Om temaområdet

Dersom en skal oppnå målsettingene om et kvalitativt bedre universitet, som i større grad utløser positive synergier gjennom samarbeid innenfor og mellom fagmiljøer, betyr det at en må jobbe på andre måter enn tidligere. En utvidet og oppgradert campus gir i så måte et utvidet handlingsrom, med kortere geografisk avstand mellom ulike fagmiljøer, nye (og annerledes?) undervisningslokaler og (kanskje) større muligheter for å ta i bruk ulike undervisningsteknologier.

Materielle og teknologiske virkemidler gir nye muligheter i form av utvidet handlingsrom. Det gir imidlertid ikke i seg selv nødvendigvis bedre resultater, verken i undervisning eller forskning. Det en får til i den akademiske virksomheten, er også avhengig av organisatoriske forhold. Dette er tydeligst i undervisningen, der aktiviteten i stor grad styres av studieplaner, reglementer, timeplanlegging, romallokering, bevilgningsordninger, regnskapsrutiner og kostnadsberegninger. Dersom en prøver seg på undervisningstiltak som går på tvers av tradisjonelle inndelinger av fag, institutter og fakulteter, vil en raskt erfare at mange av disse formelle ordningene representerer effektive barrierer mot nytenkning og eksperimentering.

Å få til endringer i en organisasjon som NTNU er ikke bare avhengig av hvordan slike formelle faktorer fungerer. Endringer er også avhengig av de ikke-formelle kvalitetene og egenskapene i organisasjonen, slik som etablerte kulturer (normer, tankesett, vaner osv.), men også av hvordan en håndterer samarbeid, kommunikasjon og koordinering. Viktig er også uformelle relasjoner og nettverk innenfor og på tvers av fag. Hvordan ledelse utøves på ulike nivåer, er også av avgjørende betydning.

Vi har også samlet relevante studentoppgaver fra NTNU og andre universiteter som tar for seg ulike aspekter ved campusutvikling.

Relevant litteratur

Collini, S. (2012). What are universities for? Penguin.

Across the world, universities are more numerous than they have ever been, yet at the same time there is unprecedented confusion about their purpose and skepticism about their value. What Are Universities For? offers a spirited and compelling argument for completely rethinking the way we see our universities, and why we need them. Stefan Collini challenges the common claim that universities need to show that they help to make money in order to justify getting more money. Instead, he argues that we must reflect on the different types of institution and the distinctive roles they play. In particular we must recognize that attempting to extend human understanding, which is at the heart of disciplined intellectual enquiry, can never be wholly harnessed to immediate social purposes - particularly in the case of the humanities, which both attract and puzzle many people and are therefore the most difficult subjects to justify. At a time when the future of higher education lies in the balance, What Are Universities For? offers all of us a better, deeper and more enlightened understanding of why universities matter, to everyone.

Curvelo Magdaniel, F. C., De Jonge, H., & Den Heijer, A. (2018). Campus development as catalyst for innovation. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 20(2), 84–102.

https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-07-2016-0025

This paper aims to model the relationship between innovation and real estate, providing campus managers with a tool that illustrates how campus development stimulates innovation and that guides them to add value to their organisations. The authors review previous research and build theory from the study of two cases. They shape a hypothesis by linking various theoretical concepts and by verifying it with empirical data to finally model how campus development stimulates innovation. Findings suggest that campus development facilitates five conditions required to stimulate innovation through decisions and interventions over long-term periods. These findings acknowledge that location is key to explain campus development as a catalyst for innovation. In addition, this paper identifies potential issues in decision-making processes that can inhibit the facilitating role of real estate in innovation. A framework clarifying the path to stimulate innovation through real estate will allow campus managers to steer their real estate strategies in line with this specific organisational goal and to better communicate how their decisions add value to their organisations. Findings advocate a more effective and efficient resource allocation for campus development in and around cities. Until now, studies on stimulating innovation through real estate have focused on workplace level. A core theoretical contribution of this paper is enlarging the application scope of CREM theories to the urban level involving multiple organisations.

Engelen, E., Fernandez, R., & Hendrikse, R. (2014). How Finance Penetrates its Other: A Cautionary Tale on the Financialization of a Dutch University. Antipode, 46(4), 1072–1091.

https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12086

If any organization ought to be immune to the forces of financialization, it is a publicly funded university in corporatist Europe. Shielded from the intrusion by financial metrics, values and professionals through a strong historically rooted tradition of selfmanagement by powerful professional guilds, continental universities should largely have avoided the marketization and managerialization of Anglophone universities. Not so, this case study of a Dutch public university suggests. From 1995 onwards, a shift in real estate management—devolving responsibilities from the Dutch state to universities— served as a Trojan horse for financialization, triggering changes in organizational culture and a power shift from teaching and research professionals to accountants, real-estate developers, financiers and their ilk. This case suggests that the power of finance is such that no societal domain is immune. The paper ends with a call for more non-metropolitan case studies of financialization and argues that the only hope for salvation is a more self-conscious defense of traditional academic values by the guardians of higher learning themselves.

Ertsås, T. I., & Irgens, E. J. (2021). Developing Organizational Knowledge in Schools: The Role of Theory and Theorizing in Collective Capacity Building. Journal of Educational Change. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-021-09433-3

Developing knowledge in education systems is essential in capacity building. When the intention is to build collective capacity and sustain the capacity in schools, we claim there is a need to understand how organizational knowledge is developed and what form this knowledge may take in the school as an organization. However, theory seems to have put little weight on the development of organizational knowledge. In this article, we draw on two cases to discuss why there is a need for theoretical perspectives that may help conceptualize and aid knowledge development in capacity building. Our contribution is a theoretical model that builds on a graded theory concept, in which theory and practice are understood as entangled in process rather than as dichotomous and static categories. We hope to contribute to an understanding of capacity building that avoids the tyranny of theory and the tyranny of practice, and where teachers’ and school leaders’ professional theorizing is seen as essential for success.

Gohari, S., & Holsen, T. (2016). Understanding the Governance System in the Campus Development; the Cases of Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Procedia Engineering, 161, 2115–2120. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.694

The purpose of this research is to understand the governance system in the university campus development process in Norway. Norwegian cases can provide appropriate examples to study governance because of two main reasons; Firstly, local governments in Norway have historically performed crucial development functions. Secondly, the national government places a great emphasis on dialogue and cooperation between the state and cities and between public and private parties. This paper is based on the findings of the two different cases in Norway; Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås and Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. A new and modern, but still historically grounded tradition in Norway views the university as a product of its relationship with the city and its urban surroundings, with a strong belief in a university of the city, and not simply, in the city. Considering the ‘university of the city’ concept adopts different focuses at different stages, involves many internal and external stakeholders, and attracts divergent interests and power relations. A main result of this study is that a successful campus development depends to a large extent on the process of exchange and governance between the national government (mainly the Ministry of Education) and the universities in Norway. A delay in the campus development process can be a result of the university's neglect of the role and power of the national government.

 

Knardahl, S., Johannessen, H. A., Sterud, T., Härmä, M., Rugulies, R., Seitsamo, J., & Borg, V. (2017). The Contribution from Psychological, Social, and Organizational Work Factors to Risk of Disability Retirement: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 176.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4059-4

Previous studies indicate that psychological, social, and organizational factors at work contribute to health, motivation, absence from work, and functional ability. The objective of the study was to assess the current state of knowledge of the contribution of psychological, social, and organizational factors to disability retirement by a systematic review and meta-analyses. Data sources: A systematic literature search for studies of retirement due to disability in Medline, Embase, and PsychINFO was performed. Reference lists of relevant articles were hand-searched for additional studies. Data extraction: Internal validity was assessed independently by two referees with a detailed checklist for sources of bias. Conclusions were drawn based on studies with acceptable quality. Data synthesis: We calculated combined effect estimates by means of averaged associations (Risk ratios) across samples, weighting observed associations by the study’s sample size. Thirty-nine studies of accepted quality were found, 37 of which from the Nordic countries. There was moderate evidence for the role of low control (supported by weighted average RR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.21-1.61) and moderate evidence for the combination of high demands and low control (although weighted average was RR = 1.45; 95% CI = 0.96-2.19) as predictors of disability retirement. There were no major systematic differences in findings between the highest rated and the lowest rated studies that passed the criterion for adequate quality. There was limited evidence for downsizing, organizational change, lack of employee development and supplementary training, repetitive work tasks, effort-reward imbalance to increase risk of disability pension. Very limited evidence was found for job demands, evening or night work, and low social support from ones superior. Psychological and organizational factors at work contribute to disability retirement with the most robust evidence for the role of work control. We recommend the measurement of specific exposure factors in future studies.

 

Noyola-Cherpitel, R., Medellín-Milán, P., & Nieto-Caraveo, L. M. (2016). Discourses and Identity: An Educational Sociology Approach to Campus Sustainability Assessment. In W. Leal Filho & M. Zint (Eds.), The Contribution of Social Sciences to Sustainable Development at Universities (pp. 73–88). Springer International Publishing. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26866-8_5

It is widely recognized that integrating sustainability in student professional development is an important contribution of the university to transform students into citizens who are sustainability conscious and who positively impact on university campus and on society in general. Organizations and social groups that promote sustainability introduce different discourses in the university according to their interests and through this process regulate the educational responses to sustainability. Therefore, discourses influence the types of professional identities produced in higher education. The research question was: How are sustainability discourses interpreted and translated by students into their professional development and what are the implications of their identification with one or more sustainability discourses? This question was answered through research focused on graduate students’ theses. The analysis was based on Bernstein’s educational sociology theory which describes how social discourses are selected and adapted to the pedagogic context. Five different groups of students were identified based on the type of interpretation of sustainability that they favored as a framework for their research. Interpretations were constructed based on combinations of sustainability discourses adapted by students in their research and, hence, it was also possible to identify the organizations where discourses originated. This study has implications for advancing campus sustainability by evidencing that discourses that are given priority in higher education, such as curriculum content or teaching activities, could dominate students’ professional identities, thus limiting their scope for social contribution.

Røsdal, T., Hope, K., Lykke, P. S., & Stensaker, B. (2009). Konturer av et Innlandsuniversitet: Vurdering av organisasjons-, styrings- og ledelsesmodeller (No. 26/2009). NIFU STEP Norsk institutt for studier av innovasjon, forskning og utdanning.

https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/279858

NIFU STEP og Rokkansenteret fikk våren 2009 i oppdrag å utrede fremtidige modeller for hvordan et Innlandsuniversitet skal organiseres, styres og ledes. I samarbeid med tidligere assisterende universitetsdirektør ved NTNU – Peter S. Lykke – har hovedtilnærmingen i dette prosjektet vært å få frem de ansattes synspunkter på disse spørsmålene. Denne tilnærmingen er begrunnet i at de ansatte har mange erfaringer med dagens styrings- og ledelsesformer og hvordan disse fungerer, samt at dagens ansatte også er de som skal iverksette de ordninger som høyskolene i fellesskap vedtar. Prosjektet har i hovedsak vært gjennomført som en rekke intervjuer og samtaler med personer både i sentrale posisjoner og funksjoner, og som har bred erfaring knyttet til organiserings, styrings- og ledelsesspørsmål – både innenfor og utenfor høyskolene.

 

Rytkönen, E., & Heywood, C. (2015). Tackling the Challenges of University Campus Management Processes. In R. H. Crawford & A. Stephan (Eds.), Living and Learning: Research for a Better Built Environment: 49th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2015 (pp. 716–725). The Architectural Science Association and The University of Melbourne.

https://anzasca.net/paper/tackling-the-challenges-of-university-campus-management-processes/

A majority of universities occupy expensive campuses that incorporate outdated designs and low utilization rates while campus users can conduct working and learning activities from a distance. For instance, Massive Open Online Courses and totally virtual universities allow self-education virtually free of charge. In this complex environment, campus managers face a strategic alignment problem between supporting research, education and societal impact. Strategic alignment in corporate real estate is an act of aligning the services with the core business. To outline the dynamic conditions of campus management processes, this paper explores two cases in the University of Melbourne main campus. It aims to answer: 1) What kinds of challenges does campus management encounter in strategic alignment? and 2) How do the explored cases aim to tackle the challenges? The literature overview discusses strategic alignment. Thereafter, ten campus management organization interviews are reported based on analysis in a qualitative research analysis software Atlas.ti. Conceptual guidelines of strategic alignment are drawn. University campus process challenges can be tackled by, for example: real time Big data of built environment for future foresight; Integrated services for economical paucity; Cross-pollination for institutional sharing; and Open access to information services for functional flexibility.

 

Stensaker, I. (2018). Radikal endring og innovasjon. Magma, 28–48.

https://www.magma.no/radikal-endring-og-innovasjon

Hvordan kan etablerte bedrifter fornye seg og utvikle radikalt nye forretningsmuligheter samtidig som de opprettholder og videreutvikler eksisterende forretning? Dette er et spørsmål mange bedrifter må forholde seg til. Strategifaget har lansert den tohendige løsningen som handler om at den etablerte bedriften etablerer en separat enhet innenfor virksomheten med mandat til å innovere. Bedrifter på tvers av bransjer har tatt i bruk løsningen, og det finnes en stor forskningslitteratur som dokumenterer selve løsningen og effekten av den. Mens eksisterende forskning tar for seg toppledelsens viktige rolle, vet vi mindre om de utfordringer og krav ledelsen i de nyetablerte enhetene møter. Med utgangspunkt i en pilotstudie av tre virksomheter i forskjellige bransjer tar vi et nytt blikk på den tohendige løsningen ved å studere ledelse i og av den nyetablerte enheten. Noen av utfordringene fra dette perspektivet handler om avhengigheter mellom den nye enheten og den etablerte organisasjonen. Vi ser nærmere på ulike typer avhengighet og hvordan enhetslederne håndterer dette, og drøfter funnene i lys av endringsteori.

 

Tjora, A. (2019). Universitetskamp. Spartacus.

https://scandinavianacademicpress.no/boker/universitetskamp

Store endringer preger universitets- og høyskolesektoren i hele den vestlige verden. Også de norske institusjonene har opplevd betydelige reformer, blant annet knyttet til fusjoner og andre strukturendringer, profesjonalisering av ledelse og administrasjon, samt økt bruk av målstyring. Mange av endringene skaper bekymringer og motstand fra mange av sektorens ansatte, som brenner for sin forskning, for sine studenter, for sine kolleger og sin disiplin, for sitt arbeid og sine ideer, og for troen på at arbeidet bidrar positivt til kunnskap som kommer hele samfunnet til gode. Det er ikke en endringsfrykt som sådan, men en bekymring for at den nye virkeligheten vil kunne redusere sektorens egenart og rolle som samfunnsinstitusjon. I denne boka analyseres slike endringer ved bruk av ulike perspektiver, teorier og erfaringer. Forfatterne har et ønske om å utvikle kritiske innspill og legge grunnlaget for en mer velinformert og perspektivrik diskusjon av endringer i sektoren og dens samfunnsrolle. Et underliggende spørsmål dreier seg om de siste tiders reformer synes å kunne ødelegge universiteters og høyskolers mulighet til å bidra med solid og samfunnsrelevant utdanning, forskning, formidling og innovasjon. Boka vil være av interesse både for forskere, studenter, politikere og andre med interesse for sektorens utvikling. Håpet er at antologiens kapitler kan bidra til en kritisk refleksjon om endringer som vi også ser i samfunnet mer generelt.