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Head of Department letter September 2025

På svenska

Welcome back to a new term

After a quiet August at Fysicum, everyone is back. Lund is once again a lively city, and there are more student activities at Fysicum than just resits. Last week, a mischievous group of students caused a commotion in the office corridor, but we will soon get used to it again. And of course it's nice to have the students back! Some are here for the first time, and the new students remind us to be optimistic: the future is on its way, education and research are in full swing, and new students are coming here to find new friends and new knowledge, just as they have done here for almost 75 years.

We may actually have slightly higher expectations than usual for this year's students. Those who have been following the news or who attended last week's teachers' meeting will have seen that this year's new students are particularly qualified, with exceptionally high admission scores. This has long been the case for engineering physics, but now also for natural science physics. What will this mean for our educational programmes and for the future of physics in Lund? How can we maintain this trend in the coming years?

And there are more figures that make the start of the semester special this year. The director of studies says that there are 22 different nationalities on the master's programme at the Faculty of Science. Another trend is that this year we have reached around 40% women in the undergraduate physics programme, which is now officially a gender-equal programme. The same applies to LTH's programmes at faculty level. Can we hope that we do not appear unwelcoming to our other minority groups, such as those who do not come from an academic background?

How do students experience Fysicum and what do they see as potential for improvement? We have some (more) answers to this question from the survey conducted by the future group. Much of it is obvious: more student-friendly spaces with furniture suitable for adults, better access to teachers and more information about other students' work and essays. But also more study visits and excursions and more seminars for students – LTH students in particular would like more reasons to show up. One comment from the students is that this building is actually reasonably OK if it is organised in the right way: Make it more attractive.

Hopefully, we can implement some of the students' wishes so that they will enjoy their time with us. I just passed two students, one of whom commented on a lecture: ‘First I thought it was just about staying alive, but it was actually fun.’ Last week, I passed a group of students coming in from Sölvegatan on their way to the submarine lab, and I heard one student instructing the others: ‘To the left is building L, where there are lots of strange labs, and over there is H, where it gets even weirder.’

It may be a little strange, but let's make sure that, at least in the near future, there continues to be high-quality education and inspiring teachers for students who venture into the strange building. You are welcome!

 

Else Lytken
Head of the Department of Physics

Last updated: 2 Sep 2025