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Observatory PASCAL
Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions PURE Regional Profile VARMLAND, SWEDEN Appendix 1 Region: Varmland, Sweden Principal PURE contact: Anders Olsson Title: Planning Director Institutional base with full postal mailing address: Region Värmland, Box 1022, S-651 15 Karlstad, Sweden Contact Details: Email: Tel: Mob: [email protected] +46 54 701 10 25 (+46 54 701 10 00)
Name of main collaborating region: Varmland, Sweden Name, organisation and email: 1. Anders Olsson, Region Värmland [email protected] 2. Lennart Blomquist, Karlstad University [email protected] 3. Catrin Huss, Region Värmland [email protected] 4. Magnus Lindh, Karlstad University [email protected]
Suggested Peer Reviewer from region: Anders Olsson
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions ‘Identity’ of Region (eg. governmental admin. region; special development zone; informal ‘working reality’ region, etc) Located in the Oslo – Stockholm corridor on the border to Norway (also a boarder of the European union!). Governmental administrative region with three regional public organisations: The County Administrative Board, County Council of Värmland and Region Värmland. Strong identity as a region. A lot of formal and informal cooperation within the geography of the region. Rural region with 15.6 inhabitants per square kilometre. At the local level Värmland comprises 16 municipalities. Peripheral municipalities of the region are part of development zones (investment support for companies). REGIONAL PORTRAIT (Please list key issues of interest and relevance to PURE) Understanding and developing of the regional innovation system. Developing the support for the regional leadership. Development of metrics and templates for impact evaluation of HEIs on the region. (i) Approx. population and any key features: (e.g. new migrant numbers) Population: 273 000 inhabitants The demographic development of the county has shown a long-term negative trend during the last 50 years. Immigration is mainly from refugees from distant countries, Norway and the Netherlands. The percentage of persons with a foreign background (born abroad or born in Sweden with both parents born abroad) is low relative to the country as a whole. The region has an ageing population. The share of the population older then 65 years was 19 % year 2007. The central part of the region – the Karlstad region – is a common labour market. Where the main focus of the economic activity occurs. The western parts of the region are influenced by the strong economy in the Norwegian capital region. Places with a long industrial tradition (Bruksorter) still suffers from lack of entrepreneurial culture. The Värmland identity among people is strong.
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions (ii) Other essential geographical features: Border to Norway and relative proximity to the Oslo region. Värmland with its forests is a part of the taiga throughout the high northern latitudes. The third biggest lake in Europe, Lake Vänern, is situated in the southern part of Värmland. (iii) Economy, industries and employment features: Great industry knowledge and strong multinational export companies. Strong industrial clusters or branches:  The Paper Province (European three star cluster!)  Steel and Engineering  IT and  tourism Fast development of shopping, partly driven by the strong economy in the Oslo region. Low unemployment rate before the finance crisis. Gender segregation on labour market. Norway is an important labour market.
KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES CONFRONTING THE REGION (i) Economic issues: 1. The competitiveness in relation to the bigger city regions with respect to work force and other resources fore development. 2. The universities competitiveness in relation to older and bigger universities. 3. The development of the regional leadership. 4. Lack of entrepreneurship (in relation to a high innovation level), especially in municipalities with one dominant industrial sector. Key websites for more information: 1. www.regionvarmland.se
2. www.kau.se 3. www.regionvarmland.se 4. www.regionvarmland.se
(ii)
Social issues including health: 1. Low educational level especially in industry and low shares of population with higher education (but quite an impressive improvement from 1990 – 2005) in a national perspective. 2. In a national perspective low level of public health. 3. In a national perspective low ranking in gender equality, diversity. 4. Ageing population.
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions Key websites for more information: 1. www.regionvarmland.se 2. http://www.regionfakta.com/GemensamDynamiskPresentation.aspx?id=14118 3. www.lst.se, www.kau.se (iii) Environmental issues: 1. Most local and regional environmental problems are solved. For instance are the levels of air and water pollutions very low. 2. Remaining challenges are diversity of spices, remaining/lagging? acidification and lack of knowledge on effects of toxic substance injurious to man and environment. 3. Positive development of renewable energy sources and improvement of energy efficiency. 4. High dependency of electric energy in the process industry. Key websites for more information: 1. 2. 3. 4. www.regionvarmland.se www.regionvarmland.se www.lst.se www.regionvarmland.se, www.lst.se
(iv) Cultural issues: 1. Värmland ranks relatively low in the Swedish creative index (15 out of 21). 2. Development of the creative sector. Key websites for more information: 1. http://www.hgu.gu.se/Files/kulturgeografi/CRA/OccPaper2007_2.pdf 2. www.regionvarmland.se (v) Other issues or dimensions: (e.g. political & administrative, civic and participation) 1. Development of co-operation with neighbour regions in Sweden and Norway and the merging of Värmland to the Västra Götaland Region 2. National policy and funding for Karlstad University versus older universities 3. Incoherent action from the central government in the relation to the region. Key websites for more information: 1. http://www.korridoren.info/index.php?page_id=2188 2. www.regionvarmland.se 3. http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10003/a/113957
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions UNIVERSITY AND OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (HEIs) PORTRAIT (Please describe in a few words the HE system operating in the region, in terms of any important matters, the following): (i) Structure, legal and financial status of HE system Both HIE’s in the region are governed by the state and steered by law, appropriation and regulations for recruitment of academic personnel. The rector and the Board are appointed by the government. The HEI´s have the possibility to organize the activities as they want. (ii) Main priorities for the HEIs in the region The core activity is education and research. The University of Karlstad has decided to give priority to cooperation with SME’s, clusters and public administration. (iii) Relevant recent changes and developments in policy and/or practice The Board has decided to change the policy, from a traditional university policy to a modern university policy. That means a more open university with a lot of cooperation’s with actors in the surrounding word. These activities could be contract education or research, but it could also be joint financed project. (iv) Ways of organising and managing within the HEIs The university of Karlstad has a decentralised organisation divided in four faculties each consisting of 5-7 departments. There are about 50 different subjects at undergraduate level and 22 third cycle programmes. The Board is responsible for budget and aim and direction for the activities while the faculties are responsible for personnel, economy and quality.
HEIs in REGION 1. Karlstad University Karlstad Lennart Blomquist [email protected] Eva Johansson [email protected] Mats Sohlström www.bergsskolan.se [email protected] Peter Stejmar www.gammelkroppa.pp.se [email protected]
2. Försvarshögskolan
Karlstad
3. Bergsskolan
Filipstad
4. Gammelkroppa skogshögskola
Filipstad
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions PURE Regional Profile VARMLAND, SWEDEN Appendix 2 Regional Aspirations and Agenda
1. What aspects of regional development and the role of higher education in particular do you wish to engage with, focus on and improve, through your involvement in PURE? (a) From the point of view of the region and its priorities, objectives and ways of working? Understand and develop of the regional innovation system. Develop the support for the regional leadership. Development of metrics and templates for impact evaluation of HEIs on the region. (b) From the point of view of the higher education institutions and their priorities, objectives and ways of working? The University of Karlstad (Kau) want to develop better tools for cooperation with external actors. The regions and HEI’s which participate in the PURE-project have a common valuesystem as far as the interest for cooperation is concerned. That means that we do have the conditions for learning from each other within areas as benchmarking and evaluations. 2. In terms of the wider global, political, administrative, economic and environmental setting it was agreed at the PURE Glasgow working meeting (September 2008) that the following aspects (included in Briefing Paper No. 3) were of wide general significance for the PURE project as a whole: (a) What role are strong national and/or regional policies in favour of third mission playing to overcome barriers for PURE work in regions? There are very good conditions within the region according to developing cooperation’s be HEI’s, public administrations and the industry. The latest bill from the government about research and cooperation contains no cause of rejoicing as far as Värmland is concerned. The national policy for co-operation encourage co-operation verbally but not pecuniary. The regional development program supports the third mission. (b) Will strong national and regional policies in favour of sustainable development have an impact on PURE activity on environmental issues? The questions connected with environment and sustainability are central in Sweden. Policies are of course of great importance but it is hard to measure in what extension. Especially policies regarding the climate change are in focus. The work with regional and local climate policies are in progress. In the regional development program there is a climate strategy.
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions (c) Will strong policies on implementing LLL at national and/or regional levels have an impact on PURE activities? (LLL = life long learning?)? LLL influence the career for the individual. It is not unusual that individuals change their career and it is unusual to have the same employment during a lifetime. This is of big significance for academics. The demands for employees to increase their competence are increasing. (d) Will strong national and/or regional innovation and research policies have as impact on PURE activities? The Swedish government has decided to give priority to three research areas. These are medicine, technology and science. Furthermore the policy is concentrated on areas where Kau is not too strong. It is therefore of special interest that the different actors in Varmland can make their priorities with consensus. One of the highest priorities in the regional development program is innovation. (e) Will strong and/or regional policy on administrative and governance issues have an impact on PURE activities? We have, in Sweden, during the last decade met an increasing politicizing of higher education and research. The central government has developed a skill to steer higher education on local level. This is possible because of the fact that the “state” focus on a very detailed level in their evaluations. LLL is of great importance in in the regional development program. (f) How is the third mission seen and developed, and how central is it to the future especially of nonelite universities? It is most important from two aspects. First to spread knowledge and to develop new knowledge. The second aspect is concerned with anchorage. The anchorage will lead to an increasing legitimacy in our region. (g) Is the globalisation of the economy changing regions' ecological, social and cultural policies? If so, how will it impact on PURE activities in the region and the university? The globalisation is taken in consideration in al strategies in the regional development program. The globalisation will have an impact in both our supply of education and the directions of research. It also have an influence on the priorities in the region. The experiences from the OECD-project shows an important influence on process of priority within clusters, industry and local governments.
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Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions 3. At this stage, do you have a clear sense which subject(s) of special interest you would like to concentrate on in a PURE regions sub-group; for example – ecotourism, SME development, megaevents like the Olympics, cultural development and creative arts, etc? The regional innovation system. Especially forming and developing platforms for research and innovation in partnership between HEI, industry and public sector. Developing the support for the regional leadership. Development of metrics and templates for impact evaluation of HEIs on the region. We would be interested in the following sub-group specialism(s): The regional innovation system. Especially forming and developing platforms for research and innovation in partnership between HEI, industry and public sector. Developing the support for the regional leadership. Development of metrics and templates for impact evaluation of HEIs on the region. 4. Are there any other points that you wish to mention at this stage?
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