Searching for female role models
Nearly 30 female master students met up when NHH arranged a recruiting seminar for the PhD program. Dean of the doctorate program, Anne Mette Fuglseth, has a plan for increasing the ratio of female research students to over 40 percent.
16.10.2008 - Kristian Tindeland Marthinsen (translated by Jessica Hartenberger)
Over the past years, the proportion of female PhD students has been around 37 percent. Therefore, a separate seminar for potential female doctoral students was arranged in connection with NHH's Career Day on the 2nd of October.
28 students, around half of them international, attended the seminar.
No women in the auditoriums
"We are an institution which educates economists and leaders - women as well as men. In order to do this in the best possible way, it is necessary that the academic staff be as gender balanced as possible," explains deputy rector Gunnar E. Christensen.
He stresses that female lecturers in the auditoriums serve as important role models for students. Furthermore, a more gender balanced faculty contributes to more diversity and higher quality research as well as teaching.
"If we do not manage to recruit more women in scientific positions here, we have a big problem. One thing is the focus of the media and the general public on the gender balance problem in academia. Another important thing is that if we do not succeed in recruiting women, we risk relinquishing half of our competence base. There is absolutely no reason why women should only make up 1/6 of the academic faculty at NHH," says Christensen.
Therefore - the more women we have recruiting for doctorate studies, the bigger recruiting base we will have and hopefully this will result in an increase in women academic staff members in the future.
INTERESTED. Marianne Røssland, a fourth year student, considers going further with a PhD after her masters.
Foto: Kristian Tindeland Marthinsen
Betting on NHH
Fourth year student and soon-to-be-finished master student, Marianne Røssland participated in the seminar as a part of Career Day.
"I am not completely sure what I will do after my masters, and a PhD education seems as good as any other option," she explains.
"A research education is one of the most practical educations you can receive. You learn to identify and define problems. But you also learn how to solve them," explained Anne Mette Fuglseth.
According to the Dean for doctorate studies, there are many good reasons to bet on a PhD education at NHH.
"NHH is among the 35 best institutions in Europe; PhD students at NHH receive the opportunity to have a longer stay abroad during their education and they get the chance to participate in conferences and workshops in Norway and abroad.
SCHOLAR. Therese Sverdrup explains what it is like to be a research scholar at NHH.
Foto: Kristian Tindeland Marthinsen
Choose your own work schedule
Apart from the potential students there was also a sizable group of NHH's profiled female researchers at the seminar. According to contributor and PhD student, Therese Sverdrup, there are six good reasons to choose a research career:
• In-depth Knowledge - you get the opportunity to focus on subjects that interest you and you even get paid to do it
• Autonomy - no one looks over your shoulder or nags you
• Flexibility - (comes with autonomy) you design your own work schedule
• Good balance between education and research
• You meet new and exciting people
• Good balance between work life and private life
FACTS. "This is the reason that we are here today", said Anne Mette Fuglseth and pointed to the screen. The graphs show that among NHH's professors, the female ratio is just 10 percent.
Foto: Kristian Tindeland Marthinsen
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