The government has decided to halve the term of office for the members of the boards of higher education institutions, from three years to 17 months.
According to Minister of Education Mats Persson (L), the decision is due to the need to strengthen security skills at the universities.
– We are living in a new security policy situation where Iran, Russia and China are acting in a new way, he says.
According to the minister, Säpo reports on universities being infiltrated and patents being stolen.
Storm of criticism from principals
The decision has drawn strong criticism from almost all universities around the country. There is concern that it is a way of controlling the universities politically and that academic freedom is now threatened, and that it is pressure from the Sweden Democrats who have long wanted to “clean up official Sweden”.
– No, that’s not true, says Mats Persson.
He also denies that SD would have been involved in the discussions before the decision.
“Political Realignment”
According to the Minister of Education, a political restructuring is taking place widely throughout society “which is about not being naive in the face of what, for example, China is planning and doing”.
– This is about the fact that we have a war in Europe. Report after report shows that we don’t know if scientists are part of the communist dictatorship in China, he says.
