#Think that they teach too much

• 25 per cent of time is spent on administrative tasks
• Research is done in their spare time

2008-10-29 På norsk

Today Prorector at the University of Oslo (UiO) Haakon B. Benestad put forward a report about the time management of the academic staff at UiO to the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR). In the new report, it emerges that academic staff believe that they spend 25 of their time doing administrative work. According to UiO’s goals, ten per cent of time should be spent on this.

Leader of the Norwegian Association of Researchers, Bjarne Hodne, thinks that this statistic is frightening.

- The administration at UiO must take responsibility and solve this problem. If this prioritization of administrative tasks is due to the Quality Reform, then the reform is largely to blame for the premises for research being so poor for professors, Hodne states.

According to UiO’s goals, employees should spend 45 per cent of their time teaching, 45 per cent researching and 10 per cent doing administrative tasks. The academics themselves estimate that they spend 32 per cent of their time researching.

The criticism of the Quality Reform has concerned the fact that demands on results and management by objectives has destroyed the freedom to do research on subject fields of one’s choice, and that too much time is spent on making reports.

Associate Professor at the Rokkan Centre for Social Studies, Svein Michelsen, took part in the final evaluation of the Quality Reform that was presented in 2007. He thinks that the reform is too extensive and far-reaching for anyone to draw these kinds of conclusions, but emphasizes that the survey is important.

- The Quality Reform must continue to be evaluated and adjusted, and it is very good that UiO is taking responsibility with this survey, Michelsen says.

Professor at the Department of Molecular Biosciences (IMBV), Kristian Gundersen, finds it worrying that so much time is spent on administrative tasks, especially since the administration at the university is bigger than ever.

- There is no doubt that the Quality Reform has weakened the proportion of research. It is not often that one has one’s prejudices so strongly confirmed, Gundersen says.

UHR has already started to examine whether the Quality Reform has diminished the possibilities for research, and the information in the survey is important in order to form a picture of the current situation.

Not enough time for research

The survey also shows that 53 per cent of academics think that it is more difficult or significantly more difficult to find time for research compared to six years ago, that is to say before the Quality Reform was introduced.

- It is not surprising that researchers themselves are unhappy with the amount of time they have for research. This supports our misgivings in the final evaluation of the Quality Reform, Michelsen states. He was on the committee that presented the end evaluation of the reform in the Spring of 2007.

Prorector Benestad is pleased with the results of the survey, and is not surprised that many think that they do not have enough time for research.

- Have you decided on any suggestions for concrete measures that would give researchers more time and freedom to research?

- No I have not, but I support the researchers in that there should be as much academic freedom as possible, Benestad says.

Education researcher at NIFU STEP (the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education), Per Olaf Aamodt, is not surprised with how employees spend their time.

- Finding time for research is a challenge after the Quality Reform, and I am not surprised that this is still a problem, Aamodt says.

Extensive overtime

The survey also showed that many members of the academic staff work long days. 61 per cent work a lot more and 31 per cent somewhat more than normal working hours.

Hodne of the Norwegian Association of Researchers thinks that the situation is untenable, and does not accept that professors should have to work this much outside of regular working hours.

- The fact that professors must spend their free time getting this work done is absolutely not ok, he states.

However, Prorector Benestad believes that this amount of work is necessary if one wishes to compete on an international level.

Want to teach less

Reform critic Gundersen believes that students will gain from getting involved in this matter, as good research will lead to good teaching.

- It is important that student politicians are aware of their role, and contribute to making a system that can balance research and teaching, Gundersen says.

Statistics show that employees wish to teach less than the current 33 per cent. They would prefer to spend 24 per cent of their working hours teaching.

Leader of the Student Parliament, Heine Skipenes, would like to have a healthy balance between teaching and research, but does not think that all the negative consequences of the Quality Reform should affect students.

-If the statistics are correct, and professors wish to prioritize research instead of teaching, then I think that this is wrong. Too little time is spent on teaching already. If less time is spent on teaching, then you will not have the best students to recruit from. I heard about a scientific institute in Sweden that stopped teaching; within two years their research started falling behind. The students kept the researchers awake, Skipenes says.

Linda Johnsen Ørstavik • Stephane Lelarge (photography) • Translated by Anna Young