International educational cooperation receives funding
All applications from the University of Agder to carry out educational cooperation with international universities were granted.
The University of Agder (UiA) received approval on three out of three applications. Those involved are the departments of nursing, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT).
They will collaborate with international universities on education. It is expected that each department will be allocated NOK 3 million.
“The nursing community at UiA is happy to continue its collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center”, says Professor Mariann Fossum.
A total of 30 projects from Norwegian universities and university colleges have received funding.
The funds granted by the government are distributed by the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills and allocated through the so-called UTFORSK programme. The programme aims to strengthen collaborations on education and research with Brazil, India, Japan, China, South Africa, South Korea, the United States and Canada.
Meaningful collaboration
“It means a lot for our department to continue an exciting collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. We have already collaborated with them for several years.”
Thomas Gjesteland at the Department of Engineering is project manager for the educational collaboration with Clemson University in the US.
This is what Professor Mariann Fossum says. She is head of UiA’s Department of Health and Nursing Sciences.
The nursing department will collaborate with six partners, most of them from the US.
The project targets nursing students at all levels of education, from bachelor’s to doctorate. Associate Professor Else Mari Ekra will lead the project at UiA.
Centre for Excellence in Education
Professor Thomas Gjesteland has received approval for partnership with Clemson University in South Carolina in the US. The partners will, among other things, exchange students and staff.
“We are reaping the fruits of years of work at MatRIC. We’ve built up a large international network. It is great to see that our international colleagues want to learn from us”, Gjesteland says.
UiA’s MatRIC is a national centre for excellence in education specialised in teaching mathematics. MatRIC stands for Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of Mathematics Teaching.
Drop-in and mentor scheme
Joining Gjesteland in the research group are Senior Adviser Lillian Egelandsaa from MatRIC and Assistant Professor Halvard Øysæd from FYSE.
FYSE is the acronym for First Year Study Environment. It is a mentoring scheme run by UiA’s Faculty of Engineering and Science. The scheme aims to improve the well-being and learning environment for first-year students at UiA.
“Clemson University will, among other things, learn from our experiences with the drop-in offer at MatRIC and the FYSE scheme for new students. For our part, we will learn about their experiences with teaching science”, Gjesteland says.
ICT funding
One other department at UiA’s Faculty of Engineering and Science is also awarded funding.
The Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) receives support for partnerships on education in information and communication technology. Professor Frank Li will lead the project and collaborate with the University of Ottawa in Canada and the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IITBBS) in India.
Professor Frank Li at the Faculty of Engineering and Science will work with international partners on information and communication technology education.
Norway as knowledge nation
In a government press release (Norwegian only), the Minister of Research and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe stated that these allocations will strengthen Norway as a knowledge nation.
“I am happy to see that the project we are now supporting means that more students can go on exchange to our priority partner countries”, the minister said.