Students in class in the forest

Major recruitment within investment in forest operations

Last week, Linnaeus University published six notifications of vacancy within the field of forestry and wood technology. These appointments are the first in a line of many that are made possible thanks to the long-term collaboration with Södra and Ikea of Sweden.

The collaboration was made public in December last year and last week saw the signing of the declaration of intent. In this declaration, it is stated that the parties want to create conditions for a dynamic exchange between the academy and the trade and industry. The ambition is to strengthen the competitiveness of the region, create common utility, and increase international visibility.

The appointments for which the notifications of vacancy have now been published include, among other things, competencies that will contribute to an interdisciplinary collaboration arena. The parties intend to establish this arena where different companies and actors can gather for long-term, strategic development of knowledge and values. By doing this, it will be possible to work together to meet future challenges in society for a sustainable development.

“To work for a responsible forestry throughout the world and increased utilisation of wood in both existing and new applications will play an even more important role in the future. Through our size, we have both the resources and a responsibility to contribute to this development”, says Tony Sandelius, business development manager at Ikea of Sweden.

“At Södra, we have high-set ambitions for a sustainable and improved growth and increased climate benefit within the forest industry. Many exciting jobs will be available in the future and we will be in need of a broad recruitment base. This collaboration with Linnaeus University also gives us the opportunity to welcome students on internships and to offer continuing professional development to our own members of staff”, says Peter Karlsson, acting CEO at Södra.

The first investments are in research and education within the field of forestry and forest industry production systems, as well as within the field of innovation. At a later stage, the parties will be open to including more fields of collaboration as well as including more actors.

The master’s programme Multi-purpose forest management that Linnaeus University starts this autumn together with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) now gets significantly increased resources through the collaboration with Södra and Ikea of Sweden. In addition, it means that students will have close contact with potential employers. The application period for the master’s programme expired on 15 April and 74 individuals have applied to the new programme.

“We are immensely happy about the high number of applicants per place on our new programme and can, thanks to the collaboration with Södra and Ikea of Sweden, truly offer our students an extraordinary programme”, says Peter Aronsson, vice-chancellor at Linnaeus University.