Rector wishes you a good summer

Dear colleagues,

There is a lot to finish before the summer. Among other things, large groups of students are to be celebrated. It has been a great pleasure for me to be present at some of the graduation ceremonies, including the nursing graduation, the graduation for the bachelor students from the Faculty of Social Sciences, the graduation for new vocational teachers, and the graduates at master's in Applied Computer and Information Technology ( ACIT). Those who have finished have good reason to be happy, satisfied and proud. And so have you who have worked hard to get them through their studies. Many thanks to everyone for the good work you do.

In June, we also held the last board meeting for the current board at the university. There, Trine Syvertsen was dismissed after eight years as chairman. Thank you also to other board members who now finishes their term. Elections of new employee- and student-board members have been completed and the candidates are ready. What is not yet clear is who the Ministry of Education will appoint as external board members, including chairman. We are waiting anxiously and expect it to be ready before the first of August.

I would like to mention two cases from the board meeting: The first is that we adopted revised regulations on studies and examinations. The second is that we received the board's support and good comments along the way to finalize the work on a revised language policy. Here, I think a lot of good work has been done with the difficult but important balancing act between national and international needs. To quote the case: "OsloMet is a practice-oriented university with an international character, and must carry out the three societal missions of teaching, research and dissemination. It requires a conscious balancing act between responsibility for the maintenance and development of the Norwegian language, research and education at an international level and dissemination of knowledge in Norwegian society and to an international audience." As usual, the case itself can be read from OpenGov, where the board cases are published.

The spring semester is also the time for hearings. Here I would like to highlight OsloMet's input to “profesjonsmeldingen”. This is a document that the Ministry of Education is working on and which has been announced for next spring. Because of our profile, “profesjonsmeldingen” is particularly important to us. The document is worth reading. 

Since last time, the government has come up with its proposal for a new law for universities. Some of the suggestions we made were listened to. It is, for example, good that the government allows the boards to retain decision-making authority over their own study portfolio. Other of our - and other institutions' - input were not acted upon, for example those concerning the establishment and closure of study centres. The proposition will be considered in the Storting in the autumn.

Part of my time is also spent in contact with our surrounding area. For example, we have had good meetings with politicians and district directors in Oslo municipality in recent months. For example, there was a large meeting in Holmlia last week with participation from both the city council leader, the city council for work, integration and social services, and the city council for education and knowledge. I think a highlight of this seminar was the presentation to the director of Jettegryta Kindergarten. She has just completed further education in diversity management in kindergartens at OsloMet, and told us about how she used her new knowledge to work with reading experiences for children in a kindergarten where there are 26 different languages.

The collaboration with the Romerike-region also continues. New drafts of cooperation agreements have been presented to the management of all eleven municipalities in the region. Ullensaker is first and adopted a new cooperation agreement with us in its last municipal council meeting before the summer holidays.

Furthermore, I have visited the Storting several times, and met both the Akershus-representatives and important representatives from various political parties. In these meetings, I learn that we gain a great understanding of the importance of our social mission.

I am writing this on the longest day of the year. The summer holiday is just around the corner, and the last thing I and several others from the OsloMet family will do is participate in this year's Pride parade on July 1 under the slogan Fearless knowledge. In these times, it is more important than ever to fight for diversity, inclusion and equality – fundamental values for both the university and society!

Many thanks to all of you for your good efforts throughout the semester, with teaching, research and administration!
I hope everyone has a long and good holiday with both rest and new experiences.

Have a great summer!

All the best, Christen