What is your university all about?
Mid Sweden University is a place with a lot of energy and warmth where people can meet, be inspired and think in new ways. Our campuses are situated in Sundsvall and Östersund and offer a wide variety of programmes and courses on all levels, including research.
On our campuses, you will find a lot of competence and motivated students, teachers and researchers, both from Sweden and from other countries. Ours is one of the leading universities in Sweden in terms of distance education and our research is cutting edge in a number of areas.
Close collaboration with working life and extensive external relations help us to stay dedicated and innovative. This is important for our development, both nationally and internationally. Our close cooperation with trade and industry and organizations provides our students with education that has a connection to working life. It also generates new jobs as companies and organizations have access to new research and the opportunity to recruit the right competence. It is a win-win situation.
The regional importance of Mid Sweden UniversityA third of all new students from the counties of Jämtland and Västernorrland choose Mid Sweden University, and around half of all students stay in the region after their graduation, contributing to population growth.
Campus Östersund is centrally situated in Östersund. The presence of Mid Sweden University in the region has been instrumental in increasing the number of persons with a higher education degree over the last thirty years.
In Jämtland, our cutting edge research and test environments in sports and outdoor activities offer fantastic opportunities for big brands and successful elite athletes.
In Västernorrland, which is heavily dependent on the forest industry, the research on finding new ways of using cellulose bres is of major importance for the development of the region.
In short – at Mid Sweden University, new knowledge is created, and new talents are cultivated – this provides opportunities for both individuals and society to grow.
Why is international cooperation important for your university?
Mid Sweden University's 2023 vision and strategy is to become a regionally engaged, global university where we conduct research and provide education for all purposes in life. Our objective is to nurture strong academic environments that take on global challenges. Our global operations support and sustain regional development. Our learning and working environments attract students and employees who contribute to global and regional development. Simultaneously, using flexible higher-education opportunities and technology-enhanced learning, we provide more people with lifelong access to knowledge.
The organisation we operate, whether or not we actively define it as such, is international by nature. Today, both research, higher education and cooperation are borderless and multilingual. However, internationalisation consists of more than geographical location and language. Mid Sweden University applies the definition of internationalisation as comprehensive, meaning that internationalisation should be seen as tool through which we achieve our goals, something which encompasses all that we do and shape the governance of our institution.
As a part of our present strategy, internationalisation provides Mid Sweden University an opportunity to improve the quality of our institution, make it more sustainable, and more attractive to both present and prospective students, employees, and external partners. Internationalisation also provides us with a tool for ensuring our institution's relevance in an increasingly globalised world.
Why is your involvement with SIREUS important for your university?
Mid Sweden University is an active partner in, and a forum for, a dialogue with the community. We have established good relations and close co-operation with the surrounding community. Co-operation involves among other things, the provision of education and further training of personnel, all of which is integrated into Mid Sweden University's courses and research.
Our aim is not only to make accessible the qualifications and resources at Mid Sweden University to the surrounding community, but also to bring problems and issues from the private and public sectors into the sphere of the university – both nationally and internationally.
Researchers within our different research areas work both nationally and internationally. Many of them have strong ties to regional issues.
We want our research to be of use to society and therefore, many of our research projects are carried out in cooperation with companies or other organizations. This way, Mid Sweden University contributes to development and growth.
We want our students to be well prepared when it is time to step out into working life. This is why we constantly work on our programmes and courses to adjust them to the needs of the labour market. We also work hard to give our students the opportunity to make contacts within trade and industry.
The students make contacts within trade and industry through placements and degree projects in cooperation with companies. We also have a readiness for companies who wish to employ our students.
SIREUS is an important platform for us to expand our collaborations beyond the European continent, and to explore where the different focus points of SIREUS could take us.
What is the most important aspect of the SIRUES project for your university?
Our spectra of collaboration in the US today is quite limited and relies mainly on the engagement and activities of individual researchers or research areas. Our institutional focus has traditionally been the European continent, but over the last two years we have come to explore how we can further achieve our goals of high quality, attractiveness, relevance and sustainability by expanding our horizons geographically. We also want to make sure that the engagement and activities currently in motion, and those which have yet to be realized or take off, have a valid platform through which to work and expand in collaboration with the other participants in the project.
Why should students, researchers and faculty spend time at Mid Sweden University?
Our activities are founded on equal opportunities, participation and conversation – between employees, between students and employees, between the organisation and management, and between the organisation and the surrounding society.
Mid Sweden University shall be a university characterised by an academic spirit, with trusting and open forms of conversation between all employees. Work on our values is based on a common view of our basic values. This provides scope and nourishment for various ideas and opinions by means of management and teamwork characterised by ambition and room for manoeuvre.
Mid Sweden University is part of a worldwide university community in which the basic values relating to the importance of autonomy and academic freedom are central. The university shall be free from pressure from the external environment and defend the freedom of education and research, integrity and quality. The core values are also rooted in the laws that a Swedish government authority is expected to follow. The organisation shall uphold democracy, legality, objectivity, the free formulation of opinions, respect for the equal value of all, efficiency and service, as well as democratic principles and human freedoms and rights. Gender equality and diversity are fundamental principles for our entire organisation.
What can you tell us about life outside your university?
