Elisabeth Svantesson spoke of the economic winter in which Sweden now finds itself, and the importance of pushing down inflation, while households and public services need support. The recession is not expected to be over until 2026. One consequence of this is that all public authorities will have their grants reduced by 1 per cent.
The higher education sector is spared somewhat, being subject to a cut of only 0.5 per cent. Large investments are being made in the justice system and defence.
For Lund University the 0.5 per cent cut means that grants for education and research will both fall by SEK 13 million. The government pledges to review detailed regulations and reporting requirements so that we can focus on education and research.
At the same time the University will receive an extra SEK 7.6 million (a total of SEK 18 million over several years) for new foundation year admission, SEK 16.3 million for Master of Science programmes in engineering and second-cycle education (a total of SEK 49.6 million over several years) as well as SEK 8.8 million for science and technology (SEK 29.6 million in total).
Lund University will receive the previously announced SEK 15 million for battery research and investment in the medical physicist programme. MAX IV will receive a funding boost of SEK 40 million for 2024 as an extra grant – good news, but less than the SEK 106 million sought in the spring.
The government has also proposed a SEK 100 million redistribution of the funding cap for 2025 in order to strengthen education in technology and mathematics. The current trials of new, shorter Supplementary Teacher Training (Swedish acronym KPU) will be expanded to more higher education institutions and more people will be able to study on shorter KPUs.
Read the whole budget bill here: Budget Bill for 2024 – Regeringen.se (in Swedish).