funding distributed through the agreements with the EU and the beneficiary countries under the EEA and Norway Grants schemes will contribute to improving the conditions for employees’ academic freedom of expression for exchange of knowledge and debate, both within research and educational institutions and externally in society at large, and to con-sider research priorities and measures that can support this. The Commission finds that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should con-sider how the profile of the guidelines and measures in the education and research sec-tion can help improve the framework condi-tions for academics to share their knowledge in society and be supported in this at their institutions. This will be in line with the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs’ strategy for freedom of expression.47
f. The Commission finds that academic freedom of expression and academic freedom have not been priorities in the Nordic co-operation through the NordPlus education programme or the Nordforsk research programme. Nor-way has the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2022, which may be a good opportunity to initiate cooperation on this issue among the Nordic countries. The Com-mission asks the Norwegian authorities to raise the issue of academic freedom, including understanding of democracy, active citizen-ship, freedom of expression and confidence in knowledge, as an important topic in the Nor-dic Council of Ministers’ work on education and research.
g. The Commission asks the Norwegian authori-ties to support the UN’s efforts to establish a global code of conduct to combat misinforma-tion online and promote integrity in public information.
h. The Commission asks the government to establish Students at Risk as a permanent scheme and to support the Scholars at Risk scheme, and asks the universities and univer-sity colleges to be active in these networks.
intended to function as a springboard for dis-cussion and raising awareness about academic freedom of expression at the institutions. The text is offered as a proposal; it is not intended to be regarded as a requirement or order. It can – and should be – criticised, modified and adapted locally. See section 7.4.1.
7. The Commission proposes ten ground rules for free speech. They are intended to serve as a checklist for the individual academic who wants to promote a good culture of free speech. See section 7.5.
8. The institutions should clearly emphasise in their strategies that academic freedom of expression, academic dissemination aimed at the general public, and active participation in public discourse are natural elements of the mission of universities. See section 7.4.2. Ele-ments of the institutions’ dissemination strate-gies may include:
a. establishing leadership forums where the relationship between academic freedom, freedom of expression and academic fre-edom of expression is discussed and where associated issues and situations can be dis-cussed
b. expressing expectations for individuals with regard to dissemination activities (for example, in the appointment process) c. establishing scheme(s) to support
person-nel who are «in the line of fire» due to their dissemination activities
d. weighing up the institution’s reputation building against academic freedom of expression
e. discussing academic freedom of expression in international partnerships, especially in order to strengthen the institutions’ ability to handle collaboration and situations with demanding countries
f. discussing academic freedom of expression when collaborating with businesses and other stakeholders in society
g. considering the work on protection of pri-vacy and research ethics in the light of aca-demic freedom of expression
h. discussing how to ensure diversity and pre-vent conformity
9. The Commission emphasises that astute lead-ership is essential to ensure a good culture of academic freedom of expression (cf. section 7.4.2).
Astute leadership includes:
a. having a good understanding of the relati-onship between academic freedom,
fre-edom of expression and academic frefre-edom of expression
b. highlighting and stimulating dissemination activities by creating arenas for dissemina-tion and contributing to the development of a good culture of free speech
c. being supportive of colleagues who are experiencing difficult situations as a result of having exercised their freedom of expression
d. creating predictable framework conditions for freedom of expression, including when a manager can intervene
participating in discussions about academic freedom of expression with other managers 10. With the Commission’s proposal for a new third paragraph of section 1-5 of the Universi-ties and University Colleges Act, the universi-ties and university colleges will also be explic-itly responsible for having systems and rou-tines for training in academic freedom and aca-demic freedom of expression. See section 7.4.3.
The training activities will also be an ele-ment in the building of an organisational cul-ture to improve academic freedom of expres-sion. The Commission holds that everyone who exerts an influence on the exercise of aca-demic freedom of expression by the acaaca-demic staff and students must have fundamental knowledge of the grounds for academic fre-edom of expression. Furthermore, the Commission finds that universities and univer-sity colleges must do more to ensure that em-ployees who want or need it media training are offered this. The proposal that a requirement regarding training in academic freedom of expression be added in section 1-5, new third paragraph, of the Universities and University Colleges Act also encompasses students.
11. Since good management and leadership are essential for creating a good academic culture of free speech, managers and other leaders must also receive training. Universities and university colleges have a responsibility to ensure systematic management development, which must also include academic freedom of expression.
12. The Commission finds that greater weight can be attached to dissemination activities in con-nection with appointment and promotion.
Expectations concerning dissemination can also be worded more clearly in employment contracts. The Commission’s proposal to intro-duce a dissemination indicator in the funding
system for universities and university colleges should be followed up at the institutional level by establishing transparent reward and/or incentive systems for dissemination. This should be done regardless of whether or not a national dissemination indicator is introduced.
See section 7.4.4.
13. Doctoral programmes are central to the advancement of academia and providing soci-ety with new knowledge. The Commission therefore recommends that universities and university colleges introduce a requirement that all doctoral theses must include some form of dissemination aimed at the general public. This kind of requirement can be imple-mented through inclusion in the contract that the individual institution enters into with the PhD candidates. See section 7.4.5.
14. The Commission proposes that the Ministry of Education and Research establish a regulatory requirement that all doctoral theses must include an abstract in Norwegian, to ensure that the requirement also applies to private universities and university colleges.
15. The Commission expects the institutions to take their statutory responsibilities for the maintenance and development of Norwegian academic and technical language seriously.
The institutions must contribute to the devel-opment of terminology in the various fields.
Employees must be given time to work on con-tributions to encyclopaedias and textbooks, etc. Training in Norwegian language and soci-ety for non-Norwegian-speaking employees must be strengthened. The government’s sup-port scheme for textbooks to ensure there is syllabus literature available in Norwegian and Sami must be continued at an adequate level.
See section 7.4.6.
16. Recommendations to the authorities – national measures (see section 7.6.1):
a. When acting as a contracting client, the state and public authorities must ensure openness and transparency regarding rese-arch findings and must allow dissemination of results.
b. The Commission asks the Ministry of Edu-cation and Research to instruct the Rese-arch Council of Norway (NFR) to ensure that abstracts in Norwegian are also publis-hed for all the projects in the Research Council of Norway’s Project Bank.
d. In their communication, including both political statements and in connection with administrative follow-up, the authorities
should stress the importance of academic freedom of expression and that this is a cru-cial part of the mission of academia. The authorities must not impose restrictions on expressions or unnecessarily undermine confidence in research-based knowledge.
e. The Commission finds it important that the ongoing work on open research, and open access to research in particular, is conti-nued.
17. Recommendations to the authorities – interna-tional measures (see section 7.6.2):
a. The government should continuously assess the status of the cooperation with the partner countries in the Panorama stra-tegy.
b. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ enforce-ment of the export control regulations in connection with knowledge partnerships should include special consultation and decision-making processes in which the knowledge sector is actively involved and where decisions are made by the govern-ment. See section 7.4.2.
c. When developing policy for academic fre-edom of expression in educational, rese-arch and innovation partnerships with chal-lenging countries, Norway should coordi-nate with the EU and the OECD to ensure that these policies are practised as uni-formly as possible.
d. The Commission asks the government to support the ongoing work in the EU to strengthen academic freedom in general and academic freedom of expression in par-ticular.
e. The Commission finds that project funding through the agreements with the EU and the beneficiary countries that regulate the EEA and Norway Grants schemes ought to make a greater contribution towards impro-ving the conditions for employees’ acade-mic freedom of expression.
f. The Commission asks the Norwegian aut-horities to raise the issue of academic fre-edom, including understanding of demo-cracy, active citizenship, freedom of expres-sion and trust in knowledge, as an impor-tant topic in the Nordic Council of Minis-ters’ work on education and research.
g. The Commission asks the Norwegian aut-horities to support the UN’s efforts to esta-blish a global code of conduct to combat misinformation online and promote inte-grity in public information.
h. The Commission asks the government to establish Students at Risk as a permanent scheme and to support the Scholars at Risk
scheme, and asks the universities and uni-versity colleges to be active in these networks.
Chapter 8
Economic and administrative consequences
The proposed amendments to section 1-5 of the Universities and University Colleges Act are essentially a clarification of the current regula-tions and will not have significant economic or administrative consequences.
The proposal to include a dissemination indi-cator in the funding system entails a redistribution of the funding within the closed framework of the
performance-based part of the allocation. This proposal will therefore not have any economic consequences. The administrative consequences will be minor relative to the total administration of the current system.
The other proposals are not expected to have significant economic or administrative conse-quences.