Torbjørn Røe Isaksen spurt om misbruk, neglisjering og kontroll av forskning

Today I attended a talk my Norway´s minister of research and education, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, at University of Stavanger, and asked him a question about the government´s abuse (minister of immigration and integration Sylvi Listhaug), neglect (minister of finance Siv Jensen) and attempted control (minister of fisheries Per Sandberg) of research. Among other things, the minister responded that Sandberg felt misunderstood, and that it is more important that Jensen accepts the government´s climate policies than what she believes is actually happening with the climate. He also reiterated that research must be independent and free.

UiS-styret fortsetter fusjonsforhandlinger med Stord/Haugesund - ingen god idé

Sakset fra min engelskspråklige blogg Utopian Realism (min akademiske blogg):

The board of University of Stavanger today, after a 6-5 vote, decided to continue negotiations with Stord/Haugesund University College, aiming for a merging of the two institutions. See news stories (in Norwegian) from Stord/Haugesund University College and University of Stavanger respectively. 

All the employees´ representatives voted against continuing the negotiations. I am the 2nd deputy representative of temporarily employed education and research staff - and did not attend the board meeting. But let it be clear: I am opposed to this merger. Little would be gained by it, apparently, and the chances of achieving the current ambitions of the University of Stavanger would be weakened. I favour autonomous institutions in higher education, but do not see the point in establishing ever-larger institutions, spread over different campuses etc., as the Ministry of Education has set out to do.