Developing a new strategic plan for The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - open meeting

The process towards a new strategic plan 

We are going to develop a new strategic plan for the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the course of 2015. The new strategic plan will apply from 2016.

The Faculty Board has decided on the general framework that will be governing the process.

We are still at the very start of this process. In this open meeting we will provide information about what has happened so far and the steps ahead. The meeting will be held in Norwegian, but questions and comments in English are welcome and will answered in English. 

Challenges and general framework

Our faculty is affected by limits set by UiB and the Ministry of Education and Research as well as of laws and regulations applicable to our sector.

Our political authorities have high expectations that the universities should have clear profiles, conduct research and education at a high international level, and meet a variety of national and regional needs. Also, the government is steering us via budgets that are largely influenced by results achieved in research and education, where our performance is measured against the other universities in Norway.

These external factors affect our economy and infrastructure, how we organize research and education as well as the volume and quality of these.

In this meeting the Dean will talk about what he considers to be the most important challenges for our faculty in the forthcoming period, and which he believes the new strategic plan should address.

How can we create an even better faculty together?

Our goal must be to achieve the best possible research and education with the resources available to us. If we succeed, this might increase the resources to our departments and research groups. Thus, we can accomplish even more of all the important things we wish to achieve. Our research groups possess unique a competence which Norway and the world have an increasing need for. This is due to both our research and to the candidates we educate.

In order to succeed when competing for the best brains and for increased financial resources, we need to raise our level of performance both in our education and our research! How will we achieve this and how should we prioritize? And how do we ensure both a broad base of curiosity driven basic research, more pointed thematic focus and viable conditions for groups capable of reaching the forefront of international research?

The major global challenges that the universities are expected to contribute to solve, are multidisciplinary, while we mainly have a discipline-based organization within our faculty. Is this a problem, and if so, how may we overcome it? What should be different at our faculty in five years, and what do we need to do to get there?

In order to answer these questions and many more, we need the help of our staff and our students!

We want an ambitious, though realistic strategic plan

We want to develop a strategic plan, a plan which indicates the way forward, with ambitious and realistic goals for the best possible future performance of the faculty. In this process we need to formulate visions, ambitions, and specific goals for our research and education, but also for the fulfilment of other obligations, such as public outreach and contribution to innovation.

We welcome all our staff and students to the first open meeting regarding the ongoing strategy process.

Sincerely,

Helge K. Dahle
Dean

14th November 2014