New requirements for hiring

The new University and University College Act, with associated regulations, came into effect on August 1 this year. The law regulates the activities of universities and university colleges.

Among the changes in the new law are the regulations for hiring, which are significantly different from before.

The changes apply to

hiring and promotion in teaching and research positions
conditions of employment for positions as postdoctoral fellow, researcher, scientific assistant, and specialist candidate

Transitional Arrangement

Ministry of Education and Research has established a transitional arrangement between the former and new regulations. Therefore, hires that are approved, and promotion applications received before August 1, 2025, can to some extent follow the previous regulations.

“This gives us much-needed time to establish supplementary rules to the regulation's minimum requirements and revise internal guidelines, instructions, templates, websites, staff regulations, and other information”, says HR Director Randi Stene.

The new guidelines should be ready by the summer of 2025.

Some important changes in the regulation are

the term teaching and researcher positions has been replaced with teaching and research positions, and includes the position codes professor, associate professor, lecturer, university teacher, and university lecturer
it requires Norwegian competence at B2 level (hkdir.no) for qualification to all teaching and research positions
it requires educational competence for all teaching and research positions
the minimum requirements for appointment have changed, especially for the position as lecturer and dosent
for researchers and postdoctoral researchers who do not have Norwegian, Danish, or Swedish at A2 level at hiring, there is a requirement to complete Norwegian training equivalent to 15 study points during the employment period
it requires career plans and career guidance for researchers and postdoctoral researchers
institutions must decide whether to allow promotion from university lecturer to associate professor after a transition period until December 31, 2027, expires
institutions must decide whether they will approve competence evaluations from other institutions in connection with promotion applications
institutions must decide whether they will allow transition between career paths for positions at the same level (professor-dosent and associate professor-lecturer).

Until the update is in place

Until the work with revised guidelines at OsloMet is completed, the Department of Human Resources asks managers and employees to pay attention to the following:

the requirements in the previous regulations form the basis for the hirings until the new qualification and documentation requirements for the university are ready
the current staff regulations apply until they are renegotiated
guidelines on expert assessment, composition, and appointment of expert committees remain unchanged for the time being
the rules that the requirement for Norwegian language skills can be achieved within three years, apply only to the hirings and not promotions
employees who wish to apply for promotion and cannot document Norwegian competence must submit an application for promotion by July 31, 2025 at the latest, so that the application can be considered under the previous regulations - alternatively, one must wait until Norwegian language skills can be documented before an application is submitted
employees who wish to be considered under the new regulations when applying for promotion should wait to submit the application until criteria according to the new regulation are in place
employees on temporary contracts that expire before the first quarter of 2026 should contact HR at the faculty

Read the new University and University College Act in full here (lovdata.no) in Norwegian.