The Government’s public service agreement have now been issued, and for SLU this entails no major substantive changes compared with the previous year. The biggest change is that several former conditions for the use of the allocation have been replaced by reporting requirements, in line with the Government’s ambition to reduce detailed steering. This results in a somewhat reduced level of financial control over our allocation. As previously reported in the Newsletter, an additional SEK 10 million has been allocated to Grogrund, which in a direct and tangible way helps strengthen the faculty’s operations and, not least, supports sustainable and competitive agricultural production throughout the country.
New strategy for SLU
In December 2025, SLU’s Board adopted a renewed strategy for the entire university, covering a five-year period. Hopefully many of you have already familiarised yourselves with the strategy; it will also be discussed and further developed in a wide range of contexts throughout the year. For each major organisational unit (departments, faculty, administration), the strategy is to be broken down into a strategic operational plan, in which each unit will outline, in broad terms, how the strategy is to be implemented. At another level, the strategy, as well as the new subject areas, will of course also provide guidance on how skills supply and staffing should be designed in order to achieve the university’s strategic objectives.
KoN
During the year, the faculty will place strong emphasis on the research evaluation KoN (Quality and Impact), which on this occasion will be organised in a somewhat different way than last time. The heads of department have been given an initial briefing on the process, in which the departments will now be assigned a distinctly key role.
New strategic skills supply plan
The heads of department will also have major responsibility for developing the basis for a new strategic skills supply plan, which will be adopted by the Faculty Board in June. As the review of subject areas has now been completed and we have identified needs to strengthen and further develop these areas, the forthcoming plan is directly linked to this more overarching process.
Review of SLU’s entire educational offering
Our educational programmes remain a key priority. The review of student recruitment that was completed last autumn will lead to operational measures, while at the same time a review of SLU’s entire educational offering has been initiated. Much of the work to increase our attractiveness can be achieved through leadership and governance, as well as through strong and targeted investments in communication and marketing. However, all of us who work here, together with our students, alumni and partners, are at least as important in spreading awareness of and enthusiasm for our programmes. So take the opportunity to mention our educational activities when you meet colleagues from other universities, friends and acquaintances, and not least young people who may one day decide to apply to our campus.
Campus development
The campus plan was adopted in 2025, and we are now entering an implementation phase, with particularly urgent projects already underway and others about to begin. Work to secure our water supply has started, and the Västra Noden project is progressing. At an interesting and creative meeting, led by the Head of the Facilities and Projects Unit, Anna Lidvall Gräll, the heads of department concerned were given the opportunity to come together around a range of key issues related to the development of Västra Noden, and the assessment is now that there is a shared commitment and momentum in this project, which is of great importance to LTV.
Further improvements to our shared working environment will also result from the IT infrastructure uplift. The uplift (or the Programme, as it is most often referred to), which consists of around thirty projects, is now approaching its conclusion. During the first two quarters of the year, and probably part of the third, LTV will receive new Wi-Fi, which will provide significantly better performance than at present. The programme also includes, among other things, a review of all our IT assets (ITAM), the phase-out of IP telephony, the introduction of multi-factor authentication (MFA) for certain systems, and a migration to Microsoft 365. In addition, the large IT Division will as of 1 May have a new head. This will be Catrin Ditz, who is currently Programme Director for IoT Sweden (“Internet of Things, Sweden”) at Uppsala University.
Finally, I would like to wish all staff the very best of luck in your various roles and assignments.
Håkan Sandgren
Head of the Faculty office
