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Political document on research and 1

development 2

Adopted: 12.05.2015 3

Research and development (R&D) is becoming an increasingly important topic in the 4

education sector. There is pressure to earn publication points for the institution, as well as 5

pressure to be awarded national and international research funding. 6

Please find enclosed: Definitions of terms in the document 7

Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences' (HiOA) document Strategy 20201 8

states that HiOA shall: 9

'Select priority areas that contribute to producing new knowledge about and for the 10 professions. 11

Place emphasis on productive and robust academic communities that produce results. 12

Give priority to research activities that lead to increased scientific publication in 13 weighted publication channels and increased external funding, particularly from the 14 Research Council of Norway and the EU 15

Give priority to international research cooperation that strengthens the quality of 16 research and development. 17

Develop a sound research infrastructure.' 18

These points underline the goal of being 'at the forefront of professionally relevant research 19

and development'. 20

Definition: 21

The Student Parliament takes as its point of departure the Organisation for Economic Co-22

operation and Development's (OECD) definition of R&D work: 23

'Research and experimental development (R&D) comprises creative work undertaken on a 24

systematic basis in order to increase the stock of human knowledge and to devise new 25

applications based upon it.'2 26

Link between education and R&D 27

In the Student Parliament's opinion, there should be a strong link between R&D activities, 28

dissemination and teaching at HiOA. All these components must be linked if HiOA is to justify 29

1 http://www.hioa.no/Om-HiOA/Virksomhetsstyring/Interne-styringsdokumenter/Strategi-2020 2 https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm

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its claim of offering excellent education. It is also important that the R&D activity at HiOA is 30

relevant to society and helps to form closer links between study programmes with and 31

without practical training, and between the study programmes, business and industry, and 32

society as a whole. 33

R&D-based teaching 34

The Student Parliament demands that all teaching in all courses and subjects must be based 35

on the newest R&D and give students a thorough introduction to research methodology and 36

scientific thinking. This is intended to form a basis for discussion and reflection during 37

lessons by comparing syllabus and method. In addition, all teaching in all courses must 38

include a part in which students are involved in R&D work. Lecturers must give students 39

practical assignments that challenge them to either collect or analyse data. The results from 40

such work must be drawn on, discussed and reflected on during teaching activities. The 41

Student Parliament believes that these processes are important to the students' general 42

education process and to their development towards becoming critical and reflected 43

professionals. 44

Interdisciplinarity 45

The Student Parliament believes that HiOA's R&D activities should focus on 46

interdisciplinarity. Cooperation across faculties and departments on relevant topics and 47

lectures must be facilitated and encouraged. In this way, the research environments and 48

study programmes will find out more about each other and create more relevant R&D 49

material, which, in turn, will help HiOA to educate professionals who are better equipped for 50

cooperation in their professional life. 51

Student-active research 52

It is stated in Strategy 2020 that HiOA shall 'strengthen student involvement in research and 53

development activities'. The Student Parliament demands a stronger focus on this aspect at 54

all educational levels. 55

Involving students in research is valuable in itself. It creates a culture of inquisitiveness, 56

engagement and innovation at HiOA. Through this involvement, students will gain better 57

insight into how research is conducted and how new knowledge can be acquired in a good 58

way. This can increase interest in research, which can lead to more students completing 59

master's and PhD degrees based on greater knowledge in the field, which, in turn, can help 60

to reduce the drop-out rate. 61

More stringent requirements for student involvement in research projects must be applied 62

when internal funds are awarded. Funding shall be awarded to research that involves 63

students actively. The Student Parliament envisages projects where students who participate 64

in data collection can use the data in their master's or bachelor's theses under active 65

supervision of one or more researchers affiliated to the project, who will let students take 66

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part in discussions and provide input on the results. Simply using students to collect data will 67

not be sufficient to be awarded extra funding. 68

In the Student Parliament's opinion, that there are good examples of student-active research 69

at HiOA. These projects must be highlighted and used to inspire other researchers. One of 70

these examples is from the vocational teacher programme (YFL) at the Kjeller campus. For 71

other concrete examples, reference is made to Report No 18 to the Storting (2012–2013) 72

'Long-term perspectives – knowledge provides opportunity'3 and chapter 6 of the Norwegian 73

Association of Higher Education Institutions' (UHR) report 'FoU + utdanning = sant'. 4 74

Grant scheme for students who do research 75

The Student Parliament would like a special grant scheme to be established for students who 76

want to conduct research and publish. A central funding pool should be established at HiOA, 77

and students who write good papers and wish to publish the material through the relevant 78

publication channels can apply for funding from this pool to complete and publish their 79

work. Part of the grant will be disbursed when an application is granted, while the remaining 80

amount will be disbursed once the material has been published in a qualifying publication 81

channel. 82

Research programme option 83

The Student Parliament wants HiOA to look into the need for and possibility of establishing a 84

research programme option like the ones at the University of Oslo (UiO) and the Norwegian 85

University of Science and Technology (NTNU). To begin with, HiOA can look into the 86

possibility of establishing an interdisciplinary elective course at bachelor's level focusing on 87

genuine research experience in which students, for example, work closely with a research 88

environment in their subject area while at the same time receiving good tuition in 89

methodology and ethics across several programmes. 90

Internationalisation 5 91

It is important to make it easier for researchers to establish international contacts in order to 92

enable them to cooperate across national borders. In our view, this can lead to more 93

relevant research in an increasingly globalised world. It can also result in a financial gain for 94

3https://upload.hioa.no/index.php/s/a63495048f6dfffe212bd046e0386f50?path=%2F2014%2FStyrem%C3%B8te%202014-12-18 4 http://www.uhr.no/documents/utdanningogfou_ferdigrapport_260810.pdf 5 Internationalisation policy is discussed in greater depth in SP's political document on

internationalisation. https://blogg.hioa.no/studentparlamentet/files/Politisk-dokument-om-

internasjonalisering.pdf

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each institution, since more institutions will share the costs of research, and it will make it 95

easier to obtain funding from international research funds, such as Horizon 2020. 96

The Student Parliament believes that HiOA must make active efforts to bring in external and 97 send out its own teaching and research staff (TR staff) and PhD candidates. External and 98 local guest lecturers and the foremost researchers in their fields can contribute new 99 perspectives and points of view. This will expand students' insight into their own field and 100 make them better equipped to face people from different cultures in their professional lives. 101 At the same time, such exchanges can help TR staff and PhD candidates to find more 102 national and international partners. 103

It is a principle that a student is a student, regardless of background, and that all students 104 shall be treated equally. This should also apply to PhD candidates at institutions of higher 105 education. The PhD Quota Scheme is in conflict with this principle, as it contributes to 106 creating a significant financial difference between the quota candidates and the PhD 107 candidates who apply via the ordinary process. In the Student Parliament's view, HiOA 108 should lobby the government to increase the grant in order to ensure that all PhD 109 candidates, regardless of background, are paid an equal amount. Until this happens, HiOA 110 should accept candidates under the Quota Scheme, but pay a supplement so that all PhD 111 candidates are paid equally, or, alternatively, give quota candidates priority in HiOA's 112 ordinary admission rounds. 113

Applications and allocation of R&D funds 114

HiOA has undertaken to invest in research environments and projects that are the best or 115

have the potential to become the best in professionally relevant R&D. In Strategy 2020, HiOA 116

commits itself to focusing on obtaining external funding. The Student Parliament believes 117

that efforts should be made to obtain funding from Horizon 2020 and the Research Council 118

of Norway. Funding from these sources will result in a financial gain, and the high threshold 119

for being granted such funding will confer excellence status on both the researchers and the 120

research project. Such allocations make HiOA more attractive for potential international 121

partners. 122

The R&D committees should give priority to projects and research groups that have potential 123

or have previously received funding from the above-mentioned sources. 124

The Student Parliament wants to see a stronger focus on cooperation with the labour 125

market and business and industry, both to attract extra funding, but also to ensure that the 126

research that takes place at HiOA is relevant. Examples of measures include public 127

sector/welfare PhDs, industrial PhDs and enterprises that give students at bachelor's and 128

master's degree level assignments and research questions relating to their enterprise. This 129

creates a network of contacts and can help to build a positive reputation for HiOA and its 130

students. 131

Research management 132

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Good research management is essential in order to ensure progress and good results in 133

research groups and discipline environments. A good research manager helps to motivate 134

and push research and researchers towards their goals, but is subordinate to the heads of 135

department. HiOA must endeavour to train, recruit and further develop good research 136

managers. A trainee or mentor scheme must be established so that newly trained 137

researchers and PhD candidates can gain experience of applying for funding at the earliest 138

possible stage. 139

Application process 140

It is important that the central administration at HiOA works to ensure good solutions for 141

internal applications for funding. The Student Parliament wants a standardised solution that 142

is the same across HiOA. This will make it easier to apply for funding, particularly for those 143

who want to engage in interdisciplinary work across faculties. It is important to focus on 144

minimising red tape in order to keep the internal application processes as simple as possible. 145

The Student Parliament believes that it is also important to work towards a uniform culture 146

as regards applications for national and international funding. The departments should 147

adopt overall strategies for which fields they wish to focus on and then have research groups 148

prepare project outlines. Only after several outlines have been prepared should they initiate 149

the process of looking for potential project funding by combining the outlines into a 150

package. The Student Parliament considers this to be an important step in order to motivate 151

research groups to apply for funding themselves, enable them to learn from the application 152

process, and soften the disappointment associated with applications that may be rejected. 153

Publication and dissemination 154

The institution receives much of it funding from tax revenues, and it is important that 155

everyone can benefit from the results of publicly funded research. It is also important to 156

spread knowledge outside Norway, for example to less wealthy countries. Therefore, the 157

Student Parliament believes that HiOA must publish more via open channels. 158

Open Access 159

The Student Parliament wants HiOA to publish must more via Open Access (OA). It shall be a 160

long-term goal for all research at HiOA that it be made open and publicly accessible through 161

the OA systems. The Student Parliament demands that 40% of all HiOA publications be 162

published via Gold OA by 2015, and that funding for publication via OA channels must be 163

increased so that this goal can be achieved. 164

Open data fund 165

In many ways, open data fund works in the same way as OA as regards transparency and 166

spreading publications and research data. The Student Parliament believes that HiOA must 167

allocate separate funds to TR staff who choose to make data from their research studies 168

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publicly available. The Student Parliament believes that this will make HiOA a pioneer 169

institution in terms of spreading knowledge, and believes this is particularly important 170

because students will benefit from the data material being made public, since they can then 171

use it in their papers. 172

Dissemination 173

Research exists to be disseminated, and it is important to work to disseminate research 174

through more channels than just those that confer publication points. In the Student 175

Parliament's view, this is an important part of HiOA's social mission. 176

Course arenas must be created where TR staff can learn to be active in relation to media, 177

give talks and participate actively in other channels. The Department of External Relations 178

and Communications, in cooperation with the Preparing for Professional Practice 179

Programme, will hold courses where the winners of the HiOA Lecturer of the Year and 180

Communicator of the Year awards will give talks and share their experience in order to 181

encourage more researchers to dare and want to communicate more. 182

The Student Parliament believes that HiOA must focus more on communicating the 183

institution's R&D activities and research environments to students in an effective manner. 184

HiOA can reach students through channels such as social media, streaming services and 185

debates held in other venues than in the lecture room. The Researcher Grand Prix event is 186

one concrete example. 187

Dissemination points 188

Dissemination should carry greater rewards for individuals in order to make it more 189

attractive to engage in. The Student Parliament believes that dissemination points should 190

count towards promotions and/or funds allocated to individuals and their projects. 191

Artistic research 192

The Student Parliament wants HiOA to lobby the Ministry of Education and Research to 193

expand its definition of scholarly publication to also include artistic research (AR). AR shall be 194

documented, peer reviewed and be recognised on a par with scholarly publications. A 195

system should be created under which the artistic result of AR is subject to peer review and 196

points are awarded at two levels in the same way as for publication points. This system 197

should be introduced at the national level through the Current Research information SysTem 198

in Norway (CRISTin).6 199

Appointment and recruitment of TR staff 200

6 http://www.cristin.no/cristin/

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Tenure track positions 201

The Student Parliament's view is that tenure track positions are not the way to go to ensure 202 good TR staff at HiOA. Tenure track positions create a culture in which publications and 203 research work will put too much pressure on PhD candidates. In addition, it will not help to 204 even out the gender imbalance. 205 206

Teaching and working life 207

Good teaching requires good teachers. Being a good teacher requires both good subject 208

knowledge and communication skills, also known as personal subject competence. Good 209

subject knowledge also means knowledge about and the possibility of linking the syllabus in 210

a subject to developments in professional life. HiOA must stop hiring lecturers who are 211

unable to and lack the experience from the professional field required to relate the syllabus 212

to the occupation in question. HiOA must endeavour to create schemes where employees 213

without professor or associate professor qualifications can receive follow-up and guidance to 214

qualify for promotion. 215

The Student Parliament believes that HiOA should have a compulsory scheme whereby 216

employees who lack contact with and links to the professional field are sent on practice 217

placements to obtain the knowledge required to be able to teach. This scheme must not be 218

introduced at the expense of the scheme outlined above. 219

Promotion 220

We demand that HiOA, in cooperation with the Student Parliament, starts work on defining 221 clear requirements for what it means to have 'Documented competence in relevant 222 educational theory and practice based on training or on teaching and supervision'.[1] 223

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Appendix: Definitions of terms in Political document on

research and development

These are the Student Parliament's own definitions of the following terms used in the

document. They are not necessarily completely in accordance with the Norwegian/European

definitions.

Current Research information SysTem in Norway (CRIStin): A system for reporting scientific

publication to the Ministry of Education and Research. CRIStin also gives faculties an

overview of how many publication points they have earned.

Peer review: 'Peer review, quality assurance of research contributions (scholarly articles,

books) by experts in the field making a critical assessment of the contribution before

publication.'7 In this document, we refer to how this term should also be used to cover

quality assurance of artistic research.

Senior researcher: The highest position/title a researcher can hold. It corresponds to a

professorship, but they work outside the university and university college sector and do not

meet the requirements for competence in educational theory and practice.

Research-based teaching: An unclear term that the Student Parliament has chosen to use

when referring to the teaching situation, but which can also refer to who is teaching and

how research is communicated. Below, SP refers to two of many possible definitions of R&D-

based teaching:

'Research-based teaching is teaching carried out by people with experience of research

and development work, who know scientific methodology and thinking, who keeps up to

date with their own field, and who are in contact with groups engaged in research and

development work.'8

According to Healey and Jenkins, all teaching should meet the following criteria:

'Tutor-centred teaching with research-based content.

Tutor-centred teaching focusing on the research process and scientific thinking.

Teaching where students are active participants in discussion of a research-based content

Teaching where the student undertakes "inquiry-based" learning processes'9

7 https://snl.no/fagfellevurdering 8 http://www.nokut.no/documents/nokut/artikkelbibliotek/norsk_utdanning/nnr-publikasjoner/forskn_basert_undv.pdf 9 http://www.uhr.no/documents/utdanningogfou_ferdigrapport_260810.pdf

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This drawing is a translation of the model from Healey and Jenkins 2009, based on the four

items above.2 The top right field is ideal if it involves student-active research, but is not

limited to this.

Research management: Is about managing a research project in which one prioritises resources, organises and follows up work and the individual researchers. The manager must also network with other parties. A research manager is subordinate to the head of department, and does not have the same employer or personnel responsibility. Dissemination: Research communication aimed at society as a whole in order to raise

awareness and interest in research and research results. Examples include holding lectures,

writing textbooks and taking part in debates.

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Dissemination points: The awarding of dissemination points supports activities that are not rewarded by the state funding system. It is the faculties and departments that are awarded funds, not individuals. This is an internal HiOA system.

This list shows qualifying activity and how many dissemination points they confer.

Associate Professor: The job title you will have if you have a PhD and work in the university and university college sector.

Horizon 2020: The EU's own research programme with pertaining funding.

Tenure track position: A temporary position with a promise of a permanent position after a

certain period of time, provided that you meet a number of requirements stipulated by the

institution prior to appointment, for example a certain number of publications within two

years.

Artistic research (AR): Artistic research covers artistic processes that lead to a publicly

accessible artistic product. This process can also include an explicit reflection on the

development and presentation of the artistic product.'10

The Research Council of Norway: A council created by the government; a strategic body

charged, among other things, with promoting and marketing Norwegian research at home

and abroad and administering research funds.

Industrial PhD scheme: Enterprises can apply for funding from the Research Council to

conduct research on relevant issues. An industrial PhD is a collaboration where the

10 http://www.uhr.no/documents/vekt_paa_kunst.pdf, page 6

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enterprise and the Research Council share the expenses, and the enterprise sends an

employee to do research at a chosen institution.

Public sector/welfare PhDs: In theory the same as an industrial PhD, but paid for by the

public instead of the private sector.

Open Access (OA): Unlimited access to and reuse of research. There are two forms of Open

Access publication: gold and green. The Research Council of Norway administers a scheme

under which institutions can have 50% of their costs relating to publication in OA channels

reimbursed.

Gold Open Access publication: Publication in an open journal or book that ensures

access through a licence that permits reuse. These journals are often funded by

publishing fees, meaning that the costs are transferred from the readers to the

authors. Such costs are often covered by the institution to which the researcher is

affiliated or a funding body that supports the research.

Green – self-archiving of published material: Self-archiving of articles published in

conventional subscription-based journals. These articles are made available in open

archives after a certain period, if the publisher consents. The waiting period is usually

between one and two years for the humanities and about six months for technology

subjects.

PhD: The level over a master's degree. The nominal length of study at HiOA is three years.

Professor: The Universities and University Colleges Act sets out the following criteria for

appointments to a position as professor: The candidate must either have an 'academic level

conforming to established international or national standards, or extensive artistic activities

at the highest level conforming to international standards and relevant breadth and

specialization at the highest level of the subject or discipline, and documented competence

in relevant educational theory and practice based on training or on teaching and

supervision'11

You can read more about professorship qualifications and criteria in the Universities and

University Colleges Act or here

http://www.uhr.no/documents/Veiledende_retningslinjer_professoropprykk_SV_fag.pdf

11 https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2006-02-09-129?q=professor

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Publication: Making research results public (or partly public). Is often done in journals or

open archives.

Open publication: Functions in the same way as OA, but, instead of articles describing

research results, it is the research data that are made openly accessible.