Guide for applicants for associate professor positions

A good application should be complete, easy to grasp and well-organized. The expert committee must be ableto find answers to all its questions in your application.

Application must be submitted electronically via  www.jobbnorge.no. The application must contain all information that should be taken into consideration when evaluating your academic qualifications:

• CV
• Diplomas
• References
• Complete list of publications
• List with appendices that document your pedagogical qualifications
• List of academic work that you believe should be taken into consideration in the assessment, including information about where this work was published

The application and appendices have to be in English or a Scandinavian language. Diplomas and references need to be certified.

Based on this information, the expert committee will perform a review of the applicants. Subsequently, the faculty will invite the best-qualified applicants to submit scholarly works.

Curriculum Vitae

You should organize your CV into clearly delineated sections: personal data, education, work experience, academic endeavors, research guidance, teaching experience, popular science endeavors, administrative experience and a brief presentation of your scholarly works. Your last name should appear in the upper corner of all pages, which should also be numbered.

Scholarly works and the list of such

A list of your scholarly works must be created in chronological order with an overview of the number of pages and any possible co-authors. The content must be divided into the following categories:

• Degree dissertations, monographs
• Publications in academic periodicals with referee reviewing
• Published books and/or chapters of books
• Publications in trade journals without referee reviewing
• Published overview presentations (overview articles, summaries, excerpts, etc.)
• Research reports in, for example, internal report series
• Published popular science versions, unpublished instructional compendia and explanations
• Representations of the work of others (assessments, reviews, evaluations of recommendations, etc.)
• Other written works

When evaluating the applicants, emphasis is placed in particular on the following qualifications:

1. Academic qualifications
2. Educational competence
3. Administrative experience

In the overall assessment, the primary emphasis will be placed on academic qualifications as an unconditional requirement with focus on research published the last five years. The educational competence experience of the applicants shall also be reviewed and assessed. That an applicant may have a particularly high level of competence in teaching or administrative work does not, regardless, lead to a reduced requirement for academic competency. When ranking two applicants who are approximately equal with respect to academic endeavors, the other qualifications will be decisive.

The applicants are not to be ranked on whether they fulfill the requirements for educational competence, but in cases where the advertisement contains special requirements, an applicant with a high level of teaching experience should be ranked higher than an applicant with marginal experience under otherwise equal conditions.

In assessing the scope of the scientific production, documented parental and care leaves will be taken into consideration if it emerges in the application.

The applicants must clearly indicate those scholarly works (up to 10) that are deemed to be the most important of the works, and attach a separate list of such. The expert committee will have the opportunity to concentrate on performing a particularly thorough assessment of these selected works.

A doctoral dissertation will be viewed in this respect as one scholarly work, even if it consists of several contextually interrelated works.

It would ease the expert committee's work if applicants were to provide a brief presentation of their academic tracks and activities, with a special emphasis on the selected works. This presentation should be limited to 2 pages.

Own research

In order to qualify for associate professor positions, applicants must submit their own academic works of good quality. The works must contain independent contributions to the subject areas concerned. The works ought to be published, preferably in periodicals with referee review, by publishers with referee review or in graded monographs - or clearly be of such quality that they qualify for such publication and dissemination.

Sole authorship or first authorship generally counts more than secondary authorship. Applicants must hence specify their contributions to any possible joint work or refer to a contact person who is familiar with the works and the applicant, and who the expert committee may contact.

The expert committee will also place an emphasis on the ability to develop and carry out research projects, co-operate in groups, preferably across the boundaries between disciplines and the ability to create contacts in the international research environment.

Popular science endeavors

Documented and good popular science will be worthy of merit. Popular science endeavors must be documented by seminars conducted or published works.

Educational competence is required. Applicants may aquire such competence after employment. Educational competence must be documented in a pedagogical portfolio which should include a documented overview of practical experience and competence as well as a brief reflection statement. You can find a template for practical experience and competence here.

The expert committee will base its assessments on the following checklist:

A. Basic Pedagogical training

Course in university teaching, practical training in teaching, university training in pedagogy or closely related subjects, teaching certificate exam, continuing education courses. Documentation: school transcripts, course certificates.

B. Brief reflection statment

The statement should primarily describe the applicant’s own teaching philosophy and an evaluation of own teaching in relation to his/her knowledge of students’ learning at a higher education level.

C. Evaluation reports

Documentation: Reports concerning evaluations of studies and instruction that encompass an applicant's teaching. Both the methodologies and the results should be reviewed and evaluated.

C. Teaching, guidance and examination work

Forms of instruction: lectures, seminars, demonstrations, exercises, distance education, etc. Guidance: master's/second degree level theses, researcher training, etc. Participation in exams and other forms of assessment of students, awarding grades.

D. Own pedagogical publications, compendia and instructional material

Documentation: If this material is extensive, only a representative selection should be submitted with the application. The remainder can be referenced on an overview list.

E. Research and development work

Reports that show participation in projects associated with development of instruction, such as alternative forms of instruction, guidance or learning environments.

Documentation: Schedules, reports, certificates, etc.

F. Student prizes received

Documentation: prizes received with explanations.

Administrative experience can be participation in councils, boards and committees addressing research and development issues at the department/faculty level, perhaps the university level, research policy involvement, international level work (for example UN- appointed expert groups), administration of large multinational research agreements, administration of research projects, etc.

Your application will be assessed by an expert committee consisting of at least three academic employees with Associate Professor or Professor Competency within the subject area of the position. Two of the committee members must be external, and both genders must if possible be represented.

The expert assessment is normally available within three months after the committee has received all the documents. The assessment will be sent in its entirety to the applicant. Applicants will not have the opportunity to appeal the expert assessment, but will be given the right to make a statement concerning the assessment by submitting remarks.

The group of applicants who are invited to submit scholarly works will be given a thorough review as regards their education, academic qualifications and actual experience. The committee will than provide an overall, comparative assessment of the best-qualified applicants and rank them.

The expert assessment will form the point of departure for further processing by the faculty's recommendation and employment bodies.

The head of department for the department concerned is the authority that makes the recommendations for filling academic positions. The head of department will select one of the applicants who on the basis of an overall assessment is deemed best-qualified for the position, rank all the relevant candidates and submit a proposal for approval to the employment body. The authority making the recommendation is also responsible for interviews, procuring references, evaluating the personal suitability of the applicants and determining whether trial lectures should be conducted.

If the position has been advertised with a moderate gender quota, the recommending authority must assess whether this rule will be applicable.

Applicants should expect that it will take between 6 and 10 months from the deadline for submission of the application until any possible employment is commenced. All applicants will be notified at their specified E-mail addresses of the outcome of the process when the recommended candidate has accepted the position.