Proud to have a supporting role!

I can’t say it too often: heading Uppsala University’s Administration is a privilege that makes me very proud. Every day I receive feedback confirming that we in the Administration deliver professional support. I am happy to pass this positive feedback on.

One example is the annual report and follow-up report, to which the entire University has contributed, with the Administration playing a key role. This year the University has received many plaudits, among other things for our use of indicators in our follow-up. These indicators prove our success in achieving several of the goals highlighted in our Mission, Goals and Strategies. For example, we are number one in Sweden in terms of total number of applicants and our share of funding from the EU’s framework programmes is increasing.

These are just two of many examples. Expertise from within and beyond the Administration has joined up to turn the vision of a new Ångström into a reality. The pandemic completely transformed the playing field, leading for example to an increased need to support remote teaching and working. Here, successful collaborations were the key to ensuring continuity at the University. Far-reaching efforts were put into adapting premises for the activities carried out on site and we managed to conduct the national Scholastic Aptitude Tests during the pandemic.

A new student web gateway was launched in the autumn and work is now in progress on a new Staff Portal. Factors in the wider world have led to stepped-up security measures and crisis awareness is high. We provide support for entering into agreements and carrying out procurements, we provide support in the financial management area, we offer career support to doctoral students and researchers, raise funding via external stakeholders and facilitate international exchanges for students and academic staff. There is a constant demand for support in areas such as human resources, pay and the work environment. We work to provide, facilitate and improve registration of matters and documents, we are often the first line of approach to the University, we are responsible for contract education, we raise the visibility of our University, our educators and researchers, and we manage and develop our unique environments and collections, ensuring that they are used actively and responsibly. We do all this and much more besides. It is impossible to list everything here.

Naturally, not everyone is always satisfied. It is often a challenge to deliver good support to an organisation that is as differentiated as Uppsala University. The situations and needs of our colleagues in the academic departments vary, and there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes our support consists simply of providing guidance on tricky issues or helping the University to comply with regulations and instructions and fulfil its responsibilities as an employer – these things doubtless feel complicated and time-consuming on some occasions and can be a challenge for anyone.

We need to be responsive, pedagogical and focused on solutions, while having a good command and knowledge of regulatory frameworks, procedures and practices. We strive continuously to steadily develop our activities. The division audits, which I am sure you are aware of, are a crucial component of our systematic quality assurance and our experience of them has been very positive. Two years ago, the many IT organisations were gathered into a single division for University IT Services. This was a very far-reaching organisational change, which is now being followed up, and putting everything in place still poses substantial challenges. Representatives of UIT and I will keep you informed about the ongoing process.

This spring and autumn I am visiting the various divisions and offices in the Administration. Both ahead of these visits and in dialogue with staff, I get the picture of an ambitious Administration that seeks to work closely with the academic departments. Having said that, we need to improve our internal collaboration in the Administration even more. One of our visions, and definitely my vision, is ONE Administration – in which we assist and back one another and, where possible, coordinate our contacts and our communication with the academic departments to provide professional and high-quality support to the University.