ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Academia card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 1 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaKnowledge & technology
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Knowledge & technology

Academia

Knowledge production & ground research

Universities and university colleges produce the knowledge the rest of society leans on, and educate those who are to carry it forward. Most institutions are state agencies, but with a freedom in research and teaching that is protected by law. That makes academia a power of its own kind: scrutinised by the state, but not steered in detail.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · student towns, detailed plans · approx 5 %
  • Region · clinical training in healthcare · approx 5 %
  • State · universities, law, grants · approx 75 %
  • EU · erasmus, research programmes · approx 15 %

The central government owns most institutions and sets the grants, so the general election matters most. Within the frameworks, the institutions govern themselves.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe host town
The regionHealthcare's lecture hall
Central governmentThe owner and reviewer · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) in the student towns.
The regions, through the university hospitals and healthcare's placement sites.
The Riksdag (Sweden's parliament), the Government, UKÄ and CSN. Most universities and university colleges are state agencies.
What do they decide?
No formal role in academia, but detailed development plans (detaljplaner), housing and public transport decide whether student life works.
Clinical training of doctors and nurses takes place in the regions' healthcare, under an agreement with the state.
The Higher Education Act, grants, degree-awarding powers and quality review. The institutions decide for themselves on content and appointments.
Where are decisions made?
In the urban planning committee (nämnd) and in collaborations between town and institution.
At university hospitals and health centres.
In the Riksdag, in the Government's appropriation directions and in the institutions' own boards.
Who pays?
Municipal tax, for example land and infrastructure around the campus.
Regional tax plus central government compensation under an agreement.
The central government budget: grants for education and research, student finance through CSN.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Public consultation (samråd) on detailed plans around the campus, engagement in the housing question.
Regional election The regional election affects healthcare's training environments and placement sites.
General election A referral response on higher-education proposals, engagement in the student union.
EUThe EU finances student exchanges through Erasmus and research through Horizon Europe. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A new programme starts at the university college
  1. State

    The Riksdag sets frameworks and money

    The Higher Education Act and the annual grants decide how much education the institutions can provide. The Government's appropriation directions specify the assignment.

    Point of influence

    The general election steers the grants and higher-education policy.

  2. State

    The institution decides for itself

    Within its degree-awarding powers the university decides which programmes start. The need can come from research, working life or student demand.

    Point of influence

    Students have a statutory right to influence. The student union sits where the decisions are made.

  3. State

    UKÄ reviews the quality

    The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) reviews that the education is up to standard and can withdraw degree-awarding powers that fall short.

  4. State

    CSN opens the door

    Student finance lets students support themselves during the programme. Without it, higher education would be a matter of the parents' wallet.

  5. Municipality

    The town makes room

    The municipality plans housing, premises and buses for a new cohort of students. Detailed plans around the campus go out for public consultation (samråd).

    Point of influence

    The consultations are open to all. Student housing is a municipal election question to raise.

  6. Your everyday life

    The term begins

    You, or your child, accept a place on the programme that did not exist three years ago. Grants, powers and a student union lay behind it.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What are universities for: the labour market, education in the broad sense or research?

  2. How independent should academia be from the state that pays for it?

  3. What does it mean for a town to have, or to lack, a university college?

  4. Should more programmes be available at a distance, and what is lost if they are?

  5. Who in your circle has had academia opened or closed to them, and why?

Glossary

Lärosäte
A collective term for universities and university colleges.
Högskolelagen
The law that governs universities and university colleges and protects the freedom of research.
Examenstillstånd
The right to award a particular degree, tested and able to be withdrawn by the state.
Studentkår
The students' organisation with a statutory right to take part in the institution's decisions.
Regleringsbrev
The Government's annual instruction to an agency about its assignment and money.
Grundforskning
Research that seeks new knowledge without a requirement of immediate use.

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Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.