NTNU Board Meeting February 2012

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This article presents an overview of some of the documents that will be discussed during NTNU’s Board meeting 27 February 2012. The full version of all documents is available here (in Norwegian).

Appointment and election of NTNU’s governing bodies and leaders for the period 2013-2017 

On 1st August 2013, NTNU will enter a new 4-year leadership period. The whole Board of directors including its leader, the Rector, Vice-Rectors, Deans and institute leaders will be elected or appointed. Rector Torbjørn Digernes and the Chairman of the university Board, Marit Arnstad, have been sitting in their position for 8 years, the maximum period admitted under Norwegian laws and will thus inevitably be replaced.

In 2005, NTNU adopted a model where the Rector and Vice-rectors are appointed by the Board for a period of 4 year, in opposition to being elected. In this model, it is the Ministry of Education and Research who designate the Chairman of the Board, also for a 4 year period. This model appears to be generally supported by employees and students. A similar structure exist at the faculty level, where the Deans are appointed and where the faculty Boards include external members.  There are different practices at the institute level.

During the upcoming academic year starting in August 2013, the Board will announce the different positions, receive and assess applications, and appoint the new generation of NTNU leaders.

 

Appointment of a new Organization Director

The Director of Organization and Information, an important figure within the Rector’s organisation team, has indicated he would like to be replaced in his position starting 1st September 2012, see UA article (in Norwegian). The Rector proposes to take this opportunity to simplify the name for the position to “Organisation Director” while maintaining the same functions, namely to be responsible for personnel, information, health safety and environment and IT at NTNU. The Board is asked to give the Rector authority to announce the position.

 

NTNU’s report on activities (2011-12) and plans for 2012

In 2011, NTNU adopted a new strategy for 2011-2020, “Knowledge for a better world” , and a new international action plan which are to help the university reach its goals of becoming internationally outstanding. Internationalisation; health, environment and safety (HMS); and doctoral education were all important theme in 2011. A new internal areal renting model has also been discussed and will most probably be approved in 2012. The coming year will also see work related to the development of new strategic goals, indicators of performance and on how subventions are distributed within the university.

 

Identification of new institutional priority areas

Work to define renewed priority areas for NTNU’s academic activities is taking place since October 2011. NTNU is to update its priority areas and adapt its activities to fulfil the new goals which should be in place before 2014. These renewed priority areas are developed by NTNU’s leaders, with a number of meetings planned between the faculties’ Deans to discuss the issue.  NTNU’s rector highlights that a university with a main profile in pure and applied sciences should have a strong emphasis to develop enabling technologies, especially in the field of nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, material technologies and information technologies.

 

Yearly report on Health, Safety and Environmental (HMS) at NTNU

In 2011, NTNU worked actively to abide by 17 injunctions from the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. NTNU is also working towards setting up local working environment committees at the faculty level in order to help the central working environment committee in faculty specific HMS issues. Furthermore, NTNU recently inaugurated a new electronic system to report incidents related to health, safety and working environment. This system is yet to be translated to English – see the Norwegian version here.

 

Annual financial report

Last year focus was to reduce the share of NTNU’s savings in its total budget. This follows an earlier decision by the Board to keep NTNU’s savings within 5% to 10% of state subventions. NTNU’s total incomes for 2011 were of 5240 mil kr. More than half was used to pay salaries and social cost.

 

Plans for a University “Innovation Centre”

An idea and conceptual document on a future innovation centre which will have the mission to bring private and public organisations closer to the knowledge developed at NTNU is presented before the Board.

 




The challenge of foreign doctoral candidates with external funding at NTNU

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NTNU recruits about 40% of its doctoral candidates abroad. Internally financed PhD candidate positions are very well remunerated by international standards, but their number is limited. It is also possible to undertake doctoral studies based on external funding, e.g. industrial and commercial fellowship, external scholarship, private donations, etc. When a PhD candidate is paid from external Norwegian sources, he must be remunerated at least at the same level as NTNU-financed candidates. However, foreign candidates with foreign financing are not subject to this obligation.

For these potential self-financed candidates, it is the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) which dictates the minimum income necessary for residency in Norway. This minimum income is currently set to 91 000 NOK/year. While some candidates are highly qualified, their low incomes in Norwegian standards create problems once they establish themselves in the country. Many quickly realize they cannot live by the local lifestyle; they struggle to find affordable accommodation, to take part in social activities or even to meet basic needs. The difficult financial situation faced by these PhD candidates often affect their research, in the worst cases forcing them to quit and return to their home country.

In face of such situation, institutes, faculties and the university may act in several manners. Firstly, they may choose to clearly inform potential students that their scholarship may not suffice to cover living cost in Norway and addition support should be sought before arrival. Secondly, they may choose to help affected candidates to reach both ends; if these candidates are believed to bring addition value to the university. Thirdly, stricter financial requirements than the ones from UDI may be imposed for admission into the PhD programmes. It is rather unclear if this third option, where NTNU allows its faculties and institutes to bypass UDI’s authority in determining if a set level of incomes is sufficient in order to live in Norway, is acceptable or at all legal. However, this third practice appears to appeal to certain faculties. 

High costs are linked to each PhD candidate in order to provide office space, supervision, insurance, execution expenses, etc. As it is now, locally financed candidate have these costs covered by the institution providing their salary. This is however not the case for self-financed candidates; it is usually the institute or the faculty that needs to meet the costs in the case.

How should institues/faculties handle applications of foreign self-financed doctoral candidates? Are qualified foreign PhD candidates with external funding something NTNU should support, and encourage, or should the university concentrates on national financing alternatives? Comments are welcome below.

 

Julien S  Bourrelle


NTNU – Best Scandinavian University?

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A new ranking  done for the Spanish National Research Council by Internet Lab on on how visible universities are on the Internet rank NTNU 16 in Europe and 80 in the world, before all Scandinavian and Finnish universities! See articles (in Norwegian) by UNIFORM and Adressa.no.

 

Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Foto: Scanpix


NTNU Board Meeting January 2012

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This article presents an overview of some of the documents that will be discussed during NTNU’s Board meeting 23 January 2012. The full version of all documents is available here (in Norwegian).

New PhD Regulations

NTNU undertook a revision of the regulations surrounding its PhD education. The Board is to approve these new regulations which are the result of long discussions with the faculties and other bodies at the university.

The regulations stipulate the rules for admission, doctoral work and completion of the philosophiae doctor (PhD) degree at NTNU. While these rules apply to all PhD Candidates at NTNU, it is the institutes that have the responsibility for the PhD education and the faculties that manages the PhD programs. It is also the faculties that decide on the admission of new candidates. The proposed regulations are to replace the ones approved in 2005 and available in English here. In general, the new regulations clarify and specify the previous text.

The following are notable changes from the previous regulations:

  1. The residence requierement is still of 1 year, but this now clearly applies to candidates with external financing or office place. Candidates with internal financing have a residence requiemenent linked to their contract and which is greater than one year.
  2. The reasons that can lead to a forced termination of the PhD education are enumerated. These incluse, e.g., significant delays in the PhD project or the completion of PhD courses, unacceptable behaviors from the candidate, violation of ethical rules around research, etc.
  3. The number of supervisors is set as a general rule to a minimum of two and the roles of the principal and co-supervisors is clearly defined.
  4. The failure by the candidate to send a yearly report to the faculty on his PhD project progress is formally stated as being a legitimate ground the faculty can use to terminate a PhD contract. Yearly reports template can be found here.
  5. The time limit between the deliverance of the thesis and the defense has been increased from 4 to 5 months.

The normal time for PhD studies at NTNU is 3 years, this also correspond to the normal duration of Norwegian PhD fellowships. The maximum period for completion is 6 years, not including maternity leaves and other approved leaves. The deliverables are (1) a thesis done based on independent scientific work which follows international standards with respect to ethic, academic level and methods within the discipline; (2) the completion of the required courses; (3) a trial lecture on a given subject and (4) the public defense of the thesis.

The new regulations also specify in details the processes surrounding the public defense and trial lecture and the role of the adjudication committee. It clarifies the rights of the candidate to appeal following the rejection of its application for admission to a PhD programme, concerning the examen taken within the education phase of the PhD or the rejection of the thesis.

NTNU Inputs to the Ministry of Education and Research’s 2013 Reseach Strategy

NTNU is one of the Norwegian insititutions which delivers a proposal to the Ministry on what it believes should be prioritize in research for the years to come. This proposal should be in line with NTNU’s strategy 2011-2020 “Knowledge for a Better World”. The board is to approve the research proposal sent by NTNU to the Ministry.

The proposal discusses the following 9 points related to research:

  1. Long-term Basic Research
  2. Infrastructure
  3. Solidarity to Society: Research for a Better World
  4. Internationalisation
  5. Role of the Universities
  6. Ambitions for Norwegian Research
  7. Recruitment and Carrier Development
  8. Thematic and technological prioritisation
  9. Communication in Research

Norwegian on the Web (NoW) – NTNU’s Free Norwegian Online Learning Platform!

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NTNU’s Free Online Platform vs Traditional Foreign Language Teaching – What to prioritize?

NTNU officially inaugurated an online English-based platform for foreigners to learn Norwegian: Norwegian on the Web (NoW).  NoW is part of NTNU’s efforts towards its internationalisation and the integration of foreigners. The platform can be used alone or be complemented by a traditional course where the students are expected to pass an exam which will permit them to continue learning Norwegian within NTNU’s traditional courses. NoW provides flexibility to the students which can alone decide when to allocate time to language learning. Students may even start learning before arriving in Norway. The flexibility it offers received very positive feedbacks, notably from PhD-candidates. When students are officially registered at NTNU for the freely available NoW, the Department of Language and Communication Studies complements the online course with 57 hours of in-class teaching.

Teachers at the department point out that NoW is an entry level course which should not be considered purely web-based; without the additional in-class teaching hours, NoW will difficultly permit the students to acquire sufficient knowledge in order to pass the test required for registering in the more advanced levels, unless these students have very high motivation, self-discipline and are very talented in learning languages. Members of the department also point out that such web platform need to be used carefully in order not to reduce further the quality in the education of the Norwegian language at NTNU. Norwegian as a foreign language courses at NTNU have seen their number of hours reduced from 81 to 78 while the maximum number of students in each class increased from 17 to 20-25. While there is an obvious need to increase NTNU’s capacity to teach Norwegian as a foreign language, this growth should not be accompanied by a decrease in the quality of the education provided to the students. The proportion of students with a non-European first language has also steadily been increasing, rendering the teaching of Norwegian even more challenging in today’s shorter and larger classes.

Left aside the education of the usual Bokmål written form, the alternative Nynorsk written form poses challenges to advanced learners. The lower number of teaching hours in the advance courses reduces the capacity to teach the different Norwegian dialects and written forms. As some of NTNU’s internal and official communications are only available in Nynorsk, see e.g. Rektoratets Blogg, one needs to think about providing the possibility to those who couldn’t follow the pre-university Nynorsk learning to do so at NTNU. The reduction in the number of teaching hours in the advanced course appears to challenge this possibility.

There is obviously many challenges linked to the education of Norwegian as a foreign language to an ever increasing number of foreigners. NoW appears to be a promising platform to help new learners, and especially those which need flexibility that the traditional courses may not provide. However, the importance of high quality traditional courses, especially at the most advanced levels, is to be kept in mind when deciding on how to finance the teaching of Norwegian as a second language at NTNU.

For those of you who already master Norwegian, you may read more on NoW in universitetsavia’s article “Norsk på net”.

 

Julien S. Bourrelle

Special acknowledgements to Assistant Professor Nils Arne Ree


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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The student representatives to NTNU Board join me to wish you all the best in this happy season!


NTNU Board Meeting December 2011

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This article presents an overview of some of the documents that will be discussed during the upcoming Board meeting of NTNU. The full version of all documents is available here (in Norwegian).  

NTNU’s Strategy 2011-2020 – Institutional goals 2012 and briefing on the on-going work on the general indicators

The Board is asked to approve the goals sat up in NTNU’s strategy as organisational goals for 2012. NTNU needs to follow the goal structured dictated by The Ministry of Education and Research. It needs to define five principal and long-term sectorial goals and 13 control parameters. To fulfil the sectorial goals universities and university colleges shall:

  1. Provide education of high international quality and in-line with the society’s needs
  2. Support research, and artistic and academic development work, in line with their particular competences and at a high international level.
  3. Be clear actors in the society and contribute to the dissemination of knowledge, development at the regional, national and international level, innovation and value creation.
  4. Have effective activity, competences and resources management in-line with their role in the society.
  5. Build, operate and maintain a museum with scientific relevant and public exhibition (Specific to NTNU, UiT, UiS, UiO, UiB)

These sectorial goals are to be assessed based on the 13 control parameters. Each university is free to propose its own set of indicators for the assessment of the sectorial goals, but those indicators needs to relate to the control parameters defined by the Ministry. NTNU is in the process of defining its own indicators in-line with its distinctive profile and goals. NTNU develops two sets of indicators: strategic indicators and discipline-specific indicators. These indicators can be qualitative or quantitative.

Strategy and subventions 2012 and long-term budget 2012-2015

The different indicators, the background for the subventions, the implementation of NTNU’s strategy, the planned expenses for 2012 and the long-term budget 2012-2015 are described. The Board is asked to approve the different indicators presented and the distribution of subventions for 2012.

Admission for the academic year 2012/13

The Board is asked to approve the admission structure for the coming academic year. A note describes the different admission quota and rules for all the study programmes at NTNU.  In total there is a little more than 20 000 full-time students at NTNU. A section of special interest for foreigners discusses the admission to Norwegian as a foreign language courses: 290 places are available in these courses, where 240 of these are reserved for scientific employees and their partners. Scientific employees are guaranteed a place if they apply for the course. The remaining 50 places are to be made available to exchange students at NTNU first, and if there is still place, for external students.

Maintenance and upgrade of NTNU’s infrastructures in the 2012-2015 periode

The document provides an overview of how the budget is shared among the different maintenance and upgrading projects. Important renovations are underway at the medical research centre Moser, notable improvement to the facades at the Dragvoll campus and upgrade of laboratories I Realfagsbygget. Health, safety and environment (HMS) also constitute an important part of the spending during that period.

Academic evaluation 2011

Academic evaluation is meant to provide a critical review of the Norwegian research system in an international perspective and to provide recommendations on measure to promote quality and efficiency in research. Research in the biology, medicine and health related subjects were evaluated together with research in geography. NTNU’s performance rank to an high international level in the first category in all disciplines except psychology and psychiatry. With regards to research in geography, applied geophysics is ranked as very good, whereas all other disciplines are ranked as weak/fair.

NTNU’s Museum of Natural History and Archaeology: Exhibition on Afghanistan

The Board is asked to approach a financial guaranty for NTNU’s museum to host an exhibition on Afghanistan from May to September 2012. With this exhibition the museum wants to increase awareness on how arm conflicts affect and threaten cultural heritage and cultural identity.


NTNU Board Meeting November 2011

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This article presents a concise overview of the documents that will be discussed during the upcoming meeting of the Board of NTNU. The full version of all documents is available here (in Norwegian).  

National Budget 2013 – NTNU Budget Proposal 2013

The Board is asked to agree on the proposed budget and forward it to the Ministry of Education and Research. The proposal describes NTNU’s priority within the budget framework and proposes two addition areas where spending occurs outside the framework.

In summary NTNU proposes to reduce the result based redistribution of research grant, to extend to the new budget the high enrolment capacity linked to 300 study places (RNB 2009), to continue to finance in 2013 145 new study places, to increase the number of doctoral scholarship by 100 in 2013 and to increase subvention to the university clinic.

In relation to post graduate studies, NTNU sees a need for a moderate increase in the number of doctoral candidate positions and an expansion plan for post-doctoral fellowships. Again in 2013, NTNU proposes to increase the number of yearly doctoral scholarship by 100 for a cost of 43,9 million kroners. The need for more post-doctoral fellowships has so far been met with the possibility to transfer existing doctoral scholarship into fellowships.  Generally for NTNU, it is important to focus the education of researchers on quality and completion, but NTNU supports the proposal from the Fagerberg Committee to increase the number of doctoral position it offers.

Furthermore, NTNU proposes to spend some of its budget outside the framework dictated by the Ministry in order to develop its campus and upgrade scientific instruments used in research and education.

Health, Safety and Working Environment (Helse, miljø og sikkerhet – HMS) – Orientation and resources

During its last meeting, the Board was informed of the on-going developments and the general needs in HMS at NTNU. The present note on HMS describes the specific needs of each faculty and how it relates to the Working Environment Committee (Arbeidsmiljøutvalget – AMU) and the centralized HMS functions. It is proposed to create local working environment committees which will be in a better position to solve the specific problems faced by each faculty. The rector supports the idea of creating local AMU.

Possible sale of areas in Dragvoll to Trondheim Kommune

The Board is asked to give the Rector permission to negotiate one or more agreement with Trondheim Kommune for the sale of areas currently owned by NTNU at the Dragvoll campus. These are four plots lying between the old and new Jonsvannsveg. The plots would be sold in a non-public bidding process to Trondheim Kommune where building relevant to society are planned to be built (care centre, kinder garden, etc.). Universitetsavisa wrote an article on this possible sale, here in Norwegian.

Further development of Midt-Norsk Network (MNN)

The Board is asked to give the Rector authority to continue the on-going work around NTNU’s role in the Midt-norsk network. Midt-norsk network is a network which was established in 2000 and which comprises seven institutions: NTNU, HiNT, HiST, HiMolde, HiÅlesund, HiVolda og DMMH. The Midt-Norsk Network is an organ which has the goal to solve the challenges the region faces in the area of cooperation, division of work and concentration of activities in the higher education sector.

 


New PhD-Handbook to be unveiled 8. November at Gløshaugen Campus

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A PhD-handbook for NTNU will be unveiled on November 7th and 8th. At the same time all PhD-students are invited to the screening of PhD-comics’ new, amusing movie.

(Se norsk tekst under)

NTNU is now releasing a PhD-handbook. The goal with the manual is no less than to achieve the best possible PhD education. Who is responsible for what and when? How-tos and best practice for different situations. All in all lots of constructive stuff for a good PhD period at NTNU.

PhDcomics should need no introduction, and now they’ve made the ultimate PhD Movie. This movie will not show up in theatres, so this is probably your only chance to see it. Now you can see it for free.

Presented by Pro-Rector
Both NTNU and “DION” (The interest organization for doctoral candidates at NTNU) stands behind the invitation to this event. The handbook will be presented by NTNUs Pro-Rector for Research, Kari Melby.

After the presentation of the handbook and the PhDmovie at Gløshaugen “Tekna”, which sponsors the film-screening, will hold a PhD candidate meeting with free pizza.

When and where:
Dragvoll: November the 7th, at 16.15, in auditorium D15.
Gløshaugen: November the 8th, at 16.15, in auditorium EL5.

The Tekna meeting and the free pizza is also in EL5, shortly after the movie.


Paradoxes of Integration – An Introduction

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NTNU wants to be internationally outstanding and hopes that its temporary foreign guests develop long-lasting ties with the university. These foreign guests, exchange students and researchers, are usually open to these ideas. However, it appears that many foreigners struggle and often fail to integrate within the local university population and generally within the Norwegian society. There is many reasons for this, some more obvious than others.

Studying abroad was once reserved to those with a strong ambition to understand foreign cultures, to learn the language of their host country and to actively take part into the local university social life. The availability of scholarships and better collaboration between universities now makes it easier for students and researchers to attend universities located in foreign countries. The mobility of academics increased dramatically and brought new challenges to higher education institutions. Academics are led to spend time in foreign countries while they may not be adequately prepared to live in a different environment or ready to take the necessary steps to integrate into a new society. Foreigners often end-up building social networks among themselves, living in segregation from their host society; not understanding neither the language nor the different social dynamics of their hosts. This is unfortunately becoming a common situation at NTNU.

While in certain countries you may face strong daily incentives to learn the local language and to follow local life traditions; this is not the case in Norway where virtually everyone understands English and where you may well live barely interacting with locals. Measures taken by a university to ease the transition of foreign students and researchers to their new environment may inadvertently fuel segregation instead of integration. Languages policies, accommodation support and the organization of workplace may help transition, but may easily be detrimental to integration in a country like Norway. An attractive, modern and internationally outstanding NTNU where foreign guests foster long-lasting ties with the university requires carefully designed policies around foreigner support.

This is the start of a series of articles looking at the paradoxes of integration of foreigners at universities located in non-English speaking countries. These articles will be largely based on my own experience attending universities, living and integrating within different societies. The articles will tackle language policies and social dynamics with a focus on integration in Norway and NTNU.

I base these articles on the believes that foreigners need to understand and adapt to the way people communicate, interact, socialize and to the values and traditions of their host society; and that universities have much to gain creating a framework that ease and encourage this understanding and adaptation. Such framework will help a university to develop long-lasting ties with its foreign staff and students, thus strengthening its international network and reputation. The host institution can inform, assist and provide a robust framework for foreigners which themselves need to be ready to put forward the necessary effort to integrate. There is a fundamental difference between to integrate and to be integrated, a message these articles attempt to convey.

 

Special acknowledgement to Nora Nedberg Hersoug, Stefan Lindtner and Roald Fernandez for their valuable comments in the redaction of this article.

Julien S. Bourrelle


Free Internet based Norwegian Course

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NTNU launched a new website where foreign students get access to online Norwegian courses: “Norwegian on the Web“. Universitetsavisa also published an article today on this new platform (in Norwegian here).


Sustainable Policy – Official Launch! 01.September.2011

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Welcome to SUSTAINABLEPOLICY.net!

From Buildings to Higher Education

SUSTAINABLEPOLICY.net provides updated information on the strategies and policies of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). It is an english-based website which discusses and challenges strategies and policies in higher education in a constructive and internationally oriented manner.

It encourages sustainable policies that foster long-lasting ties between students and researchers from all corners of the world and which contribute to creating a better world through knowledge and education.

 

About Me

@NTNU

Higher Education Policy: Published Article

Upcoming Articles


NTNU International Action Plan 2011-2014: A Challenge for Foreign PhD Candidates at NTNU?

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NTNU is to adopt an international action plan (here in Norwegian) within its strategy Knowledge for a Better World. Among other things, the action plan discusses the strategies surrounding the recruitment of international researchers and the internationalisation of doctoral education. NTNU aims for an active recruitment policy to attract international researchers. All departments at the university should include the recruitment of international researchers in their strategic plan for future employment. The strategy also strongly encourages research stays at foreign institutions during the doctoral education. NTNU hopes that 25% of its PhD candidates undertake a substantial research stay within a good foreign academic environment by 2014. There should be financial resources available at the faculty level to support such stay abroad.

In other words, NTNU attempts to convince more foreigners to undertake doctoral studies at the university at the same time as encouraging its doctoral candidates to have long stays abroad during their research. While such initiatives will certainly contribute to the internationalisation of NTNU, it may present a real challenge for foreign PhD candidates at NTNU representing about half of all doctoral candidates at NTNU.

Foreigners at NTNU often struggle to integrate both within the university life and the Norwegian society in general. The increased availability of Norwegian language courses (Norskkurs for fremmedspråklige: Dimensjonering, innhold og ressursutnyttelse) and other activities such as the ones organised by the NTNU International Researcher Support help researchers to create stronger links both at the university and within the Norwegian society.  However, increasing the pressure on foreign PhD candidates to leave Norway during their research may truly impede their ability to integrate within the Norwegian society and university live, learn the Norwegian language and create strong social connection with locals. These aspects are very important both for NTNU and for Norway in order for international researchers to develop a strong link to Norway which may help foster more international relations after the completion of their doctorate. PhD candidate often struggle to learn Norwegian and to integrate in the society while being in Norway on a daily basis, leaving Norway for an extended period may render this integration even more challenging. I thus proposed to modified the international action plan in order for international candidates not to found themselves pressures to leave Norway during their doctorate unless they willingly wish so (see Universitetsavisa article”Vedtok ambisiøs plan med usikker prislapp” (in Norwegian) ). Instead of aiming that 25% of all candidates chose to undertake a long stay abroad during their doctoral studies, I proposed that we fix a specific target for stays abroad only for scandinavian candidates.

The internationalisation of PhD studies is primordial to fulfil the objectives of NTNU’s strategy at the same time as it is of outmost importance that both the foreign researchs coming here and the Norwegian researchers going abroad integrates within the societies they are discovering. The better our international guest integrate and get access to Norwegian language and culture course, the better they will be able to be collaborators and ambassador for NTNU and Norway.


Knowledge for a Better World – NTNU Internationally Outstanding

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The Board of NTNU adopted on 30 March 2011 the university’s strategy for 2011-2020. The strategy presents the vision, values, mission and goals of NTNU. It clearly supports sustained effort to increase NTNU’s visibility on the world scene. Action plans will be adopted to implement the strategy within the everyday activities at NTNU. The original Norwegian version of the strategy and an English translation were publish and can be downloaded in PDF format.

NTNU aims to create the basis for the development of knowledge and to create value – economic, cultural and social. We will make the best possible use of our main profile in science and technology, our academic breadth, and our interdisciplinary expertise to tackle the large and complex challenges faced by Norway and the world community.

 


Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

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The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is located in Trondheim (Norway) and is Norway’s primary institution for educating the nation’s future engineers and scientists. The university also has strong programmes in the social sciences, teacher education, the arts and humanities, medicine, architecture and fine art.

NTNU’s cross-disciplinary research delivers creative innovations that have far-reaching social and economic impact.

NTNU adopted its strategy (2011-2020) “Knowledge for a better World – Internationally Outstanding” . The full text of this newly adopted strategy is available in english here and in its original norwegian version here.

 

NTNU English from NTNUs Multimediesenter on Vimeo.

 

Board of Directors

The Board is the highest governing body at NTNU. It  makes decisions on issues of principal importance and is responsible for activities at the university. The Board decides the strategies, objectives and expected results from NTNU. It also presents the accounts, financial statements and budget proposals.

The Rector reports to the Board and represents NTNU on a day-to-day basis. The Rector is responsible for communications between the Board and the outside world regarding decisions passed by the Board.

There are 11 members of the Board. Three are from the academic staff at NTNU, one represents academic or research staff without tenure, and one represents the technical and administrative staff. There are also two student members of the Board and four external representatives (all from outside the university). Except for the two student representatives and the representative for academic or research staff without tenure who are elected for one year, all other members are elected for a four-year term.

For more information on NTNU’s Board of Directors, see the university official page here. Further information is also available on the Norwegian version of the same page (Styret ved NTNU). All current and past  matters discussed by the Board are available in Norwegian here.


© Sustainable Policy
By Julien S. Bourrelle
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