The City of Malmö and its main university upgrade their collab agreement

Two institutions that are not content with simply sharing the same urban territory and going on about their business

The City of Malmö and Malmö University have collaborated for several years, including in the areas of research, education and in the field of culture. This week, however, they decided that there is a need to refresh the collaboration agreement and upgrade it in a way that can effectively serve the interests of both entities going forward.

The new agreement signed on 23 November and valid until 2024, defines four main areas of cooperation. It is a good example of partnership between public and academic institutions, which although working in different spheres with their own autonomy statutes, can often overlap in their ultimate goals.

Cooperation renewal

The agreement will contribute to strengthening and structuring the ongoing cooperation and encourage and support new and in-depth cooperation between the two parties in the following spheres:

• Sustainable urban development: The parties shall work to strengthen the joint work with sustainable urban development and climate issues based on research and higher education;
• Equal welfare: The entities must work to continue to develop and strengthen collaboration in health, care and welfare, social services, schools, migration and integration based on research and higher education;
• Skills supply: The parties will work to strengthen Malmö as a learning society with a focus on lifelong learning based on research and higher education;
• Malmö's attractiveness: The two parties must work to strengthen Malmö as an attractive city to live, study and work in, not the least by seeing culture as a force for change.

As is visible from the reported conditions in the agreement, research and higher education are meant to be the vehicles that will make the collaboration work and be effective. The agreement does not replace collaboration agreements already entered into between the parties. It should facilitate and encourage new ones.

“Malmö University and the City of Malmö face common and global societal challenges that we handle better together than separately. Through the new agreement, we can continue to work to ensure that research-based knowledge is useful in society in general and in Malmö as a city,” explained Kerstin Tham, Rector of Malmö University, on the occasion.