Baltic invests SEK 20 million for Umeå School of Education and the arts
NEWS
The donation trust fund of Umeå real estate company Balticgruppen (The Baltic Group) decided at today's meeting to allocate 3.1 million kronor for the development of arts and nearly 2.8 million kronor to the Umeå School of Education at Umeå University. In addition, the foundation has earmarked 14.5 million for future ventures.
The support for the arts and humanities will be applied for the recruitment of young researchers and internationalisation in the arts-related educated during 2009 and 2010. A further 7.4 million kronor were reserved for the arts for the years 2011-2014.
“This donation from Balticgruppen is an invaluable piece of the puzzle in building strong research in the arts and humanities,” says Britta Lundgren, Dean of the Faculty of Arts. “We are extremely pleased to receive this contribution, which together with the University Board's anticipated decision represents a very significant reinforcement of the arts and humanities at Umeå University.”
The investment is part of the humanities offensive - the development of arts and humanities at Umeå University that the Faculty of Arts initiated in 2006. The most central areas of action are on the strengthening of research at the faculty, and the internationalisation of research as well as education.
The donation makes it possible to offer international excursions and other international collaborative efforts for students in educational programmes or courses at the C-level, which has not been possible for a number of years, due to a reduction in state funding in the arts and humanities.
“The contribution means that Umea’s academics in the arts and humanities will be more competitively attractive in comparison with other universities,” explains Britta Lundgren. “It will also benefit the students’ employability and ultimately the transition to postgraduate education and a more internationalised career,” she continues.
Regarding the second partition of the donation to the faculty, 6 two-year postdoctoral positions can be estimated.
Umeå School of Education (USE), will be given 2.74 million crowns for the period 2010-2011. A total of 7.11 million crowns for the period 2012-2014 has been reserved.
Umeå University is reforming teacher training and research in educational sciences and pedagogy. The Faculty Board of Teacher Education will dissolve on 1 January 2009. The special organisation Umeå School of Education has been formed as its replacement. The reorganisation involves a tremendous pooling of resources, the largest in the country carried out in the field. The University Board is expected to decide on a multi-million investment for the period 2009-2014 to strengthen research in the educational sciences.
The funds from the donation will be used to strengthen the internationalisation of educational sciences research through 25 per cent funding of a visiting professorship for the years 2010-2014, and 20 two-year postdoctoral fellowships for the years 2011-2014.
“This is a very welcome addition in the process of building a dynamic environment of research and education at the Umeå School of Education,” says Bjorn Åstrand, head of the Umeå School of Education.
The support for a guest professorship and postgraduate students will strengthen the four selected areas of research: measurement and evaluation, reading and writing research, ICT, media and learning, mathematics education.
In December 2007, the proprietors of Balticgruppen donated SEK 100 million to Umeå University for the development of education and research.
Balticgruppen is a real estate company that has chosen to designate its investments and resources in the Umeå region. Balticgruppen’s real estate ownership totals approximately 250,000 m² and mainly consists of commercial properties, properties for Umeå University and residential properties including "comfort living for older-aged Umeå residents" currently under construction.
