UiB research politics and strategy

Course description
University researchers have the freedom to pursue their own academic interests and methodological strategies, as stated in the norwegian University and University Colleges Act (§1-5). Still, priorities and opportunities are strongly affected by external factors, like public policy, culture, strategies etc.

This course will focus on how strategic priorities are made at the University of Bergen, what factors influence our room for action at a short and longer time span and how performance is assessed at an institutional level. Some of the issues we will cover are:

• The UiB strategy “Knowledge that shapes society”, and the corresponding development agreement with the ministry
• Background - the main policy instruments locally and nationally
  • The government long term plan for research and education
  • Various ongoing public policies initiatives, eg. new actions for dimensioning education, institutional funding reform etc
  • the main decision making bodies at UiB, how do they work and how can researchers influence
• Tools for strategic assessment
  • Discipline evaluations by the research council
  • Database for statistics on higher education & friends
  • Research documentation systems (Cristin, Cordis mm)
  • Publication databases (WoS, Leiden rankings etc)

Learning outcomes
Participants will learn about the university’s strategy and central national policy initiatives, as well as  UiB organization and steering processes, and in particular, the various sources that constitute the knowledge basis for governance. The course will hopefully stimulate to a debate on how to best facilitate high quality and high international visibility of UiB’s research and education:

Participants will receive an introduction to the main policy instruments, both external and internal, that set objectives and goals for the university and its academic staff.

Participants will get an overview of decision-making bodies and decision processes of particular importance at the university level.

The course should give participants an overview of relevant institutional assessment tools, and point to open international, national and local sources of information and data on institutional and group performance.

Target group
Ph.d.s, postdocs and early-stage researchers

Language
English

Facilitator
Bjug Bøyum, Senior research adviser at the Division of Research and Innovation, UiB