Elected rector or not?
Arguments for elected rector – and four against.
Over the past year, the debate has raged on whether universities should have an elected or appointed rector. The government has proposed to make having a hired rector the main model for all institutions and in June they received the support of Parliament. This means that universities and colleges now are free to change from election to hiring.
The next rector election for the University of Oslo (UiO) will take place in 2017. Institutions that wish to continue with the management model they have today can do so without the need to adopt a new decision by the board. A change of employment terms at the University therefore require someone to promote this proposal before the election in two years.
Universitas provides the arguments for and against an elected rector as hiring form.
Arguments FOR elected rector:
1. Democracy: Rector candidates go on election with a programme, and all students and staff are involved in deciding who will govern the institution.
2. Higher degree of legitimacy and professional basis: Rector candidates come from research environments at the institution. Today's rector, for example, is a professor of medicine.
3. Independence: An elected rector will have more power to stand up against the Ministry’s guidelines and protect the university's autonomy.
4. Greater political reins: An elected rector can collaborate with student movements and speak freely, while an employed rector must consult the board first.
Arguments AGAINST elected rector:
1. Low support: Fewt votes in the rector elections. Only 20 percent used their voting rights at the University of Oslo in 2013.
2. Power Bias: Rector elections create bias between faculties. Options are of great advantage for candidates who come from disciplines with many voters.
3. Few women: Elections have so far created gender imbalance. Only one of the nine candidates who ran for rector in the last three elections at UiO is female – and she was not elected.
4. Few candidates: Few candidates run for election. At the last two rector elections at UiO there have only been two candidates. An arrangement with an employed rector can potentially recruit from a larger number of applicants.
