Much of the feedback is about operational risks and concerns about the anxiety and stress which can arise. The management team are trying to identify how we can together reduce the foreseeable risks. Today, the department heads and unions had another meeting to go through the material once more. I perceived that it was a good and constructive dialogue.
In last week’s update, I commented on the admission numbers of new students increasing by around 50 percent compared to autumn 2022. This is positive and good for the institution, and will have a great impact on our future financial situation. For this reason, we are now working hard to update the budget for 2024 together with Petra and Viktoria. We welcome Viktoria who started in the finance department just this week and will work together with Petra.
Thus, I can state that the institution's financial situation has improved considerably in a short time, and that the forecast now shows a deficit of a couple of million kronor instead of the previously feared ten million. What the result will be for the financial year 2024 remains to be seen, but there appears to be an improvement compared to the budget which was drawn up in May.
On Tuesday, I visited Hitachi together with the rector, vice-rectors and other members of the steering group for a dialogue about the development of the collaboration and ambitions for next year. We agreed on a focus on thesis/degree projects, Hitachi's participation within our education, and also the submission of at least one new joint research application. Several Hitachi employees are already assisting with course development and contributing very concretely to our institution.
I have also met the steering group regarding a new collaborative organization based on a new framework agreement between Dalarna University and the county's municipal energy companies. It was a very positive meeting and I expect that we will be able to identify many joint cooperation opportunities in the future.
Regarding the research evaluation, the working group has received the reviewers’ report and has had the opportunity to comment on any factual errors. Work on an action plan based on the research evaluation is underway and we are now planning future activities to rectify the points expressed by the reviewers.
The working group which will work with our internal evaluation model for the education programs has also started.
That was all for this week. As I wrote last week, please do not hesitate to contact your line manager or myself with any questions or concerns. We are available via email, phone, Teams, Zoom, ie whichever medium you prefer.
On a personal note, this weekend my neighborhood is having a big flea market both days, so I'm hoping to sell everything from children's books to leftover furniture that's taking up space in the garage.
Whatever you do, I want to wish you a nice weekend,
Joakim
