New year, new possibilities. The forest remains an important social issue. In our part of SLU – the Faculty of Forest Sciences – business is booming, especially in the last four years. We just passed 1 billion SEK in annual turnover for the faculty as a whole. We’re getting closer to 1,000 unique employees. February 4, we celebrated this milestone with a “billion fika”.
So, what are we celebrating?
We’re celebrating that we have ample resources to produce the knowledge that our society needs and requires – domestically as well as internationally. We’re celebrating that our programmes are doing well, with a very high throughput and extremely high employability for our students once on the job market. Forest-related skills are in short supply – in the public as well as the private sector. We’re celebrating that we’re an attractive employer with a clear mission to lead in forest research, education and environmental analysis.
We’re also celebrating that we’re internationally attractive, with a growing number of foreign students and staff. Our high ranking no doubt plays a part; SLU is ranked the 3rd best university in agriculture and forestry.
We’re also a strong competitor for external funding – resources that have enabled us to invest in new areas like sustainable forestry, bioeconomy and the green transition. A whopping 61 percent of our turnover comes from external resources, obtained in competition. Our increased turnover also creates space for more shared resources, so that we can continue to enjoy grade A university administration.
In my role as dean, I would like to thank everyone for making this possible. No matter what your role at SLU, you are a part of our success, and we could not do it without you. Thank you!
Finally, what’s my future prediction? Things look very bright for SLU and the faculty alike. I see three overall trends, except the many investments in the forest of tomorrow, which all benefit us as a university.
Firstly, high quality (excellence) in everything we do will, no matter the politics, always pay off.
Secondly, high throughput and employability for students benefits us in terms of allocation of funds.
Thirdly, high in-person attendance to create and develop our academic environments will also be awarded.
We’re doing fine in all three areas. We are leading internationally in all of our fields of operation, our education is quality controlled, and we have high attendance on all our campuses. The greatest potential for development, as I see it– inspired by my conversations with students and many international colleagues – is to increase our physical attendance at work, so that SLU can continue to be an attractive workplace. We all benefit from meeting, talking and being there for each other. Our SLU – my SLU.
See you at work,
Göran Ericsson, dean