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Forskrift om ansettelse og opprykk i undervisnings- og forskerstillinger, jf brev av 13. februar 2006 fra Kunnskapsdepartementet.
UTGÅR:
We refer to Circular F-15/02 of 30 April 2002 from the Ministry of Education and Research concerning personal promotion to the title of professor by qualification.
The Ministry har, in consultation with the Council for Universities and Colleges, set a new closing date for sending application for promotions. As of 2002 the new deadline for applying is 15 September. This has led to changes to § §1,2 and 8 in the regulations. As a temporary measure associate professors (førsteamanuenser) and professors who are appointed to, and have commenced working, in posts described in § 1 by 1 May 2002, may apply for promotions before this date.
These rules apply to associate professors and college readers holding and commenced working permanent Civil Service appointments or appointments for a specified number of years at universities and colleges under the Ministry of the Church, Education and Research who apply for promotion to the title of professor on the basis of a declaration of competence. Promotion subject to these regulations is personal and has no effect on the duties of the holder of the appointment or on the placement of the post in the case of vacancy. The Ministry will lay down further provisions concerning to whom this scheme applies.
The closing date for applications for promotion to the title of professor is 15 September each year. An application for promotion is sent to the applicant`s own institution. Five copies of the application with enclosures are to be submitted.
Five copies of academic works are to be submitted, cf § 3 a.
Five reproductions of artistic works are to be submitted provided that this does not adversely affect the quality of the material submitted. The applicant himself/herself is to decide whether only one copy of parts of the documentary evidence can be submitted. Original works are to be presented to the assessing institution/national assessment committee subject to further agreement.
Applicants are not permitted to send in or give notification of works after the closing date for applications.
The assessment shall be conducted on the basis of documentary evidence of academic or artistic competence.
As documentary evidence of academic competence applicants may submit up to 15 academic works in connection with the assessment.
As documentary evicence of creative and performing artistic competence applicants may submit/provide documentary evidence up to 15 artistic works/publications in connection with the assessment. This documentary evidence may inter alia consist of
original artistic works
reproduction of artistic work, for example photographs, audio-visual recordings or the like
publications based on the applicant`s creative and performing activity
documentary evidence of concerts, exhibitions, performances, stage productions by means of e.g. programmes, catalogues and descriptons and/or reviews in recognised publications
prizes for artistic work, works purchased by others and any assignments.
All applicants shall in addition submit a complete list of all their publications or other activity for which documentary evidence can be provided, which are claimed to be the basis for the assessment. The list may be annotated with comments.
Any associate professor or college reader who has achieved professional competence abroad may apply to have this competence evaluated as a basis for promotion pursuant to Norwegian rules with the closing date for applications in pursuance of § 2. The assessment committee (in pursuance of § 8) will consider whether a new full evaluation is required.
For any associate professor or college reader who has been declared qualified for a shared professorship (professor II appointment) or a former readership and who is applying for promotion, a new evaluation shall be undertaken (pursuant to § 8).
An associate professor or college reader who has not been evaluated for Norwegian professorial competence in the course of the last 2 years may demand to have his or her qualifications assessed, cf. § 2. If during the last 2 years of a professorship has been advertised in the speciality of the person concerned in the applicant's own institution, the 2-year rule applies from the closing date for applications for the post advertised.
When an application has been received by the Norwegian Universities Council, the 2-year limit applies even if the person concerned subsequently withdraws his or her application. Correspondingly a person who has applied for a professorship advertised at another Norwegian institution than the one at which the person concerned is employed will not be able to submit an application for promotion to the Norwegian Universities Council during the following 2 years if the person concerned withdraws his or her application for the post after the selection board has been appointed.
It is not possible to apply for promotion to the title of professor in connection with an application for an academic appointment below the level of professor.
The assessment of applicants seeking promotion to the title of professor is undertaken by nationally appointed committees within specified subjects. All institutions that have received applications that must be evaluated by the committees are to submit information about the applicants to the Norwegian Universities Council on a special form by 1 October. The Norwegian Universities Council is to divide the responsibility for establishing national committees among the universities and the university colleges. The executive board of the institution that has been assigned the responsibility for assessment within a subject is to appoint the assessment committee for that subject.
In special cases, inter alia for creative and artistic subject areas, the Council for Universities and Colleges may give another institution the responsibility for establishing a national committee. In such cases at least one member of the expert committee shall come from a closely related subject area at a university or university college.
The individual national committee consists of at least 3 persons with professorial competence or equivalent competence in the applicants' subject. The executive board of the institution that is responsible for the assessment or the relevant department so empowered by the executive board may appoint one or more persons with special expertise. The assessment committee may itself also ask for persons with special expertise to be appointed.
The executive board of the said institution or the relevant department so empowered by the executive board is to appoint a leader for the committee from among the members of the committee, or an administrator who leads the committee's work without herself/himself being a member of the committee.
As far as possible and in those subjects in which it is natural, the committee shall have a member from another country. Only one member of the assessment committee may be from the applicant's own institution. Both sexes must if possible be represented on the committee.
The assessment committee shall use established standards of professorial competence as a basis for the evaluation. The applicant must have taught or been a supervisor at university or college level for not less than 2 years. In certain cases this requirement may be modified.
From the assessment committee`s recommendation it must be clear on what basis the applicant is found to be qualified with the respect to the documentary evidence mentioned in § 3. The qualification shall be linked to the subject area in which the person concerned holds an appointment, cf § 11.
An associate professor or college reader may only apply for personal promotion in the subject in which the person concerned holds his or her appointment. Subject here means those subjects or areas of study that the Ministry has decided may be included in the degrees the institution may confer, cf § 46(1) of the Universities Act. When a committee issues a declaration of competence, this shall always indicate in which subject area and, as the case may be, in which special field the applicant has professorial competence. The report shall always state whether the declaration of competence is unanimous and made without any doubt.
An associate professor or college reader who has been declared competent to be a professor at his or her own or another Norwegian institution in the course of the last 6 years from the date of application, (cf § 11, 1st, 2nd og 3rd sentences) may apply to his or her institution for promotion to the title of professor, cf § 2. If there is unanimous and indubitable competence, promotion may be given without new assessment, cf § 11. Institutions which in view of their special character have supplementary rules concerning requirements for their professors may take these into account when dealing with applications.
If there was any doubt or disagreement among the members of the committee when the delaration of competence was made, a new assessment shall be conducted pursuant to § 8. The committee will consider whether a new full evaluation is required.
The assessment committee's evaluation of the individual applicant is to be sent to the person concerned for information. No less than 14 days after the applicant has been informed of the result of the evaluation, the body responsible for the appointment of professors at the institution that has been assigned responsibility for assessment within the subject is itself to pass a resolution to approve the evaluation. Notification thereof is to be sent to the applicant, to the institution concerned and to the Council for Universities and Colleges.
The body responsible for the appointment of professors at the institution in which the applicant is employed grants promotion on the basis of an approved declaration of competence from the committee. The expert committee must unanimously find the person concerned qualified to be a professor for promotion to be granted. The Ministry may issue further rules relating to procedure.
Promotion, if granted, will take effect from the closing date for applications (15 September).
The Ministry has made the following comments on these rules:
In pursuance of § 1 of the rules the Ministry of Education and Research has laid down that the promotion scheme shall not apply to posts that converted from academic librarian, archivist and departemental dentist to assistant professor/associate professor in the central adjustment settlement of 1 October 1986, cf Circular V-8/87. The justification for this is that it was a prediction that the said conversions should not change the duties appertaining to these posts. The Ministry intends that the title of professor is to be reserved for staff with teaching and research duties.
Associate professors and college readers holding half-time posts or more come under this scheme.
The Ministry otherwise refers to the fact that these promotions are personal and confer the right to the title of professor and the salary of a professor. The body responsible for the appointment of the professor of the institution in which the applicants is employed grants promotion on the basis of an approved evaluation to the effect that the applicant is qualified to be a professor. These promotions shall therefore not be treated as ordinary appointment business with formal procedure in councils for the recommendation of appointments etc.
These promotions shall not entail any changes in the duties of the person concerned, including teaching duties or research rights, and in the event of vacancy the post shall be advertised at the level on which it was placed before promotion was granted.
Associate professors holding permanent appointments in the colleges of art have the possibility of promotion to the title of professor on the same conditions as professors holding appointments in these colleges: promotion for a period equivalent to that of an appointment of specific duration, 6 years, and with the possibility of promotion for a further period. Otherwise we refer to our letter of 28 December 1999 to the colleges of art and the Norwegian University og Technology and Science.
It is presupposed that in the case of evaluation for posts advertised in accordance with the first sentence of § 6 an explicit statement about the qualifications of the person concerned will have been made in order that the rule shall be applicable.
The Council for Universities and Colleges has been assigned responsibility for distributing the applications according to subject among the universities and the university colleges. These must ensure that national assessment committees are established in the subjects for which they are given responsibility. It is important that priority should be given to this work so that evaluation can get started rapidly. In this connection the institutions must in an appropriate manner also bring in representatives of the regional sector. The Ministry also considers it natural for the department that has been given responsibility for assessment within a subject area to make contact with relevant communities in the subject before a proposal is submitted to the executive board for the appointment of an assessment committee. The steering committee of the assessing institution, or as the case may be the department concerned, may now appoint persons with special expertise in addition to the fact that the assessment committee may as earlier put forward a proposal for members with special expertise for individual applicants whom it does not itself feel fully competent to assess.
The institutions in which the applicants are employed must cover the cost of assessing their own candidates. It is presupposed that the most convenient way of arranging for payment for assessment will be found locally, e.g. it may be appropriate for the institution that has been given responsibility for establishing a national committee in a subject to cover the costs and to get these refunded by the institutions that have applicants in the particular subject. It is presupposed that the costs will be proportionately divided in relation to the members when there are applicants from several institutions in a particular subject area.
The form that is to be sent to the Council for Universities and Colleges shall contain the following information:
personal details of the applicant
the applicant's subject area according to appointment
the applicant's highest education, degree/institution
the applicant's speciality in respect of academic depth
when, if at all, a professorship was last advertised in the institution within the applicant's subject area
whether the applicant`s qualifications have previously been assessed for professorial competence and if so, when this took place
whether the applicant at this moment has an application pending for an advertised professorship
The Ministry considers it natural that parts of the application form must be filled out and signed by the applicant. When the person concerned has applied for an advertised professorship, the national assessment committee must put the application aside pending the assessment for the post advertised.
A copy of the application without accompanying is to be sent to the Council for Universities and Colleges. The accompanying documents are to be sent direct to the institution that is to undertake the assessment when this is announced by the Council for Universities and Colleges. Questions relating to the assessment must be addressed to the institution that is responsible for assessment within the subject area.
The form is to accompany the application and is to be stamped with the subject area for the national committee and assessing institution.
The institution that has undertaken the assessment is to give notification of the result and date of announcement to the applicants' institutions and the Council for Universities and Colleges.
In the view of the Ministry it is very important that the promotion scheme should not lead to any relaxation of the competence requirements at professorial level. It is therefore natural that evaluation criteria etc. should be discussed in relevant subject fora such as national faculty meetings and subject councils.
Any modification of the requirement concerning pedagogical competence is to be decided by the body responsible for the appointment of professors at the institution in which the applicant is employed. This body may then, as in the case of appointments, impose conditions to the effect that applicants are to acquire a spesific competence within a prescribed time limit.
The requirement is that the applicant is qualified to be a professor in the subject area in which he or she was appointed. Indication of speciality will be a more precise specification in relation to this.
The composition of and academic mandate for assessment committee in relation to the applicant's subject area have shown themselves to be possibly problematic. The extended right to make use of persons with special expertise ought to contribute to solving these problems. The Ministry will in consultation with the Council for Universities and Colleges and relevant subject fora be working further on these questions.
Applicants who, when applying for an advertised professorship in their particular subject, are declared unanimously and without any doubt to be professors may be granted promotion by their own institution. In order to relieve the national committees a thorough assessment of as many of the applicants as possible should therefore be undertaken in the future, when a professorship has been advertised.
Within the limit of 14 days an applicant has the opportunity to raise objections to the procedure or to make comments on the report produced by the members of the assessment committee. It must be made clear that this is not an ordinary right of administrative appeal. The body responsible for the appointment of professors at the assessing institution must however consider such objections before any resolution is passed. Any comments on the assessment committee`s report are to be put before the assessment committee so that it may have the opportunity to make a further statement before any resolution is passed.
The promotion-date of 15 September represents the closing date for applying. It is used both for applicants given a promotion by their own institution according to § 12 above, and for applicants given a promotion after consideration by an evaluation committee. For those who have applied by 1 May 2002, c.f. the introduction to the memo (F-15/02), and who have been given a promotion, this is the date from which the promotion is valid.
Applications received by the institutions before 1 May 2002 must, as before, be sent on to the Council for Universities and Colleges (Universitets- og høgskolerådet) by 15 May.
Staff who are granted promotion to the title of professor in pursuance of these rules are to be placed in the lowest pay grade in code 1013 "professor" (currently pay grade 61 Fotnote 1).
We request that persons holding appointments as associate professors and college readers be made aware of this Circular. A list of circulars from the Ministry of Education and Research for the year 2002 will be found on the Internet at the following address: http://www.dep.no/ufd/norsk/regelverk/rundskriv/index-b-n-a.html .