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Where did all the money go? Funding, personnel and expenditure in Swedish universities and colleges 2001–21

Hallonsten, Olof LU (2022) In Quality in Higher Education
Abstract

Swedish universities and colleges have received a substantial funding increase since the turn of the millennium, as part of continued policies of expanding the admission of students to higher education to broader layers of the population and strengthen Swedish public research and development to increase the competitiveness of the Swedish knowledge-based economy. In this article, publicly available statistics are used to trace how this increase in funding has been used by the sector. Comparing figures on income (base grant for research, third-party funding and base grant for education) with statistics on personnel and student enrolment as well as data on actual expenditure, the article draws some conclusions that are used to discuss some... (More)

Swedish universities and colleges have received a substantial funding increase since the turn of the millennium, as part of continued policies of expanding the admission of students to higher education to broader layers of the population and strengthen Swedish public research and development to increase the competitiveness of the Swedish knowledge-based economy. In this article, publicly available statistics are used to trace how this increase in funding has been used by the sector. Comparing figures on income (base grant for research, third-party funding and base grant for education) with statistics on personnel and student enrolment as well as data on actual expenditure, the article draws some conclusions that are used to discuss some common misunderstandings and erroneous beliefs, including claims of a ‘depletion’ of the base grant for research and an uninhibited growth of the number of administrative staff, which are common themes in the Swedish and international debate over higher education.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
administration, Funding, growth, research, Sweden, universities
in
Quality in Higher Education
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85140209594
ISSN
1353-8322
DOI
10.1080/13538322.2022.2121469
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
305e8377-226c-40e4-9223-cb5d7961fdfa
date added to LUP
2023-01-16 14:44:34
date last changed
2024-01-17 16:50:23
@article{305e8377-226c-40e4-9223-cb5d7961fdfa,
  abstract     = {{<p>Swedish universities and colleges have received a substantial funding increase since the turn of the millennium, as part of continued policies of expanding the admission of students to higher education to broader layers of the population and strengthen Swedish public research and development to increase the competitiveness of the Swedish knowledge-based economy. In this article, publicly available statistics are used to trace how this increase in funding has been used by the sector. Comparing figures on income (base grant for research, third-party funding and base grant for education) with statistics on personnel and student enrolment as well as data on actual expenditure, the article draws some conclusions that are used to discuss some common misunderstandings and erroneous beliefs, including claims of a ‘depletion’ of the base grant for research and an uninhibited growth of the number of administrative staff, which are common themes in the Swedish and international debate over higher education.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hallonsten, Olof}},
  issn         = {{1353-8322}},
  keywords     = {{administration; Funding; growth; research; Sweden; universities}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Quality in Higher Education}},
  title        = {{Where did all the money go? Funding, personnel and expenditure in Swedish universities and colleges 2001–21}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13538322.2022.2121469}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/13538322.2022.2121469}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}