News in brief from the Faculty Board meeting on 24 April

Recruitment Matters

The Board approved seven advertisements for associate senior lecturers. These recruitments are part of the SLU-wide initiative “SLU Futures”, launched by the Vice-Chancellor, in which nine associate senior lecturers will be recruited to SLU. Following an internal application process, a number of subjects were selected for these positions.The initiative coincides with a call for applications from Mistra regarding future research leaders in the environmental field. Some of the subjects selected at SLU have therefore also been included in applications to Mistra. The associate senior lecturers will be advertised collectively in June.

The Faculty Board also approved the advertisement for the recruitment of a professor in bioenergy technology and systems at the Department of Energy and Technology. In the long term, this position will replace and broaden an existing subject area within the department.

New vice-dean

The faculty now has a vice-dean responsible for internationalisation: Klara Fischer from the Department of Urban and Rural Development. With her background in environmental communication and her strong international profile, Klara will be able to contribute valuable perspectives to the faculty leadership.

Educational matters

The Faculty Board dealt with a couple of important educational issues:

1. The first concerns the curricula for three new degree programmes in the field of economics, as well as the Master's programme in Agricultural and Forestry Systems Engineering. The Faculty Board endorsed the plans proposed by the Programme Board. The background to the economics programmes is complex, but is essentially an adaptation to the division of the discipline into business administration and economics, and the students’ need to complete programmes that align with this scientific division. As for the engineering programme, this decision is a step towards the launch of the new programme.
   
   
2. The second educational matter concerns the Faculty Board’s opportunity to comment on the Programme Board’s proposal to the Board of Education regarding the programme offerings for 2026/2027. This consultation takes place annually and is one of the few occasions where the Faculty Boards are directly involved in educational matters.

Student recruitment

At the meeting, investigator Lars Johansson, together with the investigation secretary Maria Orvehed, presented the ongoing work on developing a comprehensive approach to student recruitment at SLU. The investigation will be presented in September.