The language policy proposal for UiB, which was on the agenda at the last meeting of the board of the University, is based on comprehensive studies, both at the national and local levels. The board has now adopted a language policy goal for UiB that takes account of the university’s responsibilities as an international research institution, in relation to both the international community of researchers and Norwegian society.

It will be implemented by developing, as far as possible, a parallel language practise, and by emphasising good usage no matter which language is used. Work will continue to identify concrete measures which can help realise the goal.

Language policy will be included in the budget
“We will follow up the board’s decision, both in the budget process and otherwise,” says University Director Kari Tove Elvbakken.

“Some measures belong in the budget process, such as Norwegian language courses for foreign staff and various training courses for Norwegian staff. The same applies to the proposal to establish a centre for language services. At the same time, we wish to encourage the faculties and departments to discuss language practise on the basis of the report on language policy.”

The report, titled “I pose og sekk” (Having it both ways) was presented to the board at the last board meeting before the summer holidays, and it has subsequently been circulated for consultation in the organisation. There were several reasons why UiB initiated work on the report. The board had previously been informed about UiB’s language policy and the necessity of implementing measures to strengthen the position of Norwegian in relation to English, and that it was necessary to boost competence in both languages. In addition, the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions carried out a study that was completed in June 2006 and that resulted in a proposal for a national language policy for higher education institutions. The UiB report is based on this work.

Term lists and a language centre proposed
The report contains several proposed measures. The most concrete of these include: developing subject-specific term lists, that the teaching language at the 100 level must as a rule be Norwegian, that Master’s and PhD theses must contain a summary in Norwegian if they are written in a different language, that language competence must be taken into account when appointing staff, and that the reward for the publication of scientific work in Norwegian must be higher than it is today. It has also been proposed to establish a centre which will offer writing courses and revision of texts in Norwegian and English.

“We must also endeavour to maintain the high percentage of Nynorsk that we have today,” says Ms Elvbakken.

Want flexibility
Feedback from the consultation round indicates that most entities at the university would like a lot of flexibility in relation to language practise in teaching, research and the publication of research, but competence raising measures such as language tuition, the development of term lists and the establishment of a language centre receive broad support.