No More Diversity Studies at Malmö University

For 15 years, diversity studies have been one of the courses offered at Malmö University, but that is now coming to an end. The reason concerns aging teachers.

The course was launched in 2010 and students have been educated on topics such as segregation, migration, and social justice. However, no new students will be admitted for the upcoming fall semester. The halt is due to several teachers in the program having retired, and to save money, their positions are not being replaced.

Victor Lundberg, the program director who teaches in the program, is devastated.

“I think it is deeply tragic and sad that these issues, which are so extremely important in contemporary society, are not being prioritized,” he told Sydsvenskan.

According to Lundberg, the diversity course is one of the programs that attracts the most young people from Malmö. He believes the suspension means that the university loses an important profile and a unique advantage compared to Lund University.

Paused for the Time Being

At the Department of Global Political Studies, head Mona Lilja says the university’s costs are increasing without state funding rising at the same pace, which means the range of courses must be reviewed. For now, a decision has been made to temporarily pause the diversity studies until there are better conditions to possibly continue the course.

Diversity Studies Presentation:

The aim of the course is to provide students with an introductory orientation and theoretically critical introduction to the phenomenon of diversity from basic norm-critical, social science, humanistic, and historical perspectives – with explicit connection to the program’s main focus, IMER (International Migration and Ethnic Relations). The course also includes skill-training elements and an introduction to academic studies.

– Introduction: “Diversity?”. Here, diversity is discussed against the background of concepts such as human, society, culture, nation, and identity from basic norm-critical, social science, humanistic, and historical perspectives.
– The historical conditions of diversity. Here, 21st-century ideas and perceptions of diversity are placed in a deeper socio-historical context.
– Diversity and multiculturalism – a challenge? Here, the phenomenon – and the discourses surrounding – diversity is related to current discussions within the IMER scientific field of knowledge.