University head seeks safeguards on academic freedom

Call for revised rules to protect universities’ autonomy

Dag Rune Olsen, chairman of Universities Norway (UHR), has urged the Norwegian government to enshrine academic freedom and institutional autonomy in any revision of the current academic legislation. 

Olsen says that the existing legislation requires institutions to ‘promote and safeguard academic freedom,’ and that individual academic staff “have the right to choose the subject and method of their research or development work within the framework of the employment relationship or specific agreement.”