Project teams will be responsible for implementing the internationalisation strategy

NHH has a very good track record when it comes to internationalisation but aims to become even better. In order to achieve our goals the work related to internationalisation will carried out by project teams led by Deputy Rector Sunniva Whittaker.

15.01.2015 - Hallvard Lyssand

NHH has placed great emphasis on internationalisation for many years.The school has worked consistently to establish international partnerships, promote international research cooperation and develop exchange agreements. In this respect internationalisation is a part of NHH's DNA.

"There is no doubt that NHH has done an excellent job with regard to internationalisation. We only have to look at the statistics for student exchange. The national average for the proportion of students who go on exchange is about 6%. The corresponding figure for NHH is more than 22%. In fact the Ministry of Education and Research often refers to NHH as a best practice example when it comes to internationalisation" says Nina Skage.

The work ahead

Although NHH has been very successful there is always room for improvement.

"Internationalisation is one of the four focus areas in the 2014-2017 strategy. This entails not only developing new forms of international cooperation but also reviewing our current exchange agreements." explains Skage.

Internationalisation is a broad concept and covers areas such as the integration of international faculty, the development of exchange agreements, the recruitment of international degree seeking students and international career services. International accreditations and rankings are also an important aspect of internationalisation.

"We have strong international networks through our CEMS and PIM membership. These networks can be used to establish bilateral cooperation with other member schools in a number of areas, for instance dual degree programmes or research collaboration", says John A. Andersen.

"There is also a great potential for collaboration with some of the 70 CEMS corporate partners as well as developing closer ties with the more than 400 NHH CEMS alumni", adds Andersen.

Project management

In order to take internationalisation a step further, there is a need to organise the internationalisation work differently.

Deputy Rector Sunniva Whittaker is in charge of implementing the strategy. She will be assisted by project teams that are currently being set up.

"The rationale behind the project teams is to join forces and to create a culture of knowledge sharing in order to achieve an effective implementation of our strategy, says Skage.

John Andersen is one of two staff members who will be working full time on the project. He will have the same areas of responsibility as before. The Strategic Unit will however no longer exist.

The second staff member who will be dedicated entirely to internationalisation is James Hosea from the management secretariat. He will be responsible for accreditations and rankings.

The other project team members will be staff members from various administrative units who will devote part of their time to the project in addition to performing other duties.

Internationalisation of Education

A major part of the internationalisation strategy is related to education and the project team working in this area will be composed of staff members from the Office of Student and Academic Affairs and the Office of Research Administration.

"Internationalisation of education covers activities such student exchange, the recruitment of master's and PhD students, dual degree cooperation, international career services and international alumni services. All these areas are interrelated and need to be addressed together" says Sunniva Whittaker.

"We hope that this new way of organising our work will create momentum in the implementation of our strategy."