SEK 47.3 million in increased grant for 2021
The Swedish Government came with good news when the spring budget was presented this Thursday. Linnaeus University is allocated SEK 19.5 million for summer courses and a SEK 27.8 million increase to the research grant.
The Swedish Government’s spring budget for 2021 also contains investments to counteract the effects of the pandemic. This year, there will also be an allocation of the increased research grants from the innovation and research bill that was presented in December 2020.
In the innovation and research bill, the Swedish Government’s investment is divided into five different societal challenges: Climate and environment, health and well-being, digitalisation, skills supply and working life, and democratic and strong society.
“This is a receipt on our good work and the possibility we have to continue this work to reach our vision! The Swedish Government’s investment is fully in line with the university’s vision and the adjoining goals for 2025. It is also linked to many of the knowledge environments that are now being established”, says vice-chancellor Peter Aronsson.
The SEK 27.8 million supplement is a permanent increase of our research grants and, what is more, this will be followed by further investments during the next few years, where Linnaeus University will hopefully be granted further funding.
“It is very pleasing to see that the Swedish Government has a lot of faith in our ability to contribute to increasing the knowledge level in the country through education and to contribute to knowledge development through research”, says pro-vice-chancellor Niklas Ammert.
The background to the investment is continued insecurity on the labour market due to the pandemic and the Swedish Government wants to improve the possibility to study a course or programme at a faster pace.
“The Swedish Government sees that the university has the possibility to carry out a large-scale investment in education, which is pleasing, but at the same time involves challenges that we must take into account. One challenge is the work environment during the ongoing pandemic and that more of us will have to work during summer in order for us to be able to complete this commission. What we learnt and our experiences from last year’s education investments will be of great use in this year’s planning process”, Aronsson concludes.