How can we work intersectionally? We could, for example, investigate where male and female students with an immigrant background end up in their education," says professor Yvonne Benschop.

“Social background affects whether you take higher education, what you study, the grades you get, and whether or not you finish your education. But little is known about how social class affects academic careers,” says researcher Thea Strømme.

Measures to include marginalised groups are often controversial, because they are not adequately justified, according to associate professor Melina Duarte.

The laws and policies of many European countries include different grounds for discrimination. "Yet intersectional perspectives in research policy are still at an early stage," says Heidi Holt Zachariassen, co-author of a recent report.

Sámi University of Applied Sciences is the main supplier of Sámi-speaking teachers to schools in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. The majority are women, but an increasing number of men are also applying, according to Rector Laila Susanne Vars.

Now is the time for a new survey of sexual harassment in the sector, according to the KIF Committee. This was one of the comments made by Ragnhild Hennum, the KIF chair and Dean, when she participated in the Ministry of Culture and Equality's input meeting.

The EU flew in the face of those who believed that Nordic countries would dominate the gender equality scene in European academia in 2023.

However, researchers born in Norway to immigrant parents still account for less than one per cent of researchers. “Remember that this is a young group,” says Statistics Norway.

Nowadays, most universities, university colleges and research institutes have action plans for equality. Institutions have responsibility for the content and quality of their action plans, says the Ministry of Education and Research.

A new report shows that gender equality advisers and good systems generate engagement and results for gender equality and diversity in research.

“Gender-based violence affects the majority of students and staff in higher education,” according to Fredrik Bondestam from the University of Gothenburg.

The article about class as an invisible difference in academia was the most popular one last year. Check out our most read stories from 2022.

The number of women in academia in Norway has increased, yet they are still a minority, and the target that women should make up half of all academic personnel in permanent positions has not been achieved. If the current rate of change in the higher education sector continues at the same tempo as it has in the 1990s and the current decade, it will take another 25 to 30 years before half of those in permanent positions are women. These figures emerge from a new report compiled by NIFU STEP.

Norwegian Minister for Education and research, Øystein Djupedal, emphasizes the use of positive discrimination to recruit more women to top positions in academia, and he is looking to the EU for the means to do this. However, he is receiving criticism for his budget from the opposition.