Internationalisation: Onboarding of international staff

As part of its strategy for internationalisation, NHH has just established a project group whose mandate is to provide a framework for on-boarding of international staff and their families.

19.01.2015 - Astri Kamsvåg

The project group will do this by
- Identifying on-boarding needs of new international staff and their families
- Suggesting/putting in place measures that will help meet these needs.

"We're going to start by interviewing some of our new international employees and their spouses to get first-hand information from the persons in question and to map their needs", says Mette Franck Johnsen - Administration Manager at the Department of Finance - who is leading the project.

"We know that both the departments and various administrative offices and sections already do a lot of good work in welcoming new staff. Now it's time to gather the measures and to systematize them at an institutional level."

"We will also contact other universities and institutions to share best practice", Franck Johnsen says. "Practicalities such as paying tax, getting a Norwegian social security number and finding relevant jobs for accompanying spouses are challenging for many, especially for employees from cultures very different to Norwegian and Western cultures, says Johnsen.

Kristin Valkvæ Haugland - Higher Executive Officer at the Department of HR who is also part of the project group - adds that the key measures will be implemented already in August 2015 when NHH's main intake of new international PhD students, post-docs, and other faculty take place. "We expect that the project will continue also after this and that it will be refined continuously", she Haugland says.

"We encourage everyone who can contribute, to contact us. We value your ideas and first hand experience", say Johnsen and Haugland who are eager to get started on the project.

The project is initiated by Sunniva Whittaker - Dean of International Affairs. Odd Andrew Storetvedt - HR Director, is also part of the project team.

Action plan

Other points in the action plan include:
- Review NHH's membership of Bergen Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Inn Club, to determine how NHH can best make use of the services they offer.

- Review Bergen Chamber of Commerce and Industry's plans for establishing a Centre for international employees, to determine how NHH can best make use of the services they will offer.

- Establish contact points with the Police, Tax Office, NAV, and other external agencies, to determine how NHH can best make use of the services they offer.

- Review EURAXESS in Norway, organised by the Research Council of Norway to assist mobile researchers, and consider whether membership could be useful to NHH.

Read another article about internationalisation at NHH: Project teams will be responsible for implementing the internationalisation strategy