The Swedish Research Council to develop national guidelines for responsible internationalisation

“There is a rapidly growing need, not least among higher education institutions, to be able to deal with issues relating to responsible internationalisation. The actors also show a great willingness to take responsibility themselves, which means that we can focus the guidelines on what is general and common,” says Stefan Törnqvist, project leader for the assignment at the Swedish Research Council.

Complex ethical issues may arise

The guidelines are intended to provide a framework for assessments and decisions that may need to be made in international collaborations, not only in research but also in areas such as recruitment. How do we uphold values, openness, transparency and shared responsibility while dealing with the complex ethical issues that arise in collaborations across borders, cultures and regulatory frameworks?

The guidelines are aimed at management and administration at higher education institutions, government funding bodies and designated authorities. A first version is planned to be completed by the end of 2025/2026. They will then be updated regularly.

The work is being led by a project group with representatives from the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova. A reference group with key players – including the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Security Service, SUHF and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs – has held its first meeting, and dialogues with the sector are planned.

The national guidelines will be more concise

The assignment builds on a previous government assignment that the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Council for Higher Education and Vinnova reported on in 2024.

“There, we proposed three levels of guidelines: strategic policy at the national level, guiding national guidelines and activity-adapted guidelines for individual actors,” says Stefan Törnqvist.

The responses to the report on that assignment show broad support for the three-part structure for guidelines in the proposal. At the same time, there are different views on how they should be designed – some call for more specificity, while others advocate a more comprehensive design.

In the first formal verstion, the guidelines will be more concise than in the previous proposal and will focus on the assessments and decisions that need to be made, rather than providing detailed instructions on how to do so. The actors' own operational guidelines should contain more concrete guidance.

The assignment also includes facilitating the practical application of the guidelines.

“Once the first version of the guidelines has been finalised, we will focus more on its implementation,” says Stefan Törnqvist.

In parallel with the work on the general guidelines, the Swedish Research Council is developing its own guidelines for responsible internationalisation in its role as a government research funding body. Vinnova will develop guidelines for other actors in the innovation support system, including companies, that are involved in international research and innovation collaborations.

In the 2024 report, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Council for Higher Education and Vinnova argued that a national support function for responsible internationalisation is needed. The government has not yet decided whether or not to establish such a function.