Ensuring stable financial resources for faculty is crucial to maintaining high-quality research, attracting top talent, and fostering a thriving academic environment. However, in Sweden—particularly at technical universities—faculty funding is heavily dependent on external grants. This situation creates challenges in maintaining stability and continuity in research efforts. How can we structure faculty research funding to ensure both stability and efficiency?
At Swedish universities, faculty funding comes from two primary internal revenue streams:
- Educational Revenues (GRU): Linked to student enrollment and distributed based on teaching assignments. These funds can only be used for teaching-related activities.
- Internal Research Revenues (FoFU): Supports faculty research activities, including Ph.D. advising and research time.
GRU and FoFU are separate and cannot be merged into a single budget. Unlike educational revenues, which are relatively predictable, research funding is more volatile, as much of our infrastructure, Ph.D. students, and short-term researchers rely on external research grants. Given this reality, the key question remains:
How should we allocate faculty research funding to ensure stability while maintaining academic excellence?
Stable research funding per faculty member is essential for:
– Sustaining high research quality
– Attracting and retaining top faculty talent
– Enabling long-term research planning and doctoral education
One of the key challenges in academia is determining the appropriate faculty volume—that is, the number of faculty members needed to sustain both teaching and research at a high level. Faculty volume directly impacts the distribution of internal research funding (FoFU), making it a critical factor in long-term academic planning.
At the School of Engineering Sciences (SCI) at KTH, we believe that research funding should not be allocated arbitrarily or based solely on historical structures. Instead, it should be closely tied to faculty assignments (uppdrag) to ensure fairness, sustainability, and strategic alignment with the university’s mission.
But what does this mean in practice?
- Avoiding Fragmentation of Resources – If faculty volume expands without a proportional increase in funding, internal research resources (FoFU) risk being spread too thin. This could weaken research quality and limit support for Ph.D. students.
- Ensuring Fair and Transparent Allocation – A model based on assignments ensures that funding is linked to faculty contributions, both in terms of teaching and external research engagement.
- Supporting Faculty Career Development – By tying funding to faculty responsibilities, we create an environment where all can plan their careers with greater financial predictability.
At SCI, we focus on two key indicators when aligning research funding with faculty assignments:
Teaching Volume: Faculty members contribute significantly to education, and their teaching load should be factored into their research funding allocation.
External Research Funding: Since external grants form a major part of research financing, the ability to secure such funding is a vital faculty responsibility.
We believe that by using faculty assignments as a guiding principle, we create a balanced approach that supports both stability and growth in research activities.
The challenge lies in striking the right balance between faculty size and available funding. A stable baseline of internal research funding per faculty member is essential to sustain high-impact research and long-term academic success. At the same time, the system must be flexible to accommodate growth in externally funded research activities.
Moving forward, we need a structured approach to link faculty assignments to faculty volume. By reinforcing stable research resources while considering external funding realities, we can foster an academic environment that promotes both innovation and sustainability.
For the faculty at SCI, a detailed description of the economic distribution of funds as well as a comprehensive reform agenda for 2025 can be found at SCI-skolans konkretisering av KTH:s verksamhetsplan 2025