Presentation of Telemark University College
Telemark University College (TUC) is the 5th largest of the 25 state University Colleges. There are campuses in Bø, Notodden, Porsgrunn and Rauland. The distance between the the geographical extremes - Porsgrunn and Rauland is about 170 km.
Central administration is in Porsgrunn.
Key Figures
Total number of registered students in autumn 2005 was 4 922 (full time equivalents). Total number of employees in 2005 was 504 (full time equivalents). 61% of these were academic staff.
History
Telemark University College was established 1st August 1994, as part of the higher education reform, as a result of an amalgamation of Telemark College of Higher Education, Bø, Telemark Engineering College, Porsgrunn, Telemark Teacher Training College, Notodden/Rauland, and Telemark Nursing College, Skien.
Faculties and Departments
TUC is now divided into the following four faculties (abbreviation, location, students numbers in full time equivalents 2004 in parentheses):
- Faculty of Arts & Sciences (AF, Bø, 1561)
- Faculty of Art, Norwegian Folk Culture & Teacher Education (EFL, Notodden/Rauland, 2031)
- Faculty of Health and Social Studies (HS, Porsgrunn, 875)
- Faculty of Technology (Engineering) (TF, Porsgrunn, 483)
There are also 12 academic departments.
Faculty of Arts & Sciences:
- Department of Sport and Outdoor Life Studies
- Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
- Department of Environmental and Health Studies
- Department of Business Administration and Computer Science
Faculty of Art, Norwegian Folk Culture and Teacher Education:
- Department of Folk Culture
- Department of Arts and Design
- Department of Teacher Education
- Department of Education Science
Faculty of Health and Social Studies:
- Department of Health
- Department of Social Studies
Faculty of Technology:
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Control Engineering
- Department of Process, Energy and Environmental Technologies
Board and Management
There are 11 members of the board who have overall reponsibility for the running of the University College.
At the institutional level, the Rector and Vice Rector are elected from the academic staff, and the Director (head of administration) is appointed. Each of the faculties are headed by a Dean. The Deans have total reponsibility for their faculties, both academic and administrative. They report to the Rector on academic affairs and the the Director on administrative affairs. The departments are chaired by a Head of Department. They are responsible for both academic and administrative affairs and report to the Dean of their respective faculty, in the following fields;
- Teacher Education
- Technology (Engineering)
- Arts and Culture
- Environmental Studies
- Business Studies and Computer Science
- Humanitites
- Sport, Physical Education and Outdoor Life Studies.
Programmes and Degrees
TUC offers an extensive academic programme, and is accredited to award the following academic degrees (with standard length of study in brackets):
Degrees:
- College Candidate ( høgskolekandidat in Norwegian)(2 years)
- Bachelor (3 years)
- Master (2 years)
Vocational Titles:
- Teacher (4 years)
The Faculty of Technology offers a PhD programme in engineering in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where the degree is formally awarded by NTNU, while the student takes all or most of the courses and completes research and thesis work at TUC under the supervision of TUC professors.
Research & Development
TUC has extensive and research and development (R&D) activities. Many of our research groups have been successful in competing with other Norwegain colleges for grants and support from public and private external R&D resources, paricularly from the Norwegain Research Council.
Other Activities
TUC is also active in many other fields, including textbook production, conferences, exhibitions, concerts, open lectures, courses for external businesses, and articles and interviews in both the press and on television.
Regional Development
TUC actively cooperates with regional enterprises and local authorities in order to promote and initiate regional development in various sectors.
University status by 2013
TUC's Strategic Plan for 2005 - 2009 has a long term aim of acheiving university status by 2013 - either alone or in cooperation with others. The first step in this process is for TUC to seek accreditation for Ph.D. programmes within the fields of Gas and Energy Systems, Cultural Studies and Environment and Genetic Diversity.
Network
We have numerous cooperation agreements with other educational institutions both nationally and internationally. In addition to agreements on international student and staff exchange, TUC is active in several Nordic and European networks within Higher Education.
Infrastructure
TUC has established a functional technical infrastructure to support our academic activities. We have modern, practical buildings, a well organised library, and a IT system where technical stability and usabilty is uppermost.
Faculties