Organisation

The Ministry of Education and Research has a staff of 200. The great majority are non-political officials who stay on in the Ministry in the event of a change of government or minister. The Ministry is headed by Jan Björklund, who is Minister for Education. Lars Leijonborg, the Minister for Higher Education and Research also belong to the Ministry.

Political Leadership

Working directly under their Ministers the State Secretaries lead work in the Ministry. The Ministry also has political advisers and press secretaries, who belong to the political staff of their Minister. The press secretaries are responsible for contacts with journalists. Unlike other officials in the Government Offices, ministers and political appointees leave their posts when there is a change of government.

Senior Officials

Alongside the State Secretaries, the Ministry of Education has two senior officials, the Director-General for Administrative Affairs and the Director-General for Legal Affairs, who are not politically recruited.

The Directors-General assist in leading and coordinating the work of the Ministry. They are also responsible for ensuring that drafts are prepared for primary legislation and other regulations and that these are lawful, consistent and uniform. In addition, they ensure that Government business is processed correctly.

Divisions and Secretariats

The Ministry's divisions handle day-to-day work on the Ministry's various policy issues, with the assistance of the Legal Secretariat. The divisions process business prior to Government decisions. One of their most important tasks is to produce material to support government bills in their sphere of responsibility. The divisions also handle contacts with the agencies sponsored by the Ministry.

The Ministry has three secretariats that assist the Ministry's leadership and divisions in matters such as administration, information, international coordination and legal review.

Read more about the divisions and secretariats under Divisions and Secretariats.

Committees and Inquiries

In dealing with important issues of current interest, the Government may choose to appoint either a committee of inquiry or a single person, known as an inquiry chair, to conduct an inquiry into the issue. When the work has been completed, the results are published in one or more reports in the Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU) series. Work on government bills some times builds on these reports.

Read more about committees and inquiries under Committees.

Agencies and other bodies

Each Ministry is responsible for a number of government agencies, foundations, associations and companies. These bodies handle the day-to-day work of central government administration.

The Government decides on the objectives, guidelines and distribution of resources for their operations through appropriations and appropriation directives. However, the Government does not control their application of laws or their decisions on specific matters concerning the exercise of official authority towards an individual person or a municipality.