Collaboration, sustainability, and democracy. Constructions and understandings of social responsibility in Swedish universities’ strategic planning documents. Building from debates about academic capitalism and universities’ adaptation to surrounding society, this article analyzes the vision and strategy documents of Swedish universities. Using Bacchi’s What’s the problem represented to be approach, we analyze how and to what extent such documents advocate for the adaptation of universities’ activities to the demands of surrounding society and market economy, and the societal and institutional problems such adaptation proces-ses are considered to counteract. In all documents we find an externalization imperative, where universities plan for an adjustment of activities to the demands and interests of external actors. Primarily, this applies to their advocacy of a utility ideal, promoting the instrumentalization of knowledge and its transformation into tools for external actors’ goals and purposes. This adaptation process is partly articulated as responding to the allegedly problematic aspects of previous university ideals, understood as characterized by introspection and exclusion, partly as responding to overarching “societal challenges”, understood through sustainability discourse. In the article, we discuss these problem representations critically, contextualizing them in relation to knowledge capitalism and the postmodernization of knowledge.

Einleitung

Der Begriff »Vergewaltigungskultur« tauchte in den 1970er Jahren zuerst in den USA auf und wurde anschließend zu einem allumfassenden Erklärungsmuster für das Vorhandensein sexueller Gewalt in verschiedenen sozialen Bereichen: auf dem College-Campus, beim Militär, in den Gefängnissen und zu Hause. In manchen Studien wurden verschiedene Gesellschaften je nach ihrer Vergewaltigungskultur als »vergewaltigungsanfällig« oder »vergewaltigungs-frei« (Sanday 2003) kategorisiert. Wurden das normative Umfeld und die gesellschaftliche Wahrnehmung von Vergewaltigung mit dem individuellen Verhalten von Menschen verbunden, so ergab sich eine höhere oder niedrigere Zahl sexueller Übergriffe, mit mehr oder weniger harten Konsequenzen für die Täter.

Baum, Cohen und Zhukov (2018) stellten zum Beispiel in ihrer Stu-die über die amerikanische Vergewaltigungskultur fest, dass es einen signifikanten Zusammenhang zwischen der Vergewaltigungskultur und der Häufigkeit von Vergewaltigungen sowie der Reaktion des Strafrechtssystems gibt. Studien mit einem Fokus auf dem Einfluss oder der Prävalenz der Vergewaltigungskultur bezogen sich zwar auf die amerikanische Gesellschaft und arbeiteten mit einem daran ausgerichteten Modell, es gab jedoch überall auf der Welt auch Studien, in denen Ursachen, Manifestationen und Konsequen-zen von Vergewaltigungskulturen in unterschiedlichen soziokulturellen Kontexten erforscht wurden (Inal und Smith 2018). Entsprechend untersucht dieser Artikel die Vergewaltigungskultur in Schweden, wie sie sich unter Jugendlichen manifestiert, von ihnen erlebt und verstanden wird. Diese Untersuchung ist vor allem im Zuge der #Metoo-Bewegung von Bedeutung und in der von ihr ausgelösten Debatte über die Selbstwahrnehmung Schwedens als eine der Gesellschaften mit der größten Gleichberechtigung weltweit und jahr-zehntelanger aktiver Förderung der Geschlechtergleichstellung. Diesbezüglich wartet der schwedische Kontext mit einigen Paradoxien auf. Die nationale #Metoo-Bewegung hat schnell und lautstark mobilisiert und das strukturelle Vorhandensein einer Vergewaltigungskultur in einem Land aufgezeigt, in . . . 

This article critically engages with central tenets of decolonial thought. While sympathetic to decolonial thought’s anti-colonialism and critique of Eurocentric universalism, the article argues that decolonial thought’s understanding(s) of knowledge relies on an essentialising centralisation of origins and roots. Against decolonial thought’s assertion that a knowledge’s relevance for anti-colonial struggle results from its position of exteriority vis-á-vis colonial systems of domination, the article suggests that we need to look at the dialectical and hybrid processes through which bodies of knowledge are made agentic in relation to concrete contexts of political conflict. To discern a body of knowledge’s meaning and relevance for anti-colonial struggles, we need to understand that it is continually shaped and reshaped from recurrent practices of reading, dissemination and rearticulation, through which the theory or knowledge body becomes hybridised and reformulated in relation to incessantly evolving contexts

In this article we interrogate how University of Sweden (UoS), the leading Work-integrated learning (WIL) university in Sweden, represents WIL publicly, discussing this in relation to higher education’s changing role within an increasingly knowledge-based capitalism, in which knowledge and research become subsumed under demands for market utility and student employability. Through analysis of WIL literature we distil a theory-practice ‘gap’ with spatial, institutional, epistemological and pedagogical dimensions that WIL as a field of educational practice tries to ‘bridge’. We use this conception to deconstruct how (UoS) presents WIL to potential students, partners, employers, and society at large. We find that while the university at the central level presents WIL as a synergistic and multi-dimensional activity that bridges the theory/practice divide to produce ‘advanced knowledge’ and employable students, the actual educational programs articulate WIL in a manner which privileges practical usability and employability over theoretical knowledge, in line with an academic capitalist focus on utility. Further, there is a significant difference in how vocational and academic programmes implement WIL. Whereas WIL components seem relatively easily integrated into professional programs present, academic programs must undertake advanced discursive manoeuvres to incorporate WIL’s principles into what would otherwise be quite theory-focused programs.

Purpose

This study aims to explore barriers and facilitators for knowledge transfer and learning processes by examining a cross-departmental collaborative project in the municipal organization. It is based on a R&D collaboration between University West and a Swedish municipality.

Design/methodology/approach

To explore the barriers and facilitators, the data collection was made through observation of the project implementation process, as well as 20 interviews with public servants and external actors. To conduct a systematic qualitative-oriented content analysis, the article constructs and applies a theoretical analytical framework consisting of different factors influencing knowledge transfer and learning processes within a municipal organizational setting.

Findings

This study explores the facilitators and barriers to knowledge transfer and learning processes, specifically focusing on strategic communication, individual roles, common goals, time pressure, group learning, trust and relationships and absorptive capability. Lack of communication affected the group learning process, while the close relation between time pressure, group learning and trust in colleagues is also pointed out as crucial areas. Trust developed through dialogue efforts helped overcome project fatigue. Coaching with a human rights-based approach improved organizational absorptive capabilities.

Originality/value

The study gives important insights into organizational learning within a municipality in Sweden for the successful implementation of collaborative projects. Knowledge must be transferred for the organization to learn to develop and tackle future challenges and its complex responsibilities. The theoretical analytical framework provided in this article has proven to be effective and is therefore transferable to other organizations in both the public and private sectors.

While long part of vocational and professional training, forms of practice-based education like Work-integrated learning (WIL) arenow spreading to academic disciplines like Political Science. The pedagogical entailed in WIL is that student learning requires the theoretical knowledge and practice of both the classroom and theworkplace, and therefore pledges better employability for graduates. At the same time, this promise entails a potential threat to disciplinesthat may call into question the assumptions of market and staterelations. The question thus emerges: is it possible to do critical WIL,and what would it look like? This paper makes a normative case that a critical WIL is both desirable and possible by turning to Hanna Arendt and Richard Turner to differentiate ‘banal’ from ‘critical’education. It further argues that any ‘critical’ educationalprogramme must be based on three principles. First, students must learn about how social systems work and how to be successful inthem, but they must also learn to critically reflect on the systemsthemselves, and to do so in normative terms linked to ending domination. Second, are students required to develop both thedispositions and attributes required for working life, and those required for acting to end domination. Finally, there must besufficient institutional independence of the programme from its partner institutions to protect the critical WIL agenda. These claims are illustrated through reference to a real-world attempt toinstitutionalise WIL in a Political Studies Masters programme inSweden.

The article develops a model for how an academic discipline like Political Studies can embrace work-integrated learning (WIL) to the benefit of students, the discipline, and wider society by interpreting WIL in relation to discipline-specific forms of knowledge and knower. The model is of a new Master’s in WIL in Political Studies (WIPS) at University West, Sweden, an institution that is experimenting with the idea of WIL as a discipline beyond the mainstream framing of WIL as pedagogy only. In this innovative context, three ideas are central to WIPS. First, the content of WIPS is about research knowledge, rather than Political Studies knowledge. Second, drawing on political philosophy, the important relationship between theory or science (episteme) and practice (techne) is framed in terms of an additional concept of practical knowledge (phronesis) regarding the particulars of political action to equitable ends and wisdom (sophia) in regard to the philosophical and ethical nature of those ends. Third, WIPS re-thinks student learning in ontological ways that focus on the capabilities of the political knower. In sum, WIPS frames WIL as “reflective practice on research-intensive political work”, offering a novel and enriched theoretical model of higher education learning of interest to other academic disciplines looking to embrace WIL.

Purpose: Social sustainability is a concept frequently referred to in public debates concerning how to construct the governance of future societies. The interpretations of its meaning, however, are ambiguous, and practices often dubious. Confronting top-down technocratic governance structures, this paper aims to argue for for tripartite collaborations between residents, higher education institutions (HEIs) and local government, as an approach toward social sustainability that involves residents’ interests in local governance. Design/methodology/approach: This study argues that a specific time-spatial method of analysis can benefit the co-creation of knowledge as it passes through the spectrum of resident–HEI–local government. It provides a way for resident perceptions to become structured knowledge that originates from the residents, effectively engendering a bottom-up governance structure. Findings: This study shows how to include residents in policymaking and implementation processes as co-creators of knowledge, and thereby displays the possibility of examining knowledge and competence within municipal projects for social sustainability. Originality/value: The model developed in this study can be used as a methodological instrument to analyze and expand resident participation in local social sustainability work. It thereby provides a toolbox for inclusive policymaking and strategies. © 2023, Fredrik Sunnemark, Emil Gahnström, Hedvig Rudström, Erika Karlsson and Per Assmo.

In recent decades, internationalization has become an important component of higher education for universities. The rationale behind the internationalizing of university courses and programs varies, depending on focus and interest, with some being of more marketing/economical character and other more concerned to deepen the quality of higher education. Irrespective of the main reasons behind the process, the internationalization of higher education tends to expand even further, not least due to the possibilities connected to digital technology.Indeed, in more recent times the Covid-19 pandemic, has deeply digitalised educational and working life, raising deep questions not just about the modalities of learning, but the possibilities of new kinds of learning too. It is this concern that is the ma in focus of this paper: in what ways does deepening digitalisation enable internationalisation, and what are some of the dynamics, positive or negative, associated with this new trend?This paper answers this question through an initial high-level study of a joint international master’s program in Work Integrated Political Studies (WIPS), developed between University West (UW), Sweden, and the University of Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. The collaboration is unique in that it introduces new academic ways of learning and substantive content, formed through the development of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) as an academic subject and postgraduate degree. Central to WIL is the idea that learning happens equally through doing real world tasks as much as through traditional teaching, and this involves workplace as well as University activities. Consequently, and important part of the WIPS programme is a final year research internship, integrated with a compilation thesis, which provides the students with a possibility to study and conduct research on real world challenges, for a host organization. 

The paper employs an analytical framework using six concepts from the literature: (i) neo-liberal versus (ii) better quality education; (ii) pedagogically integrated a nd (iv) accessible digital technology; (iv) learning through doing as well as teaching; as well as (v) better life readiness.

The internationalisation literature highlights the distinction between the development of programmes aimed to secure more short-term, elite status and financial ends, and those orientated to better quality education through longer term, multicultural engagement of difference. This gives the first two concepts to look for: neo -liberal internationalisation versus internationalisation for better quality education. The digitalisation literature notes the importance of digital technologies that are thoughtfully integrated into a coherent pedagogical approach, and that are accessible to users, whether through public infrastructure or skills development. This gives the pedagogically integrated and accessible digital technologies. Finally, the WIL literature identifies an approach to education that integrates traditional teaching with real world practice, through synergies between the university, the student and the workplace, and that better prepares students for life after the University. This highlights the learning through doing as well as teaching and better life readiness concepts. Based on the primary data gathered from students and staff at both Universities during the first year of the masters, the paper demonstrates how digital technology, complemented with student and staff exchange, helps make the programme a more international, and a more educational environment. Interestingly, this remains true, even while the collaboration between Sweden and South Africa exposes real and important differences in practices and meanings of university teaching, working life and the significance of employability across context – indeed, it is the confrontation of these differences from which much new learning emerges. At the same time, there are limitations or challenges to internationalisation using digitalisation, and a key one is the uneven access to digital infrastructure across the two contexts, a s well as the limitations to boding in an online only environment. The article concludes by arguing that to develop a truly international educational environment, digital technologies should also be organized alongside real-world interactions in a way that enhances students’ interaction, nvolvement, and feeling of belonging. Done correctly, long-term sustainable international collaboration using digital technology, and thereto connected pedagogics, can bring the world closer, and can also reduce the economic and environmental cost of internationalization.

This paper explores and analyse the evolvement and outcome of formal international partnership between University West (UW) in Sweden and Central University of Technology (CUT), South Africa. The collaboration was initiated in 2017, based on a mutual interest in the field of Work Integrated Learning (WIL). The differences in the universities' views, policies and strategies of WIL in research and education was seen as a strength, where the universities, through international collaboration, could learn from each other to foster further knowledge, skills and practices to develop the field of WIL in higher education and research.This study explores how an international university partnership aims to develop and integrate WIL a research and education approach to enhance societal development. The paper introduces a conceptual framework focusing on views and policies of internationalisation, connected to views and perspectives of WIL. The paper thereafter explores and analyse how an international collaboration is used to enhance and improve the different forms and approaches of WIL at the respective university.

UW and CUT comes with different history, perspectives, and strategies of WIL. The institutions recognised different strength, weaknesses and focus of WIL, which was seen as an important starting point and cornerstone for a partnership to learn from each other, and jointly develop WIL in higher education and research. In connection, the partnership aimed to further develop WIL as a new academic field, focusing on applied research approaches and strategies, together with and for societal actors, adress real societal challenges.

The partnership has been instrumental in creating opportunities to discuss and analyse the concept and application of various forms of WIL that through a close collaboration strives to overcome challenges and provide opportunities for development to the benefit of society at large. In short, the partnership has sparked various developments of WIL in higher education and research, including PhD student from CUT to be enrolled in the WIL doctoral at UW. Collaboration through an international master’s program me in WIL, will enable students from CUT and UW to study together. Through networks with industry and organisations in the respective country, internship placements is another WIL component being planned for undergraduate- and postgraduate students from both universities. Researcher from UW and CUT has initiated several research ventures and are co -publishing research outputs with a distinct WIL profile. In all, the collaborative partnership has enhanced the integration and development of, from local to international level, improving the outcome for students, researchers, and society. The partnership includes several important components, with definite possibilities for further development.Students from CUT are enrolled in the doctoral programme in WIL at UW, providing relevant WIL research and PhD staff in WIL at CUT. This helps to make inroads into establishing WIL as an independent research field of its own in the South African context and to possibly further international networks. It also helps to deve lop WIL as a research field at UW by adding South African perspectives and experiences.

The collaboration of the master's programme in WIL, offered by UW, will enable students from CUT to apply and enrol in a post-graduate WIL education and degree, without moving across the globe, hence providing a more inclusive approach to higher education, connected to the local society. Also here, WIL can be further developed by international experiences adding perspectives to both the Swedish and South African context. This both as an educational philosophy and structure as well as a field of study. Internships that are local in practice have the possibility of being global in scope through being part of an extended network, and thereby develop ways of studying WIL-processes that further strengthens WIL as an independent field of study.

Under- and postgraduate students from UW can, through the established formal structure at CUT, conduct internship placements in South Africa. A long-term sustainable collaboration between the institutions creates a foundation for opening for work and practice placement for students from all faculties, wanting to further their study period with international experiences and learning in and from working life in another context than their usual.

Researchers from UW and CUT has initiated several research ventures and are co-publishing research outputs with a distinct WIL profile. By connecting this to extended personal and professional research networks, the independent field of study can be further stabilised, and not least grow in the South African context.

The collaboration has also strengthened the WIL profile and branding of the respective university, nationally as well as internationally. As an example, the universities are planning to co-host an international WIL conference in South Africa during 2024.