Halmstad University receives increased government funding for research
Today, the Swedish Government presented its Spring Amending Budget where it is proposed that Halmstad University receives an increased government funding for research by approximately SEK 22 million. This means that the University’s government funding for research now is SEK 102 million. In addition, the University receives SEK 2 million for summer courses.
”It is very gratifying for the University to receive this supplement of research funding. Our already successful research can now be further developed and strengthened.”
Stephen Hwang, Vice-Chancellor
According to the Government’s Spring Fiscal Policy Bill, the University now receives a direct government funding for research of just over SEK 102 million, which is an increase of approximately SEK 22 million compared with the current funding.
Vice-Chancellor Stephen Hwang
”Halmstad University is one of the universities that receives the largest increase in percentage. We see this as proof that the Government places great value on our research and education. We use our research funds in a way that benefits society and will continue to do so with the new funds”, states Stephen Hwang.
”The fact is that Halmstad University is one of the universities that has had the best development in terms of research quality in recent years, measured in the number of publications and citations. This is shown, for example, by the compilation that the Swedish Research Council makes annually, most recently in 2019. In addition, the University has a high proportion of external funds, which shows that our research is competitive”, says the Vice-Chancellor.
New strategies for the University’s research
The increased government funding is especially welcome now that the University is in the middle of an intensive work with developing new research strategies.
”There are many ideas for future investments that we now have the opportunity to realise. We are starting many interesting collaborative projects with both the public and private sector, for example within education and health”, says Stephen Hwang.
Strong research is also important for the University’s education.
”The fact that our educational programmes are related to research is important from a quality point of view. With the increased funding, the opportunities for that increases, which benefits our students”, says Stephen Hwang.
The strengthening of universities government funding for research and education at the doctoral level was announced in the Government’s Fiscal Bill last autumn. The bill ”Forskning, frihet, framtid – kunskap och innovation för Sverige (prop. 2020/21:60)” which was presented in December describes the principles for how the funds are to be distributed. In today’s Spring Amending Budget, the Government proposes in detail how the funds will be distributed to the universities in accordance with the principles in the bill.
Increased investment in summer courses
Halmstad University also receives SEK 2 million for summer courses in the Spring Amending Budget. The demand for summer courses is increasing, not least due to the current difficult situation in the labour market. The Government is therefore allocating extra funds so that more people can study this summer to speed up or broaden their studies. Exactly how the investment in extended summer courses will be used at the University is not clear at present.
Text: Lena Lundén
Translation: Louise Wandel
Photo: Emely Niemi Jonsson and Dan Bergmark
