It was high time to put more focus on ethnic diversity, according to stakeholders in academia. But there is scepticism about expanding the KIF Committee’s mandate even further.

The Research Council of Norway wants more women at the helm of the Centres of Excellence. But the centres themselves are afraid of losing the competition for funding if they choose a female director.

The vast majority of ethnic minorities in Norwegian academia are mobile researchers who have moved here to work in an academic position.

In the previous funding round for the Centres of Excellence (SFF) scheme, 23 percent of the centre directors were women. In this year’s round, no women will be directing the SFF centres on their own.

Leadership training on gender and diversity, a pilot study on the working environment, a job promotion project and a gender balance prize are just a few of the measures planned for the future.

KIF has presented universities and university colleges with a practical tool to use in their restructuring efforts to ensure gender balance and diversity.

Both the University of Oslo and the University of Bergen are hoping that the Gender Equality Act will be amended. It is the only way they will get their wish to use gender quotas to admit men to professional studies in psychology.

Gender equality is one of six priority areas in the new ERA Roadmap for research – and there will be regular follow-up of progress in this area in all European countries.

The University of Agder is now requiring its new upper-level managers to have competency in gender equality, based on a model from NTNU – and other institutions are considering following suit.

The percentage of immigrants and people with an immigrant background has increased in all position categories and subject areas in Norwegian research. This is one of the findings from the first official diversity statistics for academia.

According to the science hierarchy, sociology has low status whereas mathematics has high status. Both this hierarchy and the peer-review process have characteristics that structurally downgrade women’s position in academia.

A Norwegian gender equality committee won the poster competition at a large EU conference held recently in Brussels. The winning poster was “Mission: Gender Balance”.

Uppsala University in Sweden is proud of its new tool that reveals gender balance at the touch of a keyboard. Gudrun Schyman of the Feminist Initiative is positive towards the tool, as are Ministers Tora Aasland and Audun Lysbakken. Norwegian educational institutions, however, seem sceptical.

The Norwegian Government’s national budget for 2012 does not allocate any funding to the Research Council of Norway’s initiative on Gender Balance in Senior Positions and Research Management (BALANSE). Executive Director Anders Hanneborg confirms that the initiative is in danger of being discontinued.