The University of Oslo in Norway has commissioned a report from McKinsey & Co as part of its 2010-2020 strategic plan. One objective is to strengthen research and become a world-class university. But the report, University of Oslo - towards a leading research university, has angered Norwegians by stating that it should not recruit internal applicants with a degree for scientific positions.

McKinsey uses Frankfurt University in Germany as an example where such a recruitment policy is functioning well.

The argument for McKinsey's proposal is that internal applicants gain favourable and prioritised treatment for a recruitment position, which it describes as a kind of "academic corruption". The report concludes that applicants from prestigious universities outside Oslo should be given priority.

The report has also angered the academic unions in Norway. Benjamin Larsen, a spokesman for one union, said the recommendation was not applicable for recruitment of young researchers.

University of Oslo was the only prestigious Norwegian university, he said. If candidates from Oslo were not to be selected, a university would have to recruit them from outside the country.

The McKinsey report has foreseen this, and says that Norwegian students taking their education abroad could be a target for increased recruitment to scientific positions at the University of Oslo.

* This article is based on a report first published in the University of Oslo online student newspaper, Universitas.

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