Oslo Metropolitan University
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Oslo Metropolitan University (Oslomet; )"Skrivemåten av universitetsnamnet Oslomet – storbyuniversitetet,"
Language Council of Norway The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...
, 17/677-4/DGI, 18 January 2018
is a state
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
in
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
and Kjeller in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. It is the result of the merger of many former vocational colleges in the Greater Oslo Region. It has around 1,400 academic employees (of which over 150 are professors/research professors, the top rank in Norway), around 20,000 students and around 800 administrative support staff.
/ref> Oslo Metropolitan University was established on 12 January 2018 and is the second youngest of Norway's new universities. It evolved from what was until 2018 Norway's largest
university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...
, Oslo and Akershus University College, which was itself the result of many previous mergers of around 30 former vocational colleges and community colleges in the Oslo area. Most of the university is located in the city centre of Oslo along the Pilestredet street, with subsidiary campuses in Kjeller in
Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...
. The rector of the university is Christen Krogh.


History


Roots in vocational colleges and academization from the 1990s

Oslo Metropolitan University evolved from a former state
university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...
, Oslo and Akershus University College, which was established in 2011 through the merger of
Oslo University College Oslo University College (; HiO) was the largest state university college in Norway from 1994 to 2011, with more than 18,000 students and approximately 1800 employees.
and Akershus University College. Both these institutions had been formed in 1994 through the mergers of many former colleges in the Greater Oslo Region. These colleges historically focused on
vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...
, such as teacher and nursing education, but from the mid-1990s the newly formed Oslo University College and Akershus University College had gradually become more similar to universities through of a process of "academization", similar to the development of British polytechnics into new universities. This involved broadening their scope to include more traditionally academic disciplines and placing increased emphasis on research and education at master's and PhD levels, as well as increasingly favouring recruitment at the associate professor level or higher. From 1995, the colleges were also governed by the same law and regulatory framework as the universities. Thus, by the 2000s the formal differences between universities and university colleges had become minimal, although the university colleges were still less research-intensive and with a more vocational focus.


Mergers with research institutes

In 2014 and 2016 the then-university college merged with four of Norway's largest
social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
research institutes. These were the Work Research Institute,
Norwegian Social Research Norwegian Social Research (, NOVA) is a state social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It is part of Oslo Metropolitan University, and was formerly an independent state agency from its establishment in 1996 until 2014. Together w ...
, the
Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research The Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (, NIBR) is a social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsu ...
and the
National Institute for Consumer Research The National Institute for Consumer Research (, SIFO) is a consumer affairs research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It has researchers in both social science, social and natural sciences. Albeit non-biased, it is not organizationally independent ...
. However these research institutes remain entirely separate from the university college and retain their autonomy.


University status

On 12 January 2018 the King-in-Council granted the institution the status of a university.


Name

The first part of the Norwegian version of the university's name, ''Oslomet'', and particularly the spelling used by the institution in its marketing, ''OsloMet'', is controversial and the state
Language Council of Norway The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...
determined that it violated correct Norwegian spelling and the rules governing names of state institutions, and recommended that the government rejected the name. Some newspapers such as ''
Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...
'' announced that they would write the name in accordance with Norwegian spelling rules as ''Oslomet''. The name "OsloMet" was heavily criticized in the media and described as a "triumph of emptiness" in ''
Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...
''. On 18 January 2018 the state Language Council of Norway determined that the correct spelling of the university's Norwegian name, which is mandatory in official government usage, is ''Oslomet – storbyuniversitetet''. In the official list of correct spellings of names of government agencies, the name is spelled ''Oslomet – storbyuniversitetet'' in Bokmål and Nynorsk. The use of any variation of the abbreviation "Oslo Met" is also disputed because the state Norwegian Meteorological Institute objects to its usage due to its similarity to one of their own international abbreviations; for example the
World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...
, an agency of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, recommended "MET OSLO" as an international standard abbreviation for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute already in 1956, and the institute uses "MET" as its abbreviation for domestic purposes and "MET Norway" or "MET Oslo" internationally; MET Oslo is also used domestically to refer specifically to its headquarters in Oslo. A branding document published on the university's website and aimed at its employees claims the institution should be referred to as "OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University;" however the Language Council rejected several of the key claims in the document and the document was subject to ridicule in the '' Dagsnytt Atten'' news magazine of the state broadcaster NRK, in which the management at Oslo Metropolitan University refused to participate. In the
Sami languages Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
traditionally spoken by the small Sami minority in
Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...
and part of Central Norway, the university's name is ''Oslomet – stuorragávpotuniversitehta'' in
Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...
, ''Oslomet – stuorstádauniversitiehtta'' in
Lule Sami Lule Sámi (, , ) is a Uralic- Sámi language spoken around the Lule River in Sweden and in the northern parts of Nordland county in Norway. In Norway it is especially seen in Hamarøy Municipality (formerly Tysfjord Municipality), where Lule ...
and ''Oslomet – stoerrestaareuniversiteete'' in Southern Sami. The university also announced it would translate its name into Norwegian Sign Language.


Condemnation of Israel and Israeli Higher Education Boycott

On February 13, 2024 the University's board announced that it condemns "Israel's attack on Gaza" and will immediately end its exchange agreement with the
University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...
, and not enter into any new general cooperation agreements on institutional cooperation with Israeli universities or colleges. The decision was criticized by a former Professor at the University, Torkel Brekke, who claimed in an editorial in the
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
that the decision is indicative a "post-Holocaust strain of
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
... cloaked under another name—“
anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...
”."


Organisation

The university has the following faculties:
Faculty of Health SciencesFaculty of Education and International StudiesFaculty of Social SciencesFaculty of Technology, Art and Design
The university also includes the following autonomous research institutes: * Work Research Institute *
Norwegian Social Research Norwegian Social Research (, NOVA) is a state social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It is part of Oslo Metropolitan University, and was formerly an independent state agency from its establishment in 1996 until 2014. Together w ...
*
Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research The Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (, NIBR) is a social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsu ...
*
National Institute for Consumer Research The National Institute for Consumer Research (, SIFO) is a consumer affairs research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It has researchers in both social science, social and natural sciences. Albeit non-biased, it is not organizationally independent ...


Education

The primary language of instruction is Norwegian. However certain courses are taught in foreign languages, mainly English, German and French; this includes language education for teachers, and various other courses, such as courses aimed at international students.


Ranks

Oslo Metropolitan University uses all three academic career pathways in Norway. The main career pathway includes the ranks assistant professor, associate professor and professor. The research career pathway is mainly used at the Work Research Institute,
Norwegian Social Research Norwegian Social Research (, NOVA) is a state social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It is part of Oslo Metropolitan University, and was formerly an independent state agency from its establishment in 1996 until 2014. Together w ...
, the
Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research The Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (, NIBR) is a social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsu ...
and the
National Institute for Consumer Research The National Institute for Consumer Research (, SIFO) is a consumer affairs research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It has researchers in both social science, social and natural sciences. Albeit non-biased, it is not organizationally independent ...
, and includes the ranks researcher, senior researcher and research professor, which correspond directly to assistant professor, associate professor and professor and have similar promotion criteria. The teaching career pathway is still used by the original university college, and includes the ranks first lecturer and docent as alternatives to the associate professor and professor ranks.


Notable academics

* Olav Eikeland, Professor of Work Research * Jan Grund, Professor of Management * Jon Samseth, Professor of Energy Physics * Knut Seip, Professor of Environmental Management * Rune Slagstad, Professor of Sociology * Steinar Stjernø, Professor of Social Policy * Ingunn Sandaker, Professor of Behavioral Science * Per Holth, Professor of Behavior Analysis


Management

Current rector i
Christen Krogh
Krogh was appointed as rector on December 8, 2021. Curt Rice, an American linguist who was formerly a professor at the University of Tromsø, became rector on August 1, 2015. He is not the first non-Norwegian to head a Norwegian university or college however, as the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
has had several non-Norwegian chancellors in the past.


References


External links


Oslo Metropolitan University
{{authority control Education in Oslo
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
Florence Network Universities and colleges established in 2018 2018 establishments in Norway Universities and colleges formed by merger in Norway