Higher Education in Sweden -Between "Rolling Reforms" and Stable Patterns

Both gender equality and education policy are important priorities on the political agenda in Europe. The Research and Training Network ”Women in European Universities” focuses on higher education and women’s career-perspectives in systems of higher education of seven European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The main focus of the project is to explore the ”glass-ceiling” that women meet when they chose a career in academia and strive for top rank positions such as professorships. As a first step in our research, it is important to understand the different systems of higher education, as well as recent changes and challenges to women in academia. This contextual analysis is one result of the first phase of the research project and shall provide information about the Swedish system of higher education. The Swedish system of higher education underwent fundamental changes in both organisational form and ideological practice during the last thirty years. Especially the three reforms in the 90’s gave the higher education system in Sweden a new face: They gave more weight to management structures, fixed-term contracts and focused more on an Anglo-American model of higher education than on the ”old” Humboldtian model. The reforms brought important changes for the Swedish system of higher education, but certain patterns remain untouched. One can still find the ”hidden binary system” within university colleges representing institutions to undergraduate education and universities that offer post-graduate education and research. And to a certain extent, this builds the ground for the remaining persistence of sex-specific divisions in both fields of study and different posts on the academic career ladder

Case Study Report: Kalmar County

The content of this report is a Deliverable of the FP7 project RUFUS (Rural Future Networks) concerning the Swedish case studies that have been conducted within the project. Two regions in the south of Sweden – the counties of Kronoberg and Kalmar – have been studied in order to find out how social and economic development strategies are enacted in these rural regions. This report concerns Kalmar County. The aim of the study has been to discover how different sectoral policies are taken into account in the planning system and how the political actors and administrations are helped or hindered by the EU funding system in their work towards a sustainable future of the regions

Case Study Report: Kronoberg County

The content of this report is a Deliverable of the FP7 project RUFUS (Rural Future Networks) concerning the Swedish case studies that have been conducted within the project. Two regions in the south of Sweden – the counties of Kronoberg and Kalmar – have been studied in order to find out how social and economic development strategies are enacted in these rural regions. This report concerns Kronoberg County. The aim of the study has been to discover how different sectoral policies are taken into account in the planning system and how the political actors and administrations are helped or hindered by the EU funding system in their work towards a sustainable future of the regions

Understanding European Regional Diversity - Lessons learned from Case Studies

The content of this report is a deliverable to the FP 7 project RUFUS (Rural future Networks) concerning the case studies made within the project. As a deliverable in a EU framework project it reports extensively on the methods and empirical data collected in the project’s case studies. The work has as an overarching motive to translate research findings into implications that are relevant for policy makers in the EU. The conclusions from the case studies are therefore of two types – the findings made and the implications they might give for policy making within the field of rural development

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Mellan handläggare och administratör - Om Försäkringskassans personliga handläggare och yrkesrollens svåra balans

The personal administrative officer (personlig handläggare) is a new professional role that recently has been introduced by the Swedish National Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). This report concerns how this professional role is interpreted – covering both the official definition of the National Social Insurance Agency and the individual interpretations of the administrative officers working in this professional role. A look at the official definition and how it is communicated by the Social Insurance Agency reveals some inconsistencies: Firstly, the professional role appears to be designed as a rather administrative role in contrast to what job-advertisement and the recruiting process may suggest. Secondly, interviews with personal administrative officers show that the new professional role is perceived as a continuation of the previous professional role rehabilitation coordinator rather than an entirely new role. The interviewed personal administrative officers mentioned the ability “to read a person” and to put the client’s interest in focus as key elements of their professional role – hence highlighting value discretion rather than rule or task discretion. However, they also experienced that the recent working situation – e.g. administrative workload – pushed them towards a more bureaucratic role than they had expected. All together, the interviews indicate that the professional role of a personal administrative officer is interpreted quite differently by the holders of this role on the one side and by the Social Insurance Agency on the other side – a situation that may cause problems when it comes to efficiency and the legal rights of the clients

Female Professors in Sweden and Germany

The Research Training Network “Women in European Universities” focuses on career opportunities of women in higher education in seven European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Within the frame of this network different aspects of career perspectives of women – and also men – are investigated. In a first working step a context analysis was conducted in order to give an understanding of the different systems of higher education, their changes and developments. A second working step provided a statistical overview of women’s participation in higher education systems investigated in this project. During the third work-phase an inquiry of female and male professors was conducted in all participating countries. This working paper is the result of the fourth working step of our research. Quantitative investigations – as done at an earlier working stage – are necessary to understand career opportunities of female professors and processes of glass ceiling. Nevertheless, what can be gained out of a questionnaire is limited to options for answering and coding of answers. Qualitative interviews answer different questions than quantitative surveys. In our case they give the opportunity to understand academic careers in the terms of female professors