News from the NJ Faculty Board meeting, 26 October

Principles for the allocation of funds 2023

The faculty board approved the principle for the allocation of funds at the NJ Faculty for 2023.

The SLU Board and the vice-chancellor decide on the framework the faculty board must adhere to when deciding on principles for allocating resources. Based on this framework, the dean then decides on the allocation of assignments and direct government funding to the departments.

The principles for 2023 have changed somewhat compared to 2022:

• Undergraduate courses and programmes: The capital surplus should partly be used to reduce provisions for special investments (joint exam services, technical infrastructure in teaching spaces, internationalisation and/or any settlements). By using the capital to fund certain investments, the framework for each programme group increases, lessening the financial consequences of the Board of Education’s reduction of the number of FTEs for PN-NJ’s area of responsibility. The capital is also to be used to partially compensate for the reduced allocation for non-programme students.
• Research and doctoral education: Direct government funding for the faculty’s subject fields is increased by 2% in addition to the cost and salary increase for 2023.

Decisions by the NJ Faculty Board

New docents

The faculty board has appointed the following colleagues docents:

• Alexander Menegat in crop production science
• Elin Dahlgren in biology, specialising in ecology
• Gustav Nestor in biology, specialising in biotechnology
• Katharina Meurer in soil science, specialising in plant nutrition
• Maliheh Mehrshad in biology
• Malin Olofsson in biology, specialising in ecology
• Simon Belle in biology, specialising in ecology
• Tino Colombi in soil science.

New programme board deputy

Mattias Jonsson, Department of Ecology, has been appointed deputy on the programme board for education in natural resources and agriculture (PN-NJ).

Members of the programme board (Swedish only)

NJ Faculty representative on PN-S

Under the vice-chancellor’s delegation of authority, the faculty boards may appoint one teacher each as a member of another faculty’s programme board. The faculty board has appointed Sarah Säll, Department of Economics, the NJ Faculty representative on PN-S for the period 1 November 2022 until 31 March 2025 at the latest.

Guidelines for appointing honorary doctors and promotors at the NJ Faculty

The faculty board adopted guidelines to the effect that the NJ Faculty will only appoint honorary doctors of agricultural science. The faculty should appoint no more than two honorary doctors annually. The faculty board may, if there are special circumstances such as a jubilee, appoint more than two doctors.

The previous guidelines have been clarified on several points, e.g., honorary doctors are appointed after being proposed by faculty employees entitled to vote (previously known as the electoral assembly), the grounds on which honorary doctors can be appointed, and certain practical aspects of the doctoral award ceremony.

Decisions by the NJ Faculty Board

Strategic skills provision

The faculty board discussed objectives and priorities for the strategic skills provision of professors, senior lecturers and associate senior lecturers. Models for prioritising different positions will be discussed at the next faculty board meeting.