In 2019, the School of Industrial Design received a donation of €33 million from the IKEA Foundation, (approximately SEK 350 million), one of the largest donations since the university was founded. Barely five years later, concerns about shortcomings were raised.
At the end of 2023, students filed a Section 6:6a report under the Work Environment Act, which allows a health and safety representative to demand that an employer take action to address risks in the work environment. The report described a lack of clarity about what was being assessed in the courses, poor treatment from teaching staff and lengthy examinations processes. Shortly afterwards, a whistleblower highlighted shortcomings in financial management, which led to an investigation by the university’s internal audit department. This revealed that staff had claimed expenses for business-class flight tickets and purchases of Apple computers from retailers. Students were also reported to have claimed expenses for travel costs and for software licences provided by the university. The large number of expenses was found to be in breach of both the university’s procedures and the Public Procurement Act.
In spring 2025, a new whistleblower report was received which, as well as financial irregularities, also revealed shortcomings in the handling of student results, the registration of grades and the treatment of students. Teachers are alleged to have shown favouritism and spoken ill of students, while examination results were not reported on time.
A student at the School of Industrial Design told Universitetsläraren that students are involved in ongoing development work, but otherwise refers us to Annika Olsson, Dean of Lund University Faculty of Engineering (LTH).
Olsson confirms that irregularities have come to light at the School of Industrial Design: “It is regrettable that the work environment was so poor for the students that a 6:6a report was submitted. At the same time, when you receive a 6:6a report, you have an opportunity to develop an action plan in a structured way and really get to the root of the problems that exist, which is what we did.”
She takes the shortcomings that have been discovered within financial management seriously, but emphasises that operational responsibility is delegated to the heads of department and the managers who are closest to the day-to-day work.
“I certainly do not wish to deflect responsibility, as I am ultimately responsible for LTH’s operations,” she continues, “and once it was brought to my attention, we dealt with it. Together with the relevant departments, we drew up an action plan and amended authorisation rights, for example.”
Shouldn’t you, as Dean of LTH, have seen these shortcomings earlier, before they turned into a whistleblower case?
“The people who have delegated responsibility and are close to the day-to-day work should have spotted this sort of thing and, if they had, they would have been able to act sooner. As the dean of such a large organisation, we delegate that responsibility in accordance with our delegation procedure. We have a trust-based structure, and so I need to trust the staff who have responsibility out in the organisation.”
Olsson nevertheless believes that the money from the IKEA Foundation has been used responsibly.
“The aim of the donation was to improve education, raise quality standards and boost the profile of the School of Industrial Design. In that sense, it is a very good school that enjoys high visibility and wins many awards. Even though there has been some travel that was not in accordance with our regulations, those trips do essentially serve a purpose.”
One of the measures the university implemented was to appoint Ylva Hofvander Trulsson as the new Head of Division at the School of Industrial Design. She does not wish to comment on why the irregularities arose, as she joined the higher education institution after the first whistleblower report had been submitted, but she believes the situation has left an emotional mark on the organisation.
“The teachers who were here at the time felt misunderstood and misinterpreted,” she says.
Hofvander Trulsson tells us she has been running a development project since she was recruited as acting head in the summer of 2024, focusing on structures and procedures relating to the exercise of authority and to the work environment for students and teachers. She says that the school has now changed its examination procedures, implemented more digitalisation, increased transparency towards students and introduced routines to ensure teachers receive support and acquire a better understanding of financial reporting. Additionally, the department has appointed new programme managers and recruited a senior lecturer.
“Together, we are now also working to reinforce research within industrial design and its integration with undergraduate education,” she says. “I am delighted that we have come this far in such a short time. And this is largely because we have teachers who care about the school and their students.”
She explains that the management team reviews procedures on a monthly basis. “It is a question of ensuring, continuously, that we follow all the procedures and expectations set by LTH, while also taking into account the needs and unique nature of the school.”
The IKEA Foundation has provided a written comment to Universitetsläraren:
“The IKEA Foundation has been providing support for the School of Industrial Design at Lund University since 1998. In 2019, the foundation made a donation of 33 million euros to educate the next generation of industrial designers and promote the school as a global centre of excellence for design. The IKEA Foundation has never been involved in the school’s operations or governance. However, in 2025 we became aware of alleged mismanagement at the school and were informed that a new management team had been appointed to address this.”
The local Saco-S association at Lund University has declined to be interviewed.
