Strategic plan for the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, 2019 – 2024
Content
- Preface
- Usage and reading instructions
- Goals of the Faculty of Medicine
- Visions
- Education and research shall be intertwined and competitive
- Active cooperation aimed at resolving challenges faced by society shall be encouraged
- International and national relations and perspectives shall be strengthened
- The significance of teamwork, leadership and chiefship shall be clarified
- The faculty’s activities shall be supported by appropriate resources and tools
- Postscript
Preface
The modern university is one of mankind’s most sophisticated institutions, and it is a privilege for us – the students and employees of the Faculty of Medicine – to help form the foundation for the healthy society of the future.
This is achieved by being responsive to the needs of the people and society and by taking on both local and global challenges. Learning and exploring humans, the human body and the human mind play a particularly important role, and our hopes and expectations at the Faculty of Medicine are therefore also particularly high.
The strategic plan for the Faculty of Medicine defines the strategic choices required for us to sustainably maintain a top-class faculty. This strategic plan is also a product of an extensive and a constructive dialogue with the faculty staff.
Our close partnership with the healthcare sector is of the utmost importance to promote health on the basis of the best possible evidence. Likewise, establishing cooperations with other faculties, not least at Lund University, is a prerequisite for developing the medical education, research and collaboration of the future. Our purpose is to serve human life and health.
In order to build a strong and free academic sector, we must be courageous, and this courage must be evident in our daily work. We have to have the courage to question consensus, the courage to defend our views, and the courage to be self-critical and call attention to malpractices wherever we encounter them.
The Faculty of Medicine is entirely dependent on the people who work here. Recruitment, equal opportunities and support functions for education, research and cooperation are important components, helping us to work well and remain successful. At the same time, we must remember that the conditions we give our students today may be the most important factor affecting the state of the future. The successes achieved by our students today will influence our own successes – and those of society – tomorrow. We bear a great deal of responsibility for the future.
On behalf of the Board at the Faculty of Medicine
Erik Renström
Dean
Usage and reading instructions
This strategic plan applies to the period 2019–2024. The strategic plan and values for Lund University constitute the foundation on which the plan issued by the Faculty of Medicine is based. For this reason, the content of the strategic plan for Lund University as a whole will not be repeated in the plan for the faculty. The plan describes the Faculty of Medicine’s mission and visions. They are described in a comprehensive way so that they may be used for purposes of which we are not presently aware nor can predict.
We want this strategic plan to be a living document and be used, and we want everyone to play a part in working towards our target. A large number of operational plans will therefore be linked to the plan. Such operational plans are frequently initiated by the faculty executive. We also encourage more specific groupings to formulate operational plans on their own initiative and communicate these to the faculty management. Operational plans must include a situation analysis, specific, measurable objectives, follow-up plans and activities. We believe that challenges are best handled where they arise and by those who have the best solutions.
Goals of the Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine shall be a faculty where different perspectives and people come together, where breadth breeds excellence and tradition gives the freedom to break new ground. We shall be a knowledge-creating faculty where the quest for truth and the highest quality shall permeate all we do and where we defend people’s equal value.
We shall be a courageous faculty where innovation is associated with consideration and reflection and where the local meets the global. We shall be a faculty where we respect each other and safeguard what makes us eminent.
We shall be an educated faculty that creates sustainable conditions for cutting-edge health and medical care. We are a medical faculty that makes the world a better place – we exist to improve human life and health.
Visions
The ambitions for the strategic plan are outlined in the following five priority areas:
- Education and research shall be interwoven and competitive
- Active cooperation aimed at resolving challenges faced by society shall be encouraged
- National and international relationships and perspectives shall be strengthened
- The importance of teamwork, leadership and chiefship shall be clarified
- Activities at the faculty shall be supported by appropriate resources and tools
Education and research shall be intertwined and competitive
The Faculty of Medicine shall:
- ensure that our education and research are ethically based and founded on curiosity, critical thinking, reflection and the courage to question.
- strive to provide high-quality programmes that offer measurable progression and meet the needs of society both now and in the future. Cooperation with students, the healthcare services, other parts of the public sector, the business community and other higher education institutions will be required for this.
- strive to ensure that our education and research are competitive and maintain a recognised high, international level.
- conduct education and research in open and inclusive environments where questions within basic science, clinical science and health sciences are given space and where opportunities for translation and utilisation are encouraged.
- stimulate learning environments where education, research and clinical activities are naturally intertwined so that new knowledge becomes readily available.
- promote interaction between educational programmes and with research and research infrastructures in order to optimise the learning and study environments.
Active cooperation aimed at resolving challenges faced by society shall be encouraged
The Faculty of Medicine shall:
- proactively utilise the scope of the university so as to meet new needs in the individual-centred healthcare of the future, with evidence.
- increase the quality of scientific communication with wider society and ensure the dissemination of well-founded and nuanced information to promote human life and health.
- increase competence and capacity within the analysis and management of large data sets, as well as artificial intelligence, to generate clinically relevant hypotheses and enable greater precision in research, diagnostics and treatment.
- highlight how the humanities can improve healthcare in a changing medical context.
- develop partnership with the university healthcare service, Region Skåne, the Southern healthcare region and the municipalities in order to ensure that future needs for healthcare skills are met, as well as optimising prevention and new forms of care.
- develop clear, transparent forms of innovation and cooperation with the business community and other stakeholders in the public sector, culture and society in general.
- build up long-term relationships with alumni, donors, guest professors and honorary doctors in order to take advantage of their commitment, expertise and ambassadorship for the faculty.
International and national relations and perspectives shall be strengthened
The Faculty of Medicine shall:
- integrate local and global health aspects in education and research.
- create good opportunities for internationalisation for students and staff.
- increase the international attractiveness of the faculty and enhance the professional aspect of dealings with international students and staff.
- develop and create clearer goals for partnerships with other national and international higher education institutions and prominent actors in the public and private sector.
- highlight, value and encourage employee and student involvement in national and international organisations, consortia and networks.
The significance of teamwork, leadership and chiefship shall be clarified
The Faculty of Medicine shall:
- clearly demonstrate that an ethical approach forms the basis of our work environment, is a natural part of research and education, and will ultimately constitute the foundation of the students’ future professional life.
- increase efforts to ensure the continuing professional development of all employees.
- increase the employees’ understanding of what the university’s core values are and their own role in the organisation, as well as knowledge of the faculty’s strategy, structure and governance.
- clarify responsibilities, rights and obligations for employees, supervisors and students.
- ensure that leaders have the ability to prioritise, manage, clearly communicate and implement changes that develop the organisation.
- increase managers’ prerequisites for performing tasks that are within the scope of the managerial assignment.
- actively use student influence and the students’ knowledge and experience to improve the organisation.
- help to ensure that teaching staff and supervisors are constantly developing their pedagogical skills, and create follow-up tools.
- clarify career paths by explaining what is needed for an academic career, and offering skills development and support for career choices outside academia as well.
- develop and clarify the assessment of staff needs, and optimise recruitment processes and the introduction and long-term integration of new employees.
The faculty’s activities shall be supported by appropriate resources and tools
The Faculty of Medicine shall:
- organise management structures, departments and support activities so that they best support education, research and collaboration, along with the governance and development of the faculty. The organisation shall provide conditions for harmonisation and the optimal use of resources, and also satisfy the need for flexibility and a good working environment.
- promote the sustainable development of all faculty activities in line with Agenda 2030 by embracing future technological solutions within communication, energy and the environment.
- make it easier for staff to comply with laws and regulations in respect of ethics, information security, data management and research and education.
- prioritise technical platforms, data management systems, creative interaction zones and attractive physical environments that clearly help to enhance quality or efficiency in education, research or cooperation.
- create and maintain appropriate infrastructures through collaborations with other faculties, other higher education institutions, the university health care system and Region Skåne.
- ensure that the faculty’s infrastructures are characterised by a high degree of accessibility regarding expertise and range of services, and that they are run in a cost-effective and transparent manner.
- actively participate in the development of the MAX IV laboratory and ESS for the benefit of both education and research by formulating biomedical problems that enable complex clinical applications.
Postscript
How we define some of the words we use:
- “Students” includes everyone enrolled in first, second and third-cycle studies.
- “Employees” refers to everyone employed at the Faculty of Medicine. This includes those holding a position with another employer and who contribute to the faculty’s educational assignments, research or collaborative initiatives.
- Some employees may be leaders. This means that they are responsible for planning, implementing and evaluating projects or similar.
- Some are also managers, which means that they have a formal role with specific responsibility.
- “Teachers” are those who, according to the Higher Education Ordinance, have teaching positions; professors, senior lecturers, assistant senior lecturers and lecturers
- “Cooperation” involves useful work done with organisations other than our own. Innovation constitutes a very important element of this and characterises this entire priority area.