MISSION. After having been responsible for the faculty’s internationalization for ten years, our current International Director is making a fond farewell: “It’s been enormously stimulating to meet representatives from various university cultures and to receive new and different impulses the whole time. But now that internationalization is to continue, I feel that it will benefit from new ideas,” says Gunnar Tobin, whose replacement is now being sought by the preparatory committee.
Sahlgrenska Academy’s International Director has the strategic responsibility for the faculty’s internationalization issues. The position is on a par with the other vice deans at the faculty, and also includes the task as the chairman of the Internationalization Council. A very important task is working out strategies in accordance with the operation’s ideas, and creating quality-driven structures for the internationalization work, in consultation with faculty leadership. Sahlgrenska Academy’s International Director also works closely with the Sahlgrenska Academy International Office (SAIO) where the executive competence in the internationalization process is located.
The preparatory committee will return soon with information for those who are interested in the International Director position.
Three important challenges
Gunnar Tobin points out three areas in particular that will challenge the person who takes over as the International Director at Sahlgrenska Academy.
“We have too few courses that are provided in English, which leads to us sending out many more students than we have traveling in. Several programs are working with the issue to be able to create more balanced exchanges with special partners, but even more courses would need to be provided in English.”
Another challenge involves developing long-term collaboration that includes teacher mobility. When teachers participate in teaching at foreign universities, it is generally vitalizing for Sahlgrenska Academy, according to Gunnar Tobin, but he feels we would need structures for the new knowledge to be utilized and forwarded to colleagues:
“International experience of teaching is probably a competency that will be of growing importance even in the domestic context. Teacher mobility contributes substantially to collective knowledge building if we can find ways to make use of the individual’s experiences in the organization.
The third challenge is about the possibility of letting resources created in the internationalization work to also come to use in the recruitment of new researchers and teachers.
“The networks and contract partners built up in the internationalization activities could provide opportunities to identify competent applicants and also provide opportunities to reach out with information,” says Gunnar Tobin.
Enjoyable and rewarding
The structured work on internationalization was begun just after the formation of Sahlgrenska Academy at the beginning of the 2000s. In the first few years, the internationalization work only focused on the students, and the scope was limited. In 2006, an internationalization committee was established and Gunnar Tobin was appointed its chairman. Through the introduction of the Internationalization Council in 2013 and the establishment of a vice dean with the title International Director, the possibilities of integrating the internationalization with other operations at the faculty improved considerably.
“Olle Larkö and Eric Hanse were of major significance to the development of internationalization at Sahlgrenska Academy. Without their support, we would never have been where we are today,” confirms Gunnar Tobin and adds:
“My years as the International Director have been both enjoyable and rewarding, thanks in large part to the colleagues I’ve worked with.”
