All groups [faggrupper] have been given a task to go through the course portfolio. We will consider many things: Is each course still relevant? Updated? Do the course and learning outcome descriptions describe the course well? Is the number of places on the course reasonable? Is there academic overlap with other courses, and if so, could we collaborate across group boundaries? And finally, is the course portfolio in line with the personnel resources in the group now and in a five-year perspective?
Next week, the Fisheries and marine biology group will take a deep dive into these questions in a two-day workshop at Bekkjarvik. In addition to the group members, we are lucky enough to have a good group of people with us who can help us with the task: some colleagues from other groups and departments, study administration and students. UiB is responsible for sustainability goal 14, Life in the sea, in the International Association of Universities’ Global cluster on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development, and we are therefore also bringing a representative from there to give us a global view of marine and fisheries biology education. From South Africa, we are joined by participants who are part of Anne Gro Salvanes’ PRIMA Learning project – they can share with us their experience of how to succeed in teaching under limited personnel and other resources.
We will start the workshop by trying to outline what today’s graduating marine and fisheries biology masters should be able to do. What kind of knowledge, skills and competence are important today and in the future? To help with this task, we have invited colleagues from potential employers for our masters: the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, NORCE, the University Museum, and the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. I am looking forward to seeing what we manage to achieve during two intensive days. The work on the revision of the course portfolio will not be finished for two days, but we will at least collect a lot of input which we will take with us in this important work.
Last but not least, congratulations to one of our group members: Henrik Høiberg Jessen who defended his doctoral thesis “Evolutionary responses of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to concurrent fisheries and climate stressors” yesterday – congratulations Dr Jessen!