Election Platform Team Hagen 2021

We are a team from different parts of the university, from diverse fields with distinct teaching and research methods, and with broad and varied leadership experience. Therefore, together, we have extensive knowledge of the varying disciplinary fields and the everyday life of scientists and students.

We have spent the last few months discussing key questions of university politics. What primarily unifies us as a rectorate, is both our commitment to the university’s strong and central role in society and a dedication to protect the key values of the university in a time where these are under pressure, both nationally and internationally. This is the foundation of our leadership model and philosophy.

Universities have a unique role in society; we nourish and develop independent knowledge. That research should be independent is fundamental for societal development and for the quality and trust in the knowledge we create. The best way to secure this is academic freedom combined with scientific leadership based on the important political values of the university as well as an understanding of the university’s role in a changing society.

Team Hagen is strongly in favour of university democracy. An elected rectorate achieves its legitimacy from the voters, from colleagues and the students. The tasks of the rectorate are to facilitate solid strategic and democratic processes in the organisation, and to work towards securing and strengthening the frameworks of the institution.

An elected rector implies that the institution is led by a rectorate together with a well-qualified administration led by the university director. This makes the rectorate stronger, as it enables it to fully concentrate on scholarly leadership and academic development of the full spectrum of disciplines that are present in an institution such as the University of Bergen.

An electoral platform is a promise. It is not comprehensive, and it does not describe all parts of the institution and all the activities of UiB. Some of the measures are specific while others are general. First and foremost, the platform indicates a political direction for the university. We are looking forward to expanding upon the promises and values of our platform in dialogue with you throughout the election campaign.

The University of Bergen is a research-intensive and comprehensive university. Long-term research, quality, transparency, free critical thinking, and confidence in the work of the departments and faculties are the guiding principles of our manifesto.

We will work for an ambitious UiB characterised by research of a high standard and research-based education in all disciplines. We will be strong defenders of academic freedom and democracy, open academic debate, independence, and we will work strategically to create the best conditions for the core functions of the university. 

The University of Bergen is a research university with long academic traditions. It is the steward of our national memory and responsible for a broad spectrum of disciplines with outstanding research, artistic development strategies and education geared for the future. We shall work to strengthen a proud UiB identity and a strong sense of community among students and staff.

We will continue the current form of governance and hold elections for the position of rector. Elected rectors receive their authority from colleagues and students. We will promote democratic systems within the departments and faculties and will continue the practice in which the faculties themselves organise the recruitment of Department Heads and Deans.

The national university landscape is changing and we believe it is important that UiB consolidates its position as a strong, comprehensive research university. We will make quality a priority and take a firm position whenever the core values of the university are threatened.

We believe that institutions providing higher education have different tasks. Among the diversity of educational institutions, we will work to ensure and promote the specific task of a research-intensive, comprehensive university.

We will do this by securing good learning and research environments and work for a comprehensive personnel policy with opportunities for development available to everyone. We maintain that the key to quality is found in positive collaboration both within and between departments, between administrative and academic staff, and between the different levels of the university.

The role of the university within society is wide-ranging and fundamental. We provide ground-breaking research, we educate tomorrow’s workforce, we contribute knowledge to meet the central challenges faced by society, and we have an important role to play in a knowledge-based democracy. These roles need to be carried out with critical awareness and care for the vital role the university has as the bearer of knowledge and independent research. As rectorate, we will take on this responsibility. This is also a responsibility we all have – as students and staff.

The work of stewarding this responsibility starts now. In 2021 we begin the work on a new strategy for the university. We will include all parts of the university in this work. It will be characterised by the attention we pay to past experience, thorough analyses, participation, and transparency. We welcome all to take part in this important work.

The University of Bergen is a research-intensive and comprehensive university. Long-term research, quality, transparency, free critical thinking, and confidence in the work of the departments and faculties are the guiding principles of our manifesto.

We will work for an ambitious UiB characterised by research of a high standard and research-based education in all disciplines. We will be strong defenders of academic freedom and democracy, open academic debate, independence, and we will work strategically to create the best conditions for the core functions of the university. 

The University of Bergen is a research university with long academic traditions. It is the steward of our national memory and responsible for a broad spectrum of disciplines with outstanding research, artistic development strategies and education geared for the future. We shall work to strengthen a proud UiB identity and a strong sense of community among students and staff.

We will continue the current form of governance and hold elections for the position of rector. Elected rectors receive their authority from colleagues and students. We will promote democratic systems within the departments and faculties and will continue the practice in which the faculties themselves organise the recruitment of Department Heads and Deans.

The national university landscape is changing and we believe it is important that UiB consolidates its position as a strong, comprehensive research university. We will make quality a priority and take a firm position whenever the core values of the university are threatened.

We believe that institutions providing higher education have different tasks. Among the diversity of educational institutions, we will work to ensure and promote the specific task of a research-intensive, comprehensive university.

We will do this by securing good learning and research environments and work for a comprehensive personnel policy with opportunities for development available to everyone. We maintain that the key to quality is found in positive collaboration both within and between departments, between administrative and academic staff, and between the different levels of the university.

The role of the university within society is wide-ranging and fundamental. We provide ground-breaking research, we educate tomorrow’s workforce, we contribute knowledge to meet the central challenges faced by society, and we have an important role to play in a knowledge-based democracy. These roles need to be carried out with critical awareness and care for the vital role the university has as the bearer of knowledge and independent research. As rectorate, we will take on this responsibility. This is also a responsibility we all have – as students and staff.

The work of stewarding this responsibility starts now. In 2021 we begin the work on a new strategy for the university. We will include all parts of the university in this work. It will be characterised by the attention we pay to past experience, thorough analyses, participation, and transparency. We welcome all to take part in this important work.

Digital platforms for communication have caused an increase in distribution of “fake-news” and conspiracy theories challenge trust in society in general and trust in science in particular. A policy for public outreach is therefore more important than ever, at the same time as we need to enhance skills for communication of science in general.

We will encourage staff and students to be active in the public sphere with the support of the university’s shared communication resources. We will develop and enhance the important role played by the University Museum and the University library, as arenas and tools for fostering knowledge and its dissemination. We will enhance the university’s infrastructure for production and dissemination of campus-based research activities.

Research is becoming increasingly open and digital. UiB must be a clear actor in this development. Open access offers both challenges and opportunities. We will work for a sensible economy in relation to publishing agreements, good conditions and access for staff and students, at the same time as the researchers’ needs and rights are taken care of. Furthermore, we will collaborate nationally and internationally to facilitate data sharing and provide the necessary support for a digital research infrastructure. We also want to make it easier for employees to strengthen their competence in digital dissemination tools and in the possibilities within open science.

The University of Bergen has long academic traditions. We will emphasise the history and traditions of our institution in order to strengthen the UiB identity and a sense of belonging, not least among our students and alumni.

UiB’s research is the basis for innovation in our region, as well as nationally and internationally. UiB has strengthened its efforts for innovation and has contributed to an expanded understanding of the concept. The Knowledge Clusters, the centres for research-driven innovation, student innovation, the collaboration with the institute sector, the public sector and the business community, are arenas for further and continued work of collaborative innovation.

UiB will be at the forefront in shaping the way universities understand and develop innovation as a societal mission. We will enhance and promote the work on innovation at all of UiB´s faculties and increase the resources available for this. Innovation at UiB will be based on academic freedom and curiosity-driven research. We will use the knowledge and experience provided by our new centers for research-driven innovation across all faculties.

We will strengthen the work with student innovation and student entrepreneurship and highlight the available institutional tools for this. We will continue the development of the UiB idea program to facilitate the process of developing ideas for entrepreneurship. 

Students at UiB will be exposed to, and experience, the research-based university. We will achieve this by integrating students within the research environments. We wil make sure students are offered teaching by active researchers and that they get access to state-of-the-art research as they cultivate critical thinking, analytic skills, and theoretical knowledge.

Students at UiB will meet a university and education that will strengthen their aptitude for working with others, communication, debate, flexibility, ethic reflection and creativity. We will promote student-active and innovative forms of learning and assessment, characterised by good academic guidance and interaction between teachers and students. We also want students to be more actively invited into research and knowledge development. Therefore, we will establish schemes where students are to a greater extent employed as learning assistants, seminar leaders, mentors and oracles.

We will will emphasise collaboration with student organisations and will facilitate student participation in democratic structures. We will therefore initiate a project in which we, in dialogue with students, highlight how UiB can establish a strengthened and expanded student democracy. We will involve leaders from the student parliament in the rector’s advisory board.

Our aim is that students who graduate from UiB will be attractive members of the workforce. An education at UiB shall provide the best foundation for lifelong learning and the best conditions for a work-life. Sound professional knowledge, the will to learn and creativity are essential for a forward-looking society and for a sustainable and innovative industry and business sector.

Therefore, we will continue developing the practice of offering work experience and cooperation with the industry and business sector in close collaboration with each discipline, while simultaneously challenging a narrow definition of relevance for work. We intend to work with the regional labour market and utilise the Knowledge Clusters to bring together students and the market.

Digital literacy, with fundamental knowledge of artificial intelligence and data security, are essential for success in a constantly changing labour market and society. We want all students at UiB to have the opportunity to acquire fundamental digital skills adapted to their field of study, and an understanding of the ways in which digitalisation and new technologies impact our lives and our society’s infrastructures.

To harbour a broad range of disciplines and research environments is an essential quality of UiB, and we will defend a university education within a broad spectrum of both research areas, disciplines and professions. At the same time we will implement a greater freedom of choice for students who want to build their education with subjects from different disciplines, study programmes and faculties. In this way we will strengthen interdisciplinarity in the education we offer. We will work for diverse recruitment to courses and for increased study support to ensure equal access in education for all.

During the coronavirus pandemic digital tools are of great value and digital communication is an asset. At the same time, we acknowledge the value of working together socially. We are formed by our interaction with others. The future is not entirely digital – a professionally based mix of learning tools, learning methods and teaching methods must be offered, both in the digital and physical space. We will prioritise competence in university pedagogy and the development of the Learning Lab in this work.

The disciplines themselves must have an active and defining role in the work with study quality, but as a rectorate we will be an active participant in the national work on educational quality.

We are strong supporters of a campus-based university in which researchers and students can meet in modern teaching venues, reading rooms and laboratories. We will make sure that the long-planned student villa is built. We will assist in giving added emphasis to the importance of community during fresher’s week.

Lifelong learning is part of the university’s function and we want to facilitate flexible and further education.

Sustainable development

The key idea embedded in the concept of sustainable development, is the co-dependence of social, economic and environmental development: A specific challenge needs to tackled as part of a systematic whole. Sustainable development addresses the social and institutional ability to transform, but also challenges us to re-think fundamental understandings of what it means to be human in relation to the natural environment.

Our rectorate will highlight pressing concerns related to sustainable development in national and international research politics and promote an understanding of the relationship between science and politics. We will facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration in the development of research and education that address sustainable development. We will further develop the National Sustainability Conference held in Bergen, and contribute to a stronger visualisation of the work that has been done with relevance for sustainability and sustainable development.

We will work to ensure that UiB operates in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

Technology and digitalisation

Society and the labour market are undergoing a digital transformation. Digitalisation provides both great opportunities and pose ethical challenges. It influences public debate and democracy, it alters research and teaching methods. Digitalisation is central to the dissemination of knowledge, knowledge-sharing, and making science transparent. We have a responsibility to understand, define and contribute to this development. In these processes we will emphasise ethical and critical awareness as a general premise and perspective.

We will work to render visible the wide range of research on ICT and other technologies in different faculties, in addition to improved coordination and facilitation of interdisciplinary research on these technologies. In this work, we will facilitate that perspectives from the humanities, law, social sciences and artistic disciplines are more strongly drawn into this interdisciplinary research.

UiB is a university located in the centre of Norway’s second largest city and is Vestland’s principal educational institution. We want UiB to be strong in initiative, be outward-looking, and be a public arena for learning for the whole region. We will strengthen our regional role. UiB has substantial resources and collaborative partners, many Knowledge Clusters, and an excellent foundation to achieve these goals. 

UiB will a hub in the City of Knowledge, Bergen. Under the banner Bergen City of Knowledge, we will, together with other educational institutions, the public and private sectors of the labour market, aim to put Bergen on the map as the centre of a region acknowledged as an international site of knowledge and culture. We will develop and implement venues and procedures that will make it easier for interested groups and organizations within the public and private sectors to meet with students and members of the university’s disciplines. 

We shall focus on collaboration in education, for example with “Vestlandslegen” and HVL. There is great potential among the art and culture disciplines to create arenas for collaboration with institutions in the region and initiating strategies here shall be prioritised.

UiB has a long tradition of international participation and a large number of staff with international background. UiB’s many global networks and partnerships are a key resource. Internationalisation through recruitment, research collaboration and student and researcher mobility will strengthen the university.

Faced with climate change and restrictions in the wake of the pandemic we need to be thinking alternatively about global collaboration. Digital forms for collaboration provide new opportunities but can never fully replace actual movement and meetings. There are good reasons to be more concerned with what is accomplished than the number of journeys made, for both students and researchers. Global collaboration is not only about mobility, but also about challenging our own perspectives and developing research, disciplines and education through dialogue across diverse traditions of knowledge.

UiB will be an attractive workplace and employer. The work and student environments shall be characterised by the university’s core values: quality, academic freedom, collaboration, trust, tolerance, involvement, long-term thinking, integrity and accountability.

We will work for more comprehensive employer and salary policies, across the breadth of faculties and departments. We will work for university employees as a group to have at the least the same wage growth as the rest of society.

For all employees, it is important to have a purposeful and good workplace. Within the framework set by government guidelines, we will place great emphasis on the views of employees when it comes to the design of workplaces, including the choice between their own offices and open solutions.

The university will be characterised by inspiring, competent, and inclusive leadership.

We will continue to prioritise quality leadership training and development, and venues for the exchange of experience among leaders, also across the spectre of different disciplines and administrative leaders. We also believe that internships between the administrative level and between departments can be of great value for professional development and strengthening of competence.

The tasks for technical and administrative staff are constantly changing. The same is true of the collaboration between technical, administrative, and academic staff. This indicates that collaboration within the disciplines and between departments should be made a priority. We will promote an organisational and work culture where collaboration on professional goals is in focus, and where the various competencies in the professional environment are clearly valued and recognized. UiB shall have a high level of professional competence in work environment issues.

The administrative and academic staff should challenge and advance each other. UiB is a strong institution of knowledge, with constantly expanding innovative work practices, research and teaching methods. In the next few years, the work undertaken to foster knowledge will clearly show how vital it is to have a flexible organisation that facilitates optimal collaboration and competence sharing among the academic, administrative, and technical staff. The configuration of competence groups within departments and disciplines, with a clear understanding of roles, contributes to an appreciation of diverse competence.

We will emphasise the importance of a work ethos in which collaboration regarding professional goals is highlighted, and where the different types of competence in the disciplines are clearly acknowledged. We want a stronger focus on competence development for administrative and technical staff. The organisation and leadership at all levels must ensure that everyone is able to increase their competence, with regular assessment interviews that include competence development.

We will work to ensure that the disciplines have access to sufficient technical and administrative support to be able to carry out research, education and dissemination of high quality. We will work to recruit researchers at the international top level, while our announcements shall not exclude recent graduates from relevant positions. The work of making the situation for younger researchers and doctoral candidates more predictable is particularly important and we will work towards this through systematic follow-up and career counselling.

We will work for greater diversity among both students and staff. We will do this by actively recruiting more broadly and intensify the work with equality and diversity.

We will strengthen the so-called “onboarding” offer to international recruits with information on all aspects of the university’s activities, services, and regulations.