Since the project plan was approved last autumn, the project group has met with all department management and participated in many staff and board meetings to listen to thoughts and ideas. An important part of the work has also been to gather experiences from other units within Lund University and other universities.

Different scenarios presented

At the end of January, the project group held a workshop with the heads of department where they presented a number of different proposals for mergers between departments. 

– The purpose of this was to be able to be more concrete in the discussions and take the next step in the process," says Charlotte Simonsson, vice dean and project manager for the organisational project. During the spring, we will continue discussions based on these scenarios. It is important to get to know each other's organisations better in order to be able to decide which units could merge and form new, larger departments. 

She also points out that the presented proposals are not fixed, but that completely new ones may be considered.

Proposal for a first merger 

A proposal for a merger between Media and Communication Studies and the Department of Strategic Communication will be presented to the Faculty Board later this spring. If the board makes that decision, the new department will be established from the beginning of 2025. In connection with this, it is also planned to move the journalism programme from the HT faculties to the new department.

– We in the project group support this process by coordinating and providing support in various ways, not least in a number of issues related to administration and what needs to be done in practice. The experience gained here will be useful for the mergers that take place later. 

Read more about the development towards fewer and larger units