– It is very important to have an external review, because Lund University and the other 12 universities that finance SWEAH need information before decisions about the future of the graduate school. The agreement that regulates the collaboration and financing expires in December 2026, says SWEAH's founder and coordinator Susanne Iwarsson.
An external expert panel, consisting of Professor Kerstin Tham, former Vice-Chancellor at Malmö University, Professor Marja Jylhä at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University and Professor Clemens Tesch-Roemer, German Center of Gerontology in Berlin, has been given the task of reviewing the graduate school's operations, with focus on the years 2022-2024.
The examiners will come to Lund on April 8–9 next year, in connection with the spring doctoral days, to meet and interview doctoral students, teachers, SWEAH's management, as well as the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Lund University. During the spring and early summer, they will also speak with the board's chairman and members, alumni, supervisors, as well as partner representatives at research and management level.
The evaluation is based on a self-evaluation that the graduate school's management and board are currently working on, based on questions that have been developed centrally at Lund University and approved by partner representatives at management level. Lund University has set aside funds to finance the review. The self-evaluation must be completed by the end of the year and the auditors' report must be submitted to Lund University in June 2025.
Background
The national graduate school on ageing, SWEAH, was established in 2014 after the Swedish Research Council (VR) granted SEK 25 million for the establishment. During the grant period, VR conducted a half-term evaluation and an external scientific advisory committee was engaged to provide evaluation reports and proposals. The contribution from VR was finally reported in 2022.
Lund University hosts SWEAH, with Professor Susanne Iwarsson as coordinator. Ethel Forsberg, former CEO of Forte, is chairman of the board.
During the period 2019–2021, the graduate school's coordinator received an assignment from the then vice-chancellor of Lund University to investigate the conditions for continued operations. A cooperation agreement was signed between 12 universities;
- Blekinge Institute of Technology
- Dalarna University
- Jönköping University
- Karolinska Institutet
- Kristianstad University
- Linköping University
- Linnaeus University
- Luleå University of Technology
- Lund University
- Umeå University
- University of Gothenburg
- Örebro University
for co-financing and collaboration within the research school for another five years (2022–2026). Mid Sweden University joined the collaboration from 2023. The total annual budget is just over SEK 3 million.