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Provision of teaching and exchange of hours between schools
and departments
With the changes adopted as of 01.01.10 in the administration of the departments’ finances, the
relationship between staff research time and teaching hours was in principle also transferred to the
departments. It is the Faculties' desire, however, that each department ensures that permanent
academic (VIP) employees use on average at most 50% of their time for teaching and preferably
less. The departments are urged to establish an employment and revenue policy that makes this
possible.
At the same time, changes in the program structure and new “norms" for teaching have been
adopted. It is important to emphasize that one of the goals of the norms is to make clear what
teaching deliverable can be expected in connection with a given teaching task, since there must be
agreement between norms that indicate an average for the teacher’s expected time use and the
average work effort. See also later in this document.
It should also be stressed that the norms are one element in the calculation of requisition amounts
between schools and departments. When the work is allocated in a given department (in principle
by the head of department) things other than the norms influence the planning of the work for each
employee.
The Faculties continue to allocate hours for teaching depending on the total taximeter revenue
(funding per full-time-equivalent student), now, however, to schools and not directly to study
boards. The finances of this must be in balance, but the total reported number of hours is calculated
broadly as before, so there are no cuts in the number of hours. The number of hours provided for
teaching in the Faculties’ 2010 budget is thus also substantially higher than the figure for 2009.
A new element in the allocation of hours is that the Faculties have reviewed all program activities
with an eye toward opportunities for co-teaching and other synergy, as well as allocation among
schools. Then, a number of hours (26,000 hours in 2010) are allocated in advance to the schools
according to their different program portfolios, with the rest of the hours allocated per full-timeequivalent student. At the same time, the models for norms that will bring the total accounts in
balance for all the schools have been calculated. We have managed to find a system of norms that
provides solid teacher coverage to all activities, a coverage that is comparable to conditions at other
universities.
Below, some crucial points in the reforms are highlighted. Next, the new norms are listed, after
which future teaching methods are briefly mentioned.
Some new elements
1) A typical semester is structured in 3 course modules of 5 ECTS credits and 1 project module
of 15 ECTS credits.
2) Schools aim to ensure synergy in program offerings so that similar courses in different
programs are organized jointly and have one teacher responsible.
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3) A minimum norm is established for each teaching and evaluation method that enables
teachers and students in smaller classes to have reasonable working conditions, while
increasing resources are allocated to the larger classes in step with student numbers.
The new norms
Below are the minimum norms for requisitions from schools and study boards to departments. More
resources can be allocated by schools and study boards for specific tasks, possibly accompanied by
requests for testing of special teaching and evaluation methods.
Base rate for a module of 5 ECTS credits
Supplementary hours per student
Course examination and course reexamination, teacher and external
examiner each per student
150 hours
1.5 hours
0.33 hour
Project supervision per student per ECTS credit
Maximum per group
1 hour
100 hours
Project examination (external examiner) per student
Minimum per group
2 hours
8 hours
Reexamination in a project module per student (examiner)
Maximum per group
Re-examination (external examiner) in a project module per student
Minimum per group
5 hours
10 hours
1 hour
2 hours
Total for traineeship and final project for Bachelor of Engineering
30 hours
Semester coordination for the 1st year of a Bachelor’s program
Semester coordination after the 1st year
50 hours
25 hours
Notes:
Hours for any teaching assistants must be covered within these norms that indicate the total number
of hours for all teachers.
There is a repetition rate of 50% for holding the same course module for several classes in the same
semester. The rate is also used when actual repetition is replaced by video transmission.
For very small classes, all course modules are not necessarily requisitioned; some may be held as
part of the project module (the number of ECTS credits of which is increased accordingly). Each
study council discusses the class size for which this is to be considered.
The specified semester coordination is academic coordination for particularly the projects.
Scheduling, contacting guest teachers, exams, etc. are secretarial tasks. For the course modules, the
coordination is done in cooperation with the teacher responsible for the course.
As a rule, the new norms enter into force starting in Fall 2010. However, a transitional scheme is
used for semesters where requisitions are made according to curricula under the old structure.
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Teaching effort
It is hereafter a joint task for all to ignore the past connection between the number of ECTS credits
and the teacher's presence and preparation time. From now on the task is that overall the teacher in a
given module uses the time on the module that has been allocated to this in cooperation with the
head of department. For the planning of the provision of teaching that the students can expect, the
guidelines below can be used, (these hour numbers also include time for the general planning of the
module):
a) For each hour of lecture, a total of 5 hours including preparation is calculated.
b) For each hour of problem solving, a total of 2 hours including preparation is calculated.
c) For project work the aim is for "full groups." Students who choose to work in smaller
groups are informed that the time the supervisor has available is correspondingly smaller.
d) For teaching methods that have thus far been little used and that might now be used in
various places under same name, but with varying forms, similar guidelines can later be
indicated (e.g., of the following type, where the figures are tentative: full-day workshop for
30-60 students in groups with instructor presentations, group work, presentations, and
plenary session, 20 hours is calculated; if written products from here must be corrected as
part of ongoing evaluation, an additional half hour per student is calculated).
For instance, one could choose to teach a course module for 20 students, which is requisitioned
for at least 180 hours, by holding 10 sessions with 2 hours of lecture and two hours of problem
solving, equivalent to 140 hours’ requisition, supplemented by a sequence of a mini-project,
group presentations, and laboratory or field work, equivalent to 40 hours of work for the
teacher.
A course module with 100 students could run as seven double lectures (70 hours), followed by a
workshop with 160 hours’ teaching load and ending with 5 half-day sessions with lectures and
problem solving (70 hours, if teaching assistants are not used).
The teaching deliverables that can be calculated from the guidelines in this way are not reduced by
the fact that the course is given the first time or that the teacher teaches at another campus, or the
like!
Workshops with Professor Annette Lorentsen from the Department of Education, Learning and
Philosophy have been arranged and announced where inspiration is provided and experiences are
exchanged on various options for organizing the total time and evaluation methods.
Each semester, the Faculties’ consultation committee in conjunction with the schools’ management
evaluates how the implementation of the structural reforms and use of the new norms are
functioning.
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