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.

Does the right to vote necessarily mean that you are heard and have influence over the way the world is interpreted? This was among the questions raised in the seminar Use your voice – make yourself heard.

For the first time the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud will review all the cases from six years of work to combat sexual harassment. The report will be ready in early January.

The Research Council of Norway’s Initiative on Gender Balance in Senior Positions and Research Management (BALANSE) has awarded its first project funding. Three independent research institutes and one university can now implement new gender equality activities.

UiT – The Arctic University of Norway is using the prize money from the Gender Equality Award to gain new inspiration from Norway and abroad. Eight new adjunct professor positions have been created.

Swedish universities have made the most progress in renewing the academic culture and Norwegian institutions have designed effective measures, but in Denmark the prevailing belief is that gender equality has already been achieved.

Expectations were high for the incentive scheme from the Ministry of Education and Research to recruit women to senior-level positions in mathematics, natural science and technology. Now, however, an evaluation report recommends ending the scheme.

“The award is for universities, university colleges and research institutes seeking to move up a notch or two in the gender equality ranks,” says Gerd Bjørhovde, chair of the Committee for Gender Balance in Research.  

A visit from the KIF Committee can mean the difference between no focus on gender equality and being the best in the class, measured by the percentage of women professors. As long as the best in the class is 27 percent, there is no doubt that more visits are needed.

A new report from the Work Research Institute shows that the academic field of history remains highly male dominated. A conservative academic culture and a lack of willingness to problematize male dominance in the field can take much of the blame for this.