The Campus is full of life again!

After a quiet summer in Lund and at LTH, it is full of life again. Students are everywhere and it is bursting with activity. Over the past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of welcoming LTH's new students in both Lund and Helsingborg. Both times were equally enjoyable, you could really feel the expectations and the excitement in the air.

When I give my welcome, I try to give a sense of why the students made the right choice. Why LTH is Sweden's best institute of technology (a somewhat subjective assessment). Why LTH is the place where things happen!

I talked about world-class research, such as the 5G world record for data rate, ScanOat – our new oat center, the STEPS research program on bio-based plastics, Google investing SEK 120 million in the company Glō, which comes from our successful nano research. No bad track record! I have also talked about student innovation: rymdduschen from Orbital Systems, Hövding and banana flour. It is wonderful that LTH can show such a broad spectrum of research, especially with the rest of Lund University!

But do we use this broadness within LTH and Lund University? I do not think we're doing it entirely, and that's why there is a lot to gain. We have an enormous potential. For example, see the plastic research within STEPS. During the summer, we launched an initiative around drones: in September, a drone flight course starts at Ljungbyhed at the Trafikflyghögskolan  (TFHS), which is part of LTH. So much is happening in both technological development and applications. How can we use all the knowledge available in the university to do something new? So far, it is in its early stages, but I have great hope and I feel very positive about the near future!

And then a slight disappointment. We have a number of international students who were refused a residence permit with the motivation "lack of study purpose". Some of these students received a scholarship from Lund University after the assessment of their qualifications and motivation. I strongly question the Migration Board's assessments and call for a better dialogue between the authorities. We also have international students who have been granted a residence permit but are waiting for their documents.

This affects Sweden as a nation that provides higher education opportunities, but, above all, it affects the students who may see a life opportunity denied! The management of this issue must be better.

And then, of course, we have the housing situation for students, but there is so much trouble that I shall be abstaining…

Anyway: it is amazing to see the campus filled with life again. Warmly welcome to LTH! We will all do our best to give you a solid education and a good study time.

Viktor Öwall
Dean of LTH