Swedish universities sign collaboration agreement

On Friday, 26 March, the presidents of Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg, University of Borås, University of Skövde, University West and Jönköping University signed an agreement on alliance cooperation. The collaboration is called University Network of West Sweden, and the goal is to develop the quality and diversity of the parties' operations.

“It is important for us to be part of a proactive and driving alliance. It is an excellent way to build on existing collaborations and develop new ones in education, research, utilization of research and support functions. The ambition is to strengthen both national and international competitiveness and increase our opportunities to use our resources efficiently. We believe that the collaboration creates very good conditions for our core operations; research and education,” says Agneta Marell, President of Jönköping University.

Cooperation between the universities already takes place today in various forms. Now, the presidents at the six universities want to develop the collaboration even more in order to make better use of the potential that exists. Based on the agreement, the parties want to clarify the intention to establish structures and processes for developing new and utilizing existing collaborations in education at the undergraduate and advanced level, postgraduate education, research utilization and innovation, and operational support.

The universities have identified several priority areas for collaboration, such as competence supply and competence development, effective administrative support processes. and increasing the opportunities for students to study at several of the universities.

According to the presidents, the agreement is not about a merger, instead the purpose is to strengthen the alliance's as well as the individual institutions' profiling, competitiveness and attractiveness.

Representatives from the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland, the County Administrative Board of Jönköping County and the Region Västra Götaland were also present at the signing.

“A development of regional co-operation in west Sweden will make an important contribution to regional development in our county. Increased opportunities for education secure important parts of our need for competence both now and in the future,” says Johan Löwenadler Davidsson, County Councillor in Jönköping County.

Steering group and coordination group are appointed

To support the development of University Network of West Sweden three groups have been formed; a steering group consisting of the presidents, a group of heads of administration and a coordination group. An administrative resource is linked to the coordination group and financed jointly by the parties. The chairmanship will rotate annually and is initially held by Eva Wiberg, President of the University of Gothenburg.

University Network of West Sweden consists of:

• Chalmers University of Technology
• University of Gothenburg
• University of Borås
• University of Skövde
• University West
• Jönköping University