conducted on a business basis and that there shall be a market-based return so as not to violate various forms of competition rules.
One must work to develop a sustainability together with those who conduct education at universities and colleges. The distortion is central – otherwise, one could have imagined providing public support in the budget and then other support via the real estate company. That might not be the right way to go to make it clear and transparent for the citizens and the Swedish Parliament.
Lorena Delgado Varas (V)
Higher education is not only about creating the required competence but also about giving each of us the opportunity to study in higher education based on our ambitions. It is important for that reason as well.
Regarding the billions that the minister mentioned, the truth is that the sum mentioned, which applies until 2028, is actually not even as high as the profit that Akademiska Hus makes. For example, the government is investing 1.5 billion in research in 2025, while Akademiska Hus made a profit of 4.8 billion in 2022, of which 20.5 billion went to the state treasury.
From that perspective, the research funds become a way of painting the facade of a house that is cracking due to poor maintenance. If one continues in that way, the house will eventually become uninhabitable. This is what I believe has happened because different requirements are constantly being set regarding higher education while simultaneously raising the rent in a way that makes it unsustainable.
I am not alone in thinking this. Many have pointed out that Akademiska Hus properties are actually intended to house educational institutions. It becomes strange when a market-driven rental pricing is chosen for buildings that are actually intended for higher education.
More and more are warning that, among other things, rental costs mean that resources need to be taken from, among other things, education and research. This contributes to us having a smaller presence of higher education around the country because many educational institutions are forced to close certain campuses.
For example, KTH here in Stockholm chose to close its campus in Kista. This does not only have the consequence that the students get less space and less opportunity for teacher-led lessons and so on, but it also means that a place of learning disappears in a suburb.
This also has consequences for representation and recruitment. It can also cause the business sector that was created around KTH to flag that they need to leave Kista because they no longer have the synergy they had together with KTH.
It is the same thing with KTH in Södertälje, where AstraZeneca and Scania have highlighted all the advantages they see with having an academic partner in Södertälje. Particularly in Södertälje, KTH has shown that they have a much broader recruitment than KTH centrally, so there will be an erosion of both suburbs and smaller towns.
The Minister points out that inflation is the driving factor, but we believe it is the inflation that produces that consequence in the current rental model. In that case, perhaps the model needs to be replaced so that it does not result in that consequence.
ANDRE VICE TALMANNEN
I would like to remind the members that the person who has the floor shall direct their speech to the Speaker.
Utbildningsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! It is important to remember that it is the higher education institutions themselves that manage their finances based on the appropriations granted. They manage their own costs. It is the institution's management that decides how the institution shall use its appropriations.
It is difficult to see a direct connection between small and large educational institutions and their premises costs. There are large institutions that have a large share of premises costs – KTH has been mentioned here – and there are smaller institutions that have a very low share of premises costs. It can, of course, have a lot to do with geography, compared to others.
Regarding smaller campus units, we see no general trend that they are being closed down. It is also the case that the higher education institution must be allowed to decide how it should organize itself. It is only in exceptional cases that it is regulated that the higher education institution shall conduct its activities in a specific location; for example, it is Dalarna University which, according to what the Chamber has regulated, shall have activities in Borlänge.
Regarding Akademiska Hus, we of course follow the issue of rent development. It must be remembered that they have approximately 60 percent of the so-called market share and that there are still 200 other companies that account for 40 percent of the premises. These premises are very important for a good education. It is about smart spaces, sustainability, and that it should be easy for the universities to use them. They should be flexible in different ways. The universities also work with a total constant appropriation from the government, ultimately from the Riksdag, and with constantly developing their activities. It should therefore be smooth and efficient when it comes to premises.
Property management is, as I have also said before, a competitive market. Different forms of subsidized rents become problematic; it risks distorting competition and becoming problematic from a pure state aid perspective. It is more straightforward to see the grant that has been given and that is being given now. That can be criticized, but one can look at it historically and see how we have expanded higher education in Sweden very significantly over a few decades.
This is, however, still a reasonable way to organize the real estate issue, in the same way that the state takes a large responsibility for the real estate issue when it concerns special properties or cultural properties – where there is a constant debate about who should bear the costs for the physical building and how it should be done.
Lorena Delgado Varas (V)
The Minister says that the universities should be allowed to decide, and that is obvious. But I think that the economic framework provided by the government nevertheless implies a framework that the universities must adhere to. In that way, one can therefore actually prevent the universities from deciding for themselves.
We mean that these obstacles contribute to an erosion of quality and opportunities. It leads to fewer teacher-led hours, which has a direct consequence for those students who perhaps do not come from an academic home and need to receive support. We have seen reports that more and more students need extra support when they enter higher education, which is due to the fact that we have a broken primary school, which also needs to be repaired.
We from Vänsterpartiet are not talking about subsidies, however, we are talking about a change of the rental model. It is a completely different issue. We mean that the reduced space that the rent increases lead to will result in a negative trend regarding both the quality of the education and the democratic space for the students. Research libraries will need to adapt or simply be removed. It will simply be negative for our society in the end.
We mean that Akademiska Hus does not operate in a competitive market in that way. By having a market rent, they are undermining the educational institutions, and we think that the best thing would be to change it. It is not a difficult measure.
Utbildningsministern Johan Pehrson (L)
Madam Speaker! When I have spoken with Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, I have naturally ensured that it is clear that she, as a minister, is responsible for Akademiska Hus. There is currently no work underway to change Akademiska Hus's mandate, but I shall tell you about the interpellation debate that we have now had here.
I want once again to advocate for the issue of increased autonomy by reviewing the conditions of the educational institutions and their forms of association. This would mean increased freedom for the educational institutions to themselves choose funding methods for their properties. But there are, so to speak, no magic formulas that can be devised, but we are talking about premises that must have an efficient management. They must be sustainable and meet high environmental goal requirements regarding the properties' continued existence. The premises must be flexible so that the educational institutions can have a good operation over time and, not least, be able to cooperate with the surrounding community. It is, therefore, something that I foresee could provide increased freedom for the educational institutions to dispose of their collective resources, so to speak – but more about that when we know what such an investigation will conclude.
Overall, it differs, but over time the educational institutions' premises costs have been around 13 percent. Personnel costs have been at 63–64 percent, and premises costs have been at 13 percent. Then other costs to make the operations function have been between 20 and 25 percent over time. In that part, it is therefore relatively stable.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.