In the middle of September, I will be travelling with a few select companions to the United States. We are a delegation from the University, the municipality and the county administrative board who are visiting Minnesota and New York.
The first stop is Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we will visit the University of Minnesota, with which our Faculty of Law has enjoyed an important partnership for forty years. Some members of the University delegation are travelling specifically to meet their legal colleagues and to celebrate the long-sustained academic exchange with a new book. The areas of cooperation have expanded over time and we will meet researchers in a range of fields, such as migration, energy and urban planning. Sustainable development stands out as a common theme and several areas align with the University’s initiatives within UUniFI. As the trip is a joint venture, the programme has also been designed to suit Uppsala Municipality and the county administrative board. Minneapolis is of course the municipality’s twin town.
In connection with the visit, we will organise a meeting with alumni and have the opportunity to discuss further cooperation, and there will doubtless be discussions on developments affecting American universities, governance and recruitment.
After a few busy days in Minneapolis, we will travel to New York. As many people know, it became clear several days ago that Uppsala University is a strong candidate to be entrusted with a new police education programme. Needless to say, this is also a matter of relevance to the municipality and the county administrative board, and during our visit we will meet the New York Police Department, which will talk about its work in ‘hot spot’ areas, and other matters. Another planned visit is to Cornell Tech, which is recognised as a leading university in AI, where we at Uppsala University are well to the fore but are keen to gain further ground. We hope to discuss closer cooperation. In New York, major initiatives in urban planning are addressing the need for green spaces and for managing new conditions caused by climate change. We look forward to exciting guided tours with experts involved in turning old railway embankments into parks and developing the artificial Little Island. Alongside this, together with the Consulate, we have organised a dinner to which we have invited alumni and friends of the University who are interested in keeping in touch and contributing to our activities in various ways. For them, we will present the plans for our 550th anniversary, as well as highlighting the Swedish Institute for North American Studies (SINAS) and our interdisciplinary focus within UUniFI, which has already been met with great interest.
These are a few examples of what we will be doing.
During my travels of this kind, I am often struck by how important it is to meet. Uppsala University is well known and has a good reputation, but we also need to show that we want to be part of global academia. I am convinced that this journey is an important and good investment for the University and for Uppsala.
