Ten AI courses under development following government assignment

Stefan Byttner, Professor and Head of Department at the School of Information Technology, has been tasked with leading the project at the University. The majority of the SEK 3.75 million will be allocated to working hours – ranging from 5 to 20 per cent – for various lecturers to develop or further develop short AI-related courses, with different disciplinary focuses and targeting different groups of professionals.

Rapid developments in AI

“We have already developed many AI courses, both as part of a special initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic and through the MAISTR programme, which is part of the Knowledge Foundation’s Expertkompetens initiative. With the support of this new funding, we now have the opportunity to update several of our courses in response to the rapid developments in the field – including the revolution in language models and many other recent advances in AI”, says Stefan Byttner.

All four Schools at Halmstad University are involved in the course development work. At the School of Health and Welfare, an inventory of available resources and needs within the healthcare sector will first be carried out in order to develop courses for professionals. Two people will carry out pedagogical follow-up and analysis of the courses. A smaller budget has also been set aside for the procurement of external services.

Most of the courses fall under social sciences, where AI is applied across different areas of society and in a variety of contexts, such as in the courses AI for Executives and AI and Business Development. The only fully technical course is Applied Deep Learning with PyTorch, which will be further developed in collaboration with external partners.

Professional development for University staff

“So much has happened when it comes to programming with language models. External actors have access to tools that are currently not included in our engineering programmes. We want to test new ways of teaching in this area, starting with professionals who are already in the midst of this rapid change. This also provides valuable professional development for our own lecturers. In the next step, we can consider how to integrate elements of this into our campus-based programmes. The ability to use AI language models will be crucial for engineers in the labour market moving forward”, says Stefan Byttner.

One of seven selected universities

The seven universities involved in the initiative meet regularly to coordinate their work and the overall course offerings, ensuring that the courses complement each other in the best possible way. The courses will be included in the educational offerings from 2026. Stefan Byttner continues to welcome ideas and development proposals for more courses in the AI field.

“I hope many teachers will come forward with more suggestions for courses. This is a very important development for us, regardless of whether this government initiative is prolonged or not. There may be other projects with funding that we can utilise, or where we can create courses for commissioned education”, says Stefan Byttner.

It remains uncertain whether the government initiative will continue in the coming years. However, in its report Roadmap for Sweden, the AI Commission has proposed several continued investments in education within the AI field. Halmstad University has received the report for consultation, together with the other six universities involved in the government’s AI course initiative.

Text: Selma Sedelius

Photo: Dan Bergmark (portrait)

More information

Halmstad University’s courses for professional development