Oslo Metropolitan University
Storbyuniversitetet | |
| Type | University |
|---|---|
| Established | 12 January 2018 |
| Rector | Curt Rice |
| Students | c. 20,000 |
| Location | , Norway |
| Predecessor institution | Oslo and Akershus University College |
| Website | hioa.no |
Oslo Metropolitan University (Norwegian: Storbyuniversitetet) is a state university in Oslo and Akershus in Norway, with more than 20,000 students and 2,100 employees.[1] It has higher education programs at bachelor's, master's and PhD level. It offers studies and conducts research in health professions, social sciences, engineering, liberal arts, and other fields.
Oslo Metropolitan University was established on 12 January 2018 and is the youngest of Norway's new universities. It evolved from a previous university college, Oslo and Akershus University College, which was itself the result of many previous mergers. It should not be confused with Norway's oldest and preeminent university, the University of Oslo, founded in 1811, which is also a state university located in Oslo. Unlike the traditional universities, Oslo Metropolitan University's predecessor institutions historically focused on vocational education, but from the 1990s they gradually became more similar to the universities by broadening their scope to include more academic fields and by placing increased emphasis on research and education at the master's and PhD levels. In 2014 and 2016 the then-university college also merged with four of Norway's largest social science research institutes, thus greatly expanding the institution's overall research activity. Oslo Metropolitan University is broadly similar to British former polytechnics which have become universities.
Most of the university is located in the city centre of Oslo along the Pilestredet street, with subsidiary campuses in Sandvika and Kjeller in Akershus. The rector of the university is Curt Rice. The use of the abbreviation "Oslo Met" is disputed.
History
Roots in vocational colleges and academization from the 1990s
Oslo Metropolitan University evolved from a former state university college, Oslo and Akershus University College, which was established in 2011 through the merger of Oslo University College 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, 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 research institutes. These were the Work Research Institute, Norwegian Social Research, the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research and the National Institute for Consumer Research. The mergers with these research institutes greatly expanded the research activity of the university college as a whole, and contributed to the ongoing process of academization of the institution.
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, is controversial[2] and the state Language Council of Norway determined that it violated correct Norwegian spelling and the rules governing names of state institutions, and recommended that the government rejected the name.[3] Some newspapers such as Morgenbladet announced that they would write the name in accordance with Norwegian spelling rules as Oslomet.[4] The name "OsloMet" was heavily criticized in the media and described as a "triumph of emptiness" in Aftenposten.[5]
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;[6] for example the World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations, recommended "MET OSLO" as an international standard abbreviation for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute already in 1956,[7] 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.
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 and Akershus University College 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, the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research and the National Institute for Consumer Research, 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.
Management
Curt Rice, an American linguist who was formerly a professor at the University of Tromsø, became rector on August 1, 2015.[8] He is not the first non-Norwegian to head a Norwegian university or college however, as the University of Oslo has been headed by the French-born Oscar I of Sweden and various Swedish statesmen as chancellors.
Faculties
OMU has the following faculties:
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Faculty of Education and International Studies
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Technology, Art and Design
References
- ^ Facts about OAUC [1]
- ^ Godkjenner omstridt navneforslag – dette er Norges nye universitet
- ^ Språkdirektøren ber Isaksen avvise OsloMet-navnet
- ^ At det het for noe, sa du?, Morgenbladet
- ^ At «OsloMet» vant navnekonkurransen, er et grelt eksempel på tomhetens triumf, Aftenposten
- ^ Det blåser opp til navnestrid om Oslos nye universitet. Meteorologer fraråder OsloMet
- ^ Abridged Final Report of the Session, Commission for Marine Meteorology, Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization, p. 47, 1956
- ^ Walsh, Paul (March 29, 2015). "Minnesota native chosen president of Norway's largest university". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Retrieved March 29, 2015.