This year has gone by quickly, very quickly. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I agreed to be Anne Bjune’s substitute? At least that’s how it feels.
Regardless of whether the year has gone by quickly or not, my time as an head of education has offered me the opportunity to come into contact with all the great work that is done daily by staff and students at all levels. And BIO certainly has some that deserve mention. Our poster session received Ugleprisen (the “Owl Prize “) and was moved up to faculty level, and this year was held at the Realfagbygget. New disciplines were added to an already exciting mix of posters and pitches. In addition to the Owl Prize, deputy manager Katja Enberg has won the Olav Thon Foundation’s award for outstanding teaching. This naturally puts mild pressure on the rest of the management team. We have to continue to do our best.
We held a Teacher’s Retreat in late November, and continued to work on the themes and priorities that emerged from this activity. Over the summer, we will be accepting new master’s students without study specializations, and this has been an important focus for some of the development work in 2024/25. It will be exciting to see how this lands, but we have put several good solutions in place, soon also a research group structure that will be an active point of contact for students who will be choosing degrees and courses. There is also room for more development work. BIO’s excellent employees, Sehoya Cotner and Aina-Cathrine Øvergård, have each received incentive funds for work on educational quality. It will be exciting to see what comes out of their work.
BIO is doing a lot, even though times can be described as tough. We have also discussed staffing and how we allocate available capacity to teach and supervise. This has never been an easy task, and with a shrinking staff, we must constantly change the way we work. I believe it is important and right to take this debate and openly discuss how we manage our shared time and resources. This discussion must be rooted in both qualitative and quantitative considerations. In addition to BioSEMINAR and general meetings, the Teacher’s Retreat in the fall will be a good forum for further work on this. Please mark Thursday, November 25th in your calendar, if you have not already done so.
In August, I will step down as Head of Education and pass the baton to Anne Bjune, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at BIO for their good work and participation.
Have a great summer when that time comes. We are not quite there yet, but it is getting closer.