Göteborg university in 2010

One of the biggest and liveliest universities in Europe with high quality research and education.
A creative and exciting meeting place for many disciplines.
In the centre of the city and in close contact with society.

One university – many traditions

Its location in the centre of a large city on the sea gives Göteborg University its special identity. This will be true as much in 2010 as it was at the end of the 19th century, when higher education in Göteborg started. The proximity to the life of the city vitalises the University and contributes to the formation of its special character.

The Göteborg Institute of Higher Education, from which Göteborg University developed, was founded to unite independent study with practical work for the good of society. The connection between academic knowledge and time-tested experience, and more recently the vision of a city centre university has united Göteborg University with the rest of society: trade and commerce, industry and culture.

The character of the University has been strengthened over the last few decades as vocational and artistic institutes of higher education have become part of the University.

Integrity and excellence

Independence and freedom in relation to the forms and aims of its research is an indispensible principle for a university. We can best meet the needs and demands of society when our activities are morally and intellectually independent of political, ideological and commercial interests, and when they are characterised by a critical and enquiring attitude.

For a university academic excellence and a critical search for the truth is the essence of its activities. A constant ’why?’ is the most important intellectual tool. Academic excellence is best served by strict integrity and by an internal democratic organisation. The work must be carried out according to high ethical and moral principles.

The excellence of research and teaching is a university’s most valuable asset – it must always be preserved and developed. Attainment goals must be based on established demands for quality. The long term generation of knowledge is the basis of our role in society.

Göteborg University must further strengthen its interdisciplinary work across traditional subject boundaries. Creative cooperation between different disciplines will improve our ability to answer scientific and artistic questions.

Open minds, open doors

Göteborg University aims to combine the search for academic excellence with a high degree of openness to society at large. It must address the problems of today as well as tomorrow’s and in line with its traditions take advantage of society’s time-tested experience.

Göteborg University must be and be seen to be open, actively in touch with its environment, available and welcoming, ready to cooperate unconditionally with anyone outside the academic world. It must be part of important networks, regionally, nationally and internationally.

We want to combine constructive cooperation with the surrounding world with a critical analysis of trends in society and in trade and industry. It is our responsibility to identify and address important questions in contemporary life. Publishing scientific findings must be a natural part of our activities, and to promote life-long learning for everybody.

Working for progress in society

We are proud that Göteborg University has been very successful in its research and teaching in combining excellence with practical and useful results in the service of society. The future will require further cooperation across different academic disciplines - the development of society will continue to demand unified knowledge.

The various and diverse activities which have come together by joining different institutes of higher education to Göteborg University facilitate rewarding meetings between different knowledge areas and different scientific outlooks.

The University must be an asset even for those who traditionally have had no contact with academic life. Students from all groups in society must be given the chance to study on our programmes. At Göteborg University it must always be what you do that matters, not who you are.

A dynamic place to meet and work

We must actively follow the development of technology and take advantage of the opportunities to search for, spread and store the information made possible by technology. At the same time, the role of internationally established forms of knowledge exchange, not least the discussion seminar, must be strengthened.

We can all contribute to making Göteborg University an exciting meeting place for teachers, researchers and students. Learning is part of a personal context for each individual, and its significance is influenced by individual experiences. But learning is also collective; it is created in meetings between people.

Libraries are important meeting places for people in higher education. But new places must also be created across the traditional subject and professional boundaries.

For teachers, researchers, administrators and technicians, as well as for students, Göteborg University must be an attractive, stimulating, creative place of work, with equal opportunities for everyone. This demands a good working environment, and a possibility for all employees and students to grow and to realise their potential.

Where research and education meet

The link between research and teaching and the dialogue between researchers and students is fundamental to the long term growth of the universities’ generation of knowledge. Research cannot be prioritised before teaching and vice versa. Our ambition is to aim for excellence in teaching that is animated by research as well as in research that is inspired by the students’ commitment and interest.

It is our fundamental conviction that a university must develop procedures and methods of work where research and teaching are linked. If such a connection is absent the research carried out by universities risks losing its importance and the students’ involvement may diminish.

We must all make sure that the University does not become an education factory. Instead we must develop a creative environment for learning and research which will encourage an enquiring attitude in students which will have a positive influence on the development of society.

Keeping pace with the city – and the world

Göteborg University is different from most other universities because its activities are concentrated in the centre of the city. We believe that the University can make even better use of its location than it has so far. At the same time the University must make further demands on the city and help improve conditions for students.

The close proximity to the life of the city centre does not run contrary to the increasingly important internationalisation of various global eductional and research networks. The position of Göteborg University in the centre of Scandinavia also facilitates educational and research cooperation across national boundaries.

The constantly shifting perspective between the local and the global extends the boundaries for our research and makes our students better equipped to deal with the problems and challenges of the future in cooperation with others. An international university is better equipped to contribute to local debate and influence the local community.

Göteborg University has an important role to play in the development of a sustainable society. Commitment to environmental issues is a strong feature of the research in many of our faculties. The awareness of environmental issues must also influence the way we conduct our activities internally as well as externally.

A major and exciting European university

Breadth and variety are two recognised characteristics of Göteborg University. With eleven faculties we are certainly seen as a university of many disciplines with great opportunities for synergies between different research groups and with considerable choice and variety for our students in combining different subjects in their studies.

It is the responsibility of the management as well as of individual members of the University to take advantage of this variety and breadth in order to strengthen the quality of teaching and research. We will then be one of the major universities in Europe, and one of the most dynamic and exciting.