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We provide an integrative review of research on gender and academic careers conducted in the Nordic countries from 2003-2018. We investigate the nature and content of contemporary Nordic research and critically examine the methodological and theoretical approaches authors have used. We read, categorized, and analysed 74 articles retrieved from Web of Science. Our review shows that gender differences in academic careers persist, in line with earlier reviews. Men still publish more often than women do, whereas changes in gender differences regarding citations go both ways. The early years seem crucial to the development of an academic research career. Studies focusing on the influence of new public management on gender have added to this research area since 2003. The percentage of quantitative approaches has increased, but interview studies are nevertheless common. Existing research lacks (1) a focus on the horizontal dimension (i.e., across disciplines), (2) studies developing concepts and theory and (3) studies focusing on the consequences of changes in the research policy framework for higher education.

En recension av den artonde utgåvan av C. P. Snows publikation "The Two Cultures" med anledning av att det gått 60 år sedan han gav texten som en föreläsning. Recensenten kommenterar boken och dess budskap med utgångspunkt i den fortgående specialiseringen inom vetenskapen.

During 19992010, eligible Swedish university lecturers had an unconditional right to apply for promotion tothe position of professor. Our aim was to discuss the motives of the reform and to problematise challenges inmaking qualitative assessments of educational expertise. We presented the results from an evaluation of thereform, and we focused on the weights that the peer reviewers in their assessment assign to the educationalcredentials of the applicants as opposed to those assigned to the research credentials. The empirical materialconsists of the dossiers from 294 cases of promotion. For research expertise and for educational expertise, wecreated one and three indices, respectively, where different types of credentials were given different weights.Changes over time were examined, as well as differences between disciplinary domains. In the assessment anddecision process, educational expertise was outweighed by research expertise, and mainly quantitative aspectsof the former were taken into account. There were signs that the peer review system underwent changes andthat its intended quality-promoting function diminished over time.

We present an analysis of the implementation of EU-policies for foreign language proficiency, focusing Spanish as an optional school subject at the Swedish school system. We analyse frame factors that constrain such implementation and enactment processes in local interpretation of policy. European and national education policy documents, national statistics and interviews with teachers and stakeholders are analysed. Spanish is popular among pupils, nonetheless pupil achievement is poor and dropout rates are high. The lack of qualified teachers of Spanish accounts for a large proportion of this and teacher education seems to be a decisive curricular factor for a successful implementation of EU-policies. In-service training strategies for teachers of Spanish are a low priority among local educational authorities. There is a mismatch between state responsibility for teacher education on one side and local needs of teacher supply and responsibility for in-service training on the other. Nationally created conditions constrain local action and local actors reinterpret policy decided elsewhere.

Artikeln är en recension av en bok av Lillemor Kim om de svenska universitetskanslererna sedan detta ämbete inrättades som en del i den svenska myndighetsstrukturen 1964

Spanska som modernt språk undervisas i den svenska grundskolan sedan 1994. Ämnet är populärt och väljs i årskurs 7 av hälften av alla elever, men avhoppen är också stora. Efter tre år kvarstår endast knappt 30 % av eleverna. En förklaring bland flera är brist på behöriga lärare i ämnet och en annan är en svag ställning för detta valbara ämne relativt andra och obligatoriska ämnen. Rapporten beskriver, analyserar och förklarar bakgrund och orsaker till dessa förhållanden ur ett helhetsperspektiv och ett antal förslag till förändringar av situationen läggs fram.