Professors publicly add to pressure for elected rectors

Seven professors at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, or NMBU, publicly questioned the suitability of the Board Chairman Siri Hatlen and several board members due to their lack of academic skills and experience.

Writing jointly in the Oslo and Akerhus University College magazine Khrono, they claimed the university board was a prime example of “incompetent leadership”.

They argued that independence is an important principle for universities and other academic institutions.

Traditionally, this independence has been safeguarded through a system in which the principal is selected by the university's own academics and heads the university board.

But this form of governance is “under pressure”, they said, as the ministry is seeking to change the present university law.

Where previously the Universities and Colleges Act ensured an elected rector was the normal model, the ministry has proposed changing to a model in which the norm is that the rector is an employee and the chairman of the board is an external appointment by the Ministry of Education and Research.

The professors said this model could undermine university autonomy, because the ministry appoints the chairman of the board, but they were strongly critical of Hatlen’s lack of an academic career background.

Hatlen, who holds a masters in process engineering with an MBA from INSEAD, has long-time experience on the boards of a variety of businesses and public bodies and is a former CEO of Oslo University Hospital, Scandinavia’s largest hospital.

The professors argue that it is important to select a leader whose decisions are “firmly rooted in the academic community”. When the leader is recruited from academia, a professor with solid academic skills, this is rarely a problem, they said.

“Academic brilliance and relevance through academic work” has great influence on the direction the university takes, they said.

They accused the university leadership, by contrast, of largely ignoring the academic community and “pushing forward decisions that much of the scientific community believes is detrimental to the university”.

They cite the example of the major reorganisation process undertaken at the university, only two years after the institution was formed by the merger of the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science and the University of Life Sciences into one university, NMBU.

“Incompetent management due to a lack of understanding of the university's complex nature is as big a problem. The situation at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences [NMBU] can unfortunately be used as a prime example of this,” the professors wrote.

When contacted by University World News Siri Hatlen declined to comment.

Debate

The debate at NMBU – which is also ongoing in other universities – about whether to have an external chair of the board and an elected or employed rector is set to be discussed at a meeting of NMBU’s board on 16 June.

Some 800 staff members of NMBU – out of a total of 1,300 – have signed a letter of support for an elected rector, arguing that this would ensure candidates have a programme that students and staff can endorse by voting for him or her. This would ensure a greater degree of legitimacy and academic foundation because the candidates for rector would come from the academic environment within the institution.

Also, an elected rector will have “more power to confront the ministry regulations, and protect the university’s autonomy and have greater political room for manoeuvring”, the open letter said.

Professor Ole Petter Ottersen, rector of the University of Oslo, told University World News he could not comment on the turn of events at NMBU or on the critique raised against its board. But his stance on academic leadership is well known.

“A university should safeguard academic freedom, secure the independence of its research, and serve as a critic and conscience of society. In my opinion, these tasks are best taken care of by a university whose leaders are elected rather than appointed.”

“Society profits from keeping up the autonomy of its universities. In my own university, a recent poll conducted among academics at the faculty of social sciences demonstrated a large majority in favour of elected leadership. Our political decision-makers should take notice of this.”