Summer greetings

"You shouldn't think it will get better if VH doesn't take place. The best thing for us and the animals is that our faculty now takes action" (from the song we sang at the summer party)

Thanks to your work and commitment, the institutions have come a long way with the internal structure. We also have a lot of other things on our plate, mostly as external assignments from above.

Our strategy with One Health, digitization and system analysis is at the heart of what society needs to meet today's challenges, including increased preparedness.

We look forward to working with you to ensure that VH takes place. But now it's time for relaxation and vacation! Charge batteries in the way that suits you best. Rauni takes the caravan and sees where the weather leads me. Dirk-Jan, in turn, goes to Finland to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary with family and friends.

Once again, thank you for your efforts; now it's time to relax and unwind. This is an extra compliment to all who work during the summer - take advantage of your free moments!

Sincerely,
Dean Rauni Niskanen and Deputy Dean Dirk-Jan de Koning

Important decisions about the election

The Vice-Chancellor has now made a number of decisions regarding the upcoming Faculty Board elections in the autumn. These include:

The election will be held during the period 21-29 October. The election period will be the same for all faculties, as will the template for how the electronic ballots will be designed. During the election period, eligible voters will be able to vote both for the nominations of the election committees and for free nominations.

A hearing will be held at the VH faculty 23 October where the candidates will have the opportunity to present themselves and where the employees will have the opportunity to ask questions. The hearing will be held digitally.

Stay up to date on the latest election information on the election portal.

Academic freedom

During the last meeting of the faculty board, among other things, academic freedom in Sweden was discussed. A government assignment on the work of higher education institutions in promoting and protecting academic freedom can be read here in Swedish:

Competence supply

The academic appointments board and the faculty committee have worked intensively on the competence supply issue in the past year. To set the course for the future faculty management and committee, the document "Strategic competence provision of higher faculty-funded academic positions at the VH faculty" was established. 

In it, an investment in One Health is proposed and involves the recruitment of three professors, one at each department, each with their own specialization under the One Health umbrella. Recruitment will most likely begin in the autumn.

Compilation of risk analysis

The risks that have been identified and that the faculty is now working on are in brief:

• UDS-VH, financial risk for the VH faculty if animal health care cannot reach a financial balance.
• Due to increased costs for renovations and ongoing maintenance of infrastructure/faculty barns, there are no financial conditions to hire and retain teachers (PROF, UL, BUL). Structural underfunding of the university animal hospital.
• The faculty cannot fully carry out research and educational assignments since the faculty cannot recruit the necessary skills for higher positions.
• The subject area support becomes so low that the attractiveness of VH as a workplace decreases. It is about both attracting here and retaining competence.
• Difficulties in recruiting enough students to Animal Science. There is a risk that the quality of the programs will be substandard because of scarce resources. These risks leading to/leads to work environment problems for the teachers.