Candidate - Alma Elisabeth Oftedal

I hold degrees in literature and architecture, and I am currently pursuing a PhD in English literature. As a representative on the university board, I will actively oppose the increasing market-oriented pressures placed on the higher education sector today, and work to protect core academic values. I will advocate for strengthening basic research, maintaining the size and scope of the humanities, preserving smaller academic disciplines, and educating outstanding researchers and equally excellent teachers. Furthermore, I will work to improve academic career prospects for PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers. I will also advocate for the preservation and enhancement of the university’s architectural character, with particular attention to aesthetics, well-being, and sustainability.

Relevant experience for board service includes my time as head of the Architectural Design Group at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, where I gained insight into the complex processes involved in running a higher education institution. I am gaining similar insight this year as a member of the institute council for the Department of foreign languages and as a member of the board of the Faculty of humanities at UiB. I also gained relevant experience during my time as chair of the board of Stavanger Art Association, where I led the board and staff through a challenging restructuring process that transformed the institution into a modern art hall.