Guide for members of expert committees

Part 1 Use of an expert committee

1 General information

Appointment and promotion in teaching and research positions must be based on an expert assessment: see Section 6-3 (3) of the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges.

The objective of the expert assessment is to form the basis for the further processing of the appointment case in the university¡¯s bodies. The expert assessment becomes part of the overall basis on which the recommending authority bases its recommendation to the appointments body.

The committee bases its assessment on the information submitted. The committee must assess applicants¡¯ qualifications in accordance with the University of Oslo¡¯s competence profile and the requirements set out in the text of the call for applications. The experts must provide an indicative assessment in which at least three of the applicants deemed qualified are ranked.

Rules and guidelines to be followed:

•  Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (lovdata.no) (Norwegian). 
• Rules for employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions
• Rules for practising the requirement for basic university teaching competence
• Text of the call for applications/job description
• National/faculty guidelines

2 Assessment procedure

The Faculty designates, by appointment, an administrative leader of the committee. An internal coordinator may also be appointed. The administrative leader manages the work of the committee and is responsible for ensuring that the work gets started and is delivered on time.

The experts¡¯ assessment should normally be available within three months from their appointment. Shorter deadlines may be agreed. If the assessment cannot be submitted within the deadline, grounds for this should be given to the Faculty.

2.1 Equal treatment

Applicants are entitled to fair and unbiased treatment at all stages of the administrative procedure, which includes the assessment by the expert committee.

The members of the expert committee should be aware of how bias and stereotypes can influence the assessment of applicants and try to counter this. If emphasis is placed on something in respect of one of the applicants, there is an obligation to also assess this in respect of the other applicants.

2.2 Delegation of work

The experts usually work as a committee and provide a joint assessment. It is common for members to distribute the applications amongst themselves, so that each of the committee members bears overall responsibility for certain applicants and records the discussions on these in writing. This should not result in applicants being assessed according to different standards and criteria. The committee can decide for itself whether the committee¡¯s chair should record the entire document in writing on the basis of input from the various members. Nevertheless, a unanimous assessment will be a collective product. The minority must formulate its position in the event of dissent.

2.3 Basic screening

The expert committee must initially identify a limited number of applicants who hold higher qualifications than the others: see Rules for employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions, Section 16.

The expert committee must give an opinion as to what differentiates the selected applicants from the rest. That is why all applicants and their qualifications must be discussed briefly. This discussion should be concise. In the case of an applicant who is not included in the ¡°limited number¡±, the expert committee has no obligation to decide whether the person in question is qualified for the position.

4.2 Discussion of a limited number of applicants

The discussion of the limited number of applicants who hold higher qualifications than the others must be a more extensive and comprehensive assessment and include the various qualification areas.

The expert committee should first decide in respect of the individual applicant whether the person satisfies the requirements for the academic and basic university teaching skills, respectively: see paragraph 5. Only applicants who meet the requirements in both areas are eligible for the position. For appointment and promotion to Professor, it is necessary to decide whether the applicant meets the additional requirements defined for professor competence.

Note that the requirement for basic university teaching competence for Associate Professors does not have to be met at the time of appointment, but can be met in the first two years following appointment. In exceptional cases, for appointment to professorships, an opportunity may be given to meet the requirement within the first two years after appointment.

The committee must express an opinion on applicants¡¯ competence in each of these two main areas, and state explicitly whether the applicant has documented the fact that they have met the requirements for basic university teaching competence.

Thereafter, the committee should form a picture of the qualifications, beyond the basic competence, that the individual applicant has documented within the different qualification areas. It is the applicant¡¯s responsibility to document their own competence in a manner that provides the best basis for an unbiased, qualitative assessment. Similarly, the expert committee is required to provide an explicit statement of the basis for the assessment, criteria and conclusions in accordance with this guide.

2.5 More information about the assessment

The expert committee must perform a full assessment of the academic qualifications and an initial assessment of educational qualifications, applied knowledge and qualifications in academic management and administration: see paragraph 4 on competence profile. The committee does not assess personal qualifications.

When assessing the qualifications, emphasis must be placed on quality, i.e. how good or strong the qualifications documented by applicants are. This must also be viewed in relation to the requirements laid down in the call for applications.

The assessment of academic qualifications must be based on the quality and originality of the academic work. Appropriate use of bibliometric indicators may be an additional element in the assessment.

Assessment of educational qualifications is based on the applicant¡¯s educational portfolio. An educational portfolio should include the following items: 

• An ¡°educational CV¡±, which provides a concise description of the applicant¡¯s experience in planning, implementation and evaluation and development of teaching and supervision, including scope and level
• Documentation of cited conditions
• Be able to reflect on their own role as a teacher, and discuss and justify their own choices in planning, implementation and development of teaching and supervision

The educational portfolio should not be too comprehensive, and as a rule, a scope corresponding to 3-6 pages plus attached documentation will be sufficient. If a different scope requirement is specified in the announcement text, this requirement will apply. Also the attachments should be limited to cover the most central points with representative examples. 

The University of Oslo assesses academic qualifications based on criteria set out in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, SoTL:

• Focus on student learning
• A clear development over time
• A researching approach
• A collegial attitude and practice

The various qualification areas must essentially be assessed in the same way. All areas require documentation and assessment in respect of explicit criteria. It is important for the assessment committee to explicitly clarify its own criteria and their use. The University of Oslo¡¯s assessment matrix ¨C see paragraph 6 and part 4 ¨C may be of assistance in this work.

Part 2 Competence profile, assessment and weighting

3 The university of Oslo's competence profile

A competence profile has been adopted at the University of Oslo that aims to demonstrate the breadth of qualifications to be assessed and to clarify the weighting of the various qualifications: see Regulations on employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions, Sections 10 to 14.

3.1 Qualification areas to be assessed

3.2 On appointment

The entire breadth of qualifications will be included and assessed explicitly in the ranking of applicants. The experts undertake a complete assessment of the academic qualifications in paragraph 1 and an initial assessment of the qualification requirements in paragraphs 2 to 4. The qualifications in paragraphs 2 to 4 may be subject to additional assessment and elaboration by means of a trial lecture, interview and reference interview.

Personal qualities are assessed by the recommending authority later on in the process.

3.3 On promotion

The experts undertake a complete assessment of the qualification requirements in paragraphs 1 to 4. Personal qualifications are not assessed in the case of promotion.

4 Basic academic and university pedagogical competence

The University of Oslo requires applicants to document basic academic and university pedagogical competence: see Rules for employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions, Sections 11 and 12.

• Basic academic competence
• Basic university pedagogical competence

Limitations on basic competence in either of these qualification areas cannot be compensated by means of other qualifications.

Reference is made to factors such as ¡°basic skills¡± when defining basic university pedagogical competence. ¡°Basic skills¡± means that individuals can adopt the most common teaching and supervision methods and have the skills required for good planning and necessary further development, as well as being able to understand, justify, and assess their teaching based on their own and others¡¯ experiences, preferably with reference to relevant research.

4.1 Additional requirements for professorship

Certain additional educational requirements for appointment and promotion to professor are required in addition to the requirements for basic academic and university teaching competence: see Rules for employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions, Section 13. It must be possible to document these skills upon appointment, and anyone applying for promotion must have them.

Reference is made to a ¡°wide range of skills¡± in the additional educational requirements. This suggests both a greater scope and a higher skills level than ¡°basic competence¡±. However, the range of skills must be viewed in the light of the tasks available over time in the academic environment in which staff are employed.

For staff at the university museums, museum dissemination skills can replace the additional educational requirements upon appointment as and promotion to professor.

Applicants for professorships must also document qualifications beyond the usual performance of duties in positions at the lower level within either applied knowledge or academic management and administration. In this regard, ¡°beyond¡± will partly indicate that the scope of such activities is greater than what is considered common in the academic group, and partly that the quality of the activities and the results of them is clearly higher than usual. This assessment must be based on a certain discretion and a knowledge of the academic environment with which the position is associated.

5 Weighting of qualifications

The Rules for employment and promotion for Professor and Associate Professor positions stipulate that the full range of qualifications must be included and assessed.

Appointment of a candidate is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications. Greater importance is attached to academic qualifications than other qualifications for regular Professor and Associate Professor positions, unless stated otherwise in the text of the call for applications. Educational qualifications will be given priority over qualifications in the fields of applied knowledge and academic management and administration, unless stated otherwise in the text of the call for applications. A concluding assessment of the overall qualifications must be made.

It is important to be aware that personal qualifications after a comprehensive assessment may be of crucial significance in the appointment case. This must be based on facts related to personal qualities indicated in the call for applications. However, personal qualifications are assessed after the expert committee has submitted its assessment.

6 Use of the University of Oslo's assessment matrix

Universities Norway (UHR) has prepared a toolbox known as NOR-CAM for assessing academic results, competence and experience. Based on this, as well as UiO-KVM, this guide includes a custom matrix for assessment based on the needs of the institution. The assessment matrix contains three columns for each of the areas in the University of Oslo¡¯s competence profile, with examples of results/competence, documentation and reflection. This allows the matrix to make clear what aspects may provide an advantage. This list is not exhaustive. The information added to the various dimensions must be adapted to the context in which it is to be used. The units may have local matrices adapted to their subject areas.

Results/expertise, documentation and reflection should demonstrate what one has done and achieved in the various areas as well as quality, development and breadth in the activity and results. If an applicant were to relate their qualifications to the University of Oslo¡¯s commitments in the relevant areas, this would be positive.

Results and skills: The matrix has been compiled especially for Professor and Associate Professor positions. It is flexible, however, and can be adapted to suit different purposes, activities and positions. What should count, and to what extent, may vary depending on the type of position to be filled and the profile with which the position is advertised. This column contains examples of what may be of relevance.

Documentation: The assessment of the various qualification areas will be based on documentation that makes it possible to take a position on their quality. The matrix includes a detailed description containing examples of relevant documentation relating to the various qualification areas. Emphasis is placed on formulating the examples so that they relate to activities and results of such qualifications, not to ¡°capabilities¡± or ¡°prerequisites¡±.

Reflection: This column relates to the applicant¡¯s own reflection on the various points. The idea is for this column to provide the applicant¡¯s subjective assessment of their own results and skills. The aim is to achieve good interaction between the documentable and/or measurable elements and the applicant¡¯s own qualitative assessment of these. Reflection can show whether the applicant relates to the different competence areas in a manner characterized by systematic investigation and reflection linked with the conscious use of academic and experience-based knowledge.

Part 3 Further process

The assessment from the expert committee is sent to the applicants, with a 14-day deadline for comments. Any comments will be submitted with the case during further processing until a decision is made to appoint a candidate. The expert committee may be asked to submit remarks on comments from applicants. Responses from the expert committee will also be submitted with the case until a decision is made to appoint a candidate.

The work of the committee is complete when the assessment has been submitted to the recommending authority and responses have been given to any comments.

The University of Oslo practices public access to government papers for assessments from the expert committee. This means that access to the expert assessment will be granted upon request for parties other than the parties to the case. Access will be granted only after the deadline for the period for comments.

The expert assessment forms part of the overall assessment before the recommending authority submits its recommendation to the appointing authority. The recommendation is based on a broader foundation than the assessment by the expert committee. Appointment/promotion is finally discussed by the appointing authority.

Part 4 Matrix for assessment of qualifications

This matrix exemplifies results/skills, documentation and reflection for all areas in the competence profile. It is emphasized that the matrix contains a lot of points because it has to exemplify opportunities for various elements that can be incorporated, not because each individual point should be covered.

As with examples adapted to the subject area, the units may have established local matrices. More information is available about museum dissemination skills for the university museums (norwegian).

Results/expertise, documentation and reflection should demonstrate what one has done and achieved in the various areas as well as quality, development and breadth in the activity and results,