Season's greetings to students and staff

Dear students and colleagues 2021 has been a special year.

And it has been an eventful year.

We have experienced a lot together, even though we are now ending the year where we started it - with corona measures that limit our everyday lives.

I'm glad we had an fall semester where we could be together on campus again. Early this fall, the pandemic seemed to subside.

During a hectic semester startup week, new students got to know UiB, each other and the student city of Bergen. For students and us employees who have been at UiB for a while, we were happy to be back to normal.

We have learned to live with unpredictability, and we have become more flexible. If there is one thing I have been impressed by, it is the ability of students and staff to find new solutions and ways of working together.

Our study programs and our research are invaluable in the face of the pandemic, the major societal challenges and by providing society with a stable knowledge contingency. With good reason, we are proud of the breadth of knowledge at UiB.

As a university, we are proud to carry our academic traditions. This autumn, the 75th anniversary gave us an opportunity to think about our roots, and also recognize UiB's position as a key public institution.

We got to feel the pride. We are proud of our students, and that they are helping to make Bergen the country's most beautiful student city. We are proud of our collections and The National Norwegian Archive for Queer History. Proud of the whale skeletons and viking treasures. Proud of Grieg Academy and the linguists. And we are proud of students and staff who travel on cruises with Statsraad Lehmkul and the One Ocean expedition to find out more about the sea.

2022 is coming soon. My greatest wish is that this will be the year where we get the good UiB everyday life back, without intrusive corona restrictions. We do not know exactly what the next semester will be like. But we want to keep the campus open as open as we can within current infection control measures.

Now the sun has turned, and we are entering the Christmas holidays. No matter where and how you spend Christmas, I wish you happy holidays. It will be nice to meet again in 2022.

I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas.