This editorial was translated by UiOGPT
My first months in the role as the Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences have been fun and enormously educational. My predecessor, Trine Waaktaar, was an incredibly skilled and proactive Dean of Studies who was "ahead of the game." And her shoes are tough to fill! On the other hand, it is also like coming to a table that has already been set: Everything is prepared for addressing the many important issues the faculty works on from the study perspective. And as the Dean of Studies at the faculty, one never stands alone. There is an entire array of capable people at all levels to rely on. The first significant and essential issue we are tackling together is the portfolio process.
The university management at UiO wishes to become more involved in the study planning at UiO and is calling for more dynamism in the faculties' study portfolio in the short and long term. We also know that during the next year or so, a new distribution model for UiO will be introduced, which likely will place more emphasis on studies in our basic funding, although we do not know the details. How can we respond to the inherent uncertainties about these important external guidelines?
Announced changes in external guidelines are a golden opportunity for us to cast a critical eye on our own study portfolio: Is our teaching well-adapted and dimensioned to the continuous academic development within our fields, our academic and strategic plans and ambitions, societal needs, the composition of the staff, the competencies of our teachers, and our possible competitive advantages? Is there a need for further development or reallocation of or between programs? Should we establish new programs to ensure the study portfolio's academic quality and societal relevance in the short and long term? Is the range of studies adapting the job market? Do students get jobs?
In several meetings throughout the spring semester, we invite the units at the faculty to participate in a joint exploration of how today's study portfolio has evolved over time and which drivers that have propelled changes. The aim is to establish a knowledge base for identifying opportunities and challenges and to develop measures to ensure the best possible utilization of the faculty's resources in our teaching activities. We invite to an inclusive process, where students, scientific, and administrative leaders participate in meetings initiated by the faculty management, while all employees are involved at the local level, through program councils and individual gatherings organized within the units.
Major changes do not necessarily require new study programs but can just as easily occur in the form of series of smaller initiatives that can collectively constitute significant changes within existing programs. Incremental processes can also be suitable to ensure that changes are well-founded, have strong support, and are implementable. We are therefore not particularly concerned with whether development has occurred in the form of establishing and discontinuing entire study programs or as such incremental changes. The aim of the exploratory and mapping work is to gain a comprehensive impression of the dynamics in our study portfolio over time: internal and external factors that seem to have been important driving forces in the development processes, and the need for change and opportunities for the future.
We are proud of our study portfolio at the Faculty of Social Sciences. We have worked systematically with the academic quality of our study programs for a long time, both in periodic program evaluations and in the annual program reviews. This information provides a sound basis for making knowledge-based assessments and decisions about how our study portfolio best can be developed to meet the needs of the future.
I see this as a necessary preparation for what is to come. I also believe it is going to be both fun and educational for everyone who engages in the process, and I look forward to collaborating with you all in this important work.