A changing world
In January 2019, the Faculty’s strategy “Knowledge development in a changing world - Science and Technology towards 2030” was completed. The years since 2019 have shown us that the world IS changing rapidly - with the pandemic, war, climate crisis, security situation, changing economic conditions, ChatGPT, and AI suddenly becoming commonplace - to name a few.
Adjusting the Faculty’s Strategy
The time is therefore ripe to revisit the Faculty’s strategy. Last week, the Faculty leadership, including Deans, Directors, and Section Heads from the Faculty, as well as Department Heads and Office Managers from the Departments, gathered to collectively lay the foundation for the overall strategic development work at the Faculty - in line with the current situation and the Faculty’s ambitions. The 2019 strategy holds up well. It is still a good value document for the Faculty’s work but should be adjusted somewhat in today’s context. Additionally, we want to operationalize it more clearly and develop action plans for selected areas. We in the current deanship will begin our second term on January 1, 2025. In our election platform, it is stated that in the upcoming deanship period, we will gather the strategic, academic development under the following areas:
- Sustainability
- Life Sciences
- Technology
To succeed, it is important to develop a clear common goal, where all Faculty employees see their role. The plan is to adjust the strategy during the fall and address it in the Faculty board meeting in March after a consultation round. At the beginning of the year, we will establish working groups to develop action plans in selected areas, and we envision completing this work in 2025.
Economy
The changed economic framework conditions from the granting authorities mean that we must think anew. Basic funding no longer keeps pace with wage and price growth. From 2025, the sector will receive basic funding from the Ministry of Education and Research according to a new model, where research incentives are removed and the number of funding categories for education is halved
Using the Room to Maneuver
In this reality, we will actively use our room for maneuvering to steer the development of our Faculty ourselves. Good and systematic work is being done throughout the Faculty to streamline and reduce costs. In addition, we must look at opportunities to increase revenues.
In the strategy, it states: The foundation of the Faculty’s activities is fundamental long-term research in mathematical sciences, natural sciences, and technology. The faculty’s ambition is to be among Europe’s leading environments in research, education, and innovation by asserting ourselves at the top of the research-intensive universities in Europe. We perform very well in the competition in Pillar 1 - Excellent Science, in Horizon Europe. The foundation of the Faculty’s activities will still be fundamental long-term research. By making some adjustments, we can also assert ourselves in Pillar 2 - Global Challenges and Competitive Industry, and in Pillar 3 - Open Innovation. Here, there are opportunities to increase our external funding. The many successes in Pillar 1 and the Research Council’s SFF scheme and FRIPRO program show that there is very high-quality research among the Faculty’s employees. Experience shows that we get the best results when groups work together across disciplines. By maintaining the high quality of research, seeking collaboration with other academic environments, and directing some of the research towards thematic areas and applied knowledge, we will have good opportunities to also assert ourselves in the competition in Pillar 2 and Pillar 3.
Education for the Future
In the University’s new economy, study credits gain increased financial significance. The Faculty has a long tradition of continuously developing our education programs. Our main task will continue to be educating skilled specialists in a wide range of natural sciences and technology. Additionally, we aim to facilitate greater collaboration both within the Faculty and with other academic environments at UiO, to create interdisciplinary educational offerings and contribute natural sciences to other education programs.
We are soon entering years with declining cohorts of 19-year-olds, while societal expectations of us and our fields increase. Therefore, student recruitment and reputation building for natural sciences and technology will need to be a major focus, in addition to efforts to help more students succeed and complete their studies.
We look forward to the strategic work and will provide regular updates in MN-Nytt!
Solveig, Bj?rn, and Knut