During this past week, the leadership at Umeå Institute of Design has been working to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances presented by the global pandemic of COVID-19. Our first priority, at all times, are our students. That rings even more true during these difficult times.

To reduce the risk of spreading disease, Umeå Institute of Design is instructed to conduct teaching remotely, as of March 18th. This means that the school is now closed to all students until June 7th. If you have to retrieve personal belongings, please contact your programme director or course responsible teacher.

The QS World University Rankings have been announced for 2020, with Umeå University maintaining its 26th place in the category for Art & Design. The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking is an annual listing of the 1,222 top universities in 85 different countries.

In design, one should always strive towards becoming a generalist, not a specialist. That's according to Alberto Villarreal. Judging by his own career, the empirical evidence suggests switching lanes is instrumental to fueling and fostering creative growth.

In his grad project last year, Simon Linge collaborated with ABB to develop an idea for a robot that buzzes around hospital halls stacking shelves. Today, he works at the Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation.

What Maria Göransdotter doesn't know about UID is probably not worth knowing. After shouldering several roles, not least as vice rector, she is now primarily focusing on her doctoral thesis on Scandinavian user-centred design.