.jpeg)
The final University Board meeting of the year began with a dialogue between the board and the students.
The chair and deputy chair of the Student Organisation in Agder, Magnus Ellefsen Moen and Nina Øglænd Johnsen, told the board about how the student democracy at UiA works and which issues they are currently working on.
They highlighted two main themes in particular:
- Voluntary work and student engagement
- High-quality education and relevant study programmes
The dialogue also touched on how artificial intelligence is affecting students’ everyday lives.
.jpeg)
Measures above all measures
Each year, the Board adopts a plan for how the university will follow up its overarching strategy. In this plan, the Board approved several main initiatives for the coming year.
In 2026, UiA will place particular emphasis on:
- Academic freedom and international solidarity, including contributing to the rebuilding of educational institutions in Palestine and other war-torn areas
- Facilitating even more interdisciplinary work at the university
- Helping to ensure that more students engage in the student community (following input from the student organisation) and become involved in research, innovation, and artistic development work
- Further developing a sustainable study portfolio
- Responsible international cooperation and research ethics
- Making purposeful use of artificial intelligence throughout the organisation
- Instruments to support student innovation
- Contributing to the successful establishment of a knowledge centre on Campus Kristiansand
The plan was adopted and can be read as it was originally proposed (in Norwegian).
Funding for greater flexibility, psychology, and dissemination
In the proposed national budget for 2026, UiA is allocated NOK 1.9 billion. It is primarily these funds that the Board is now distributing.
There are three major priority areas in the allocation. The following amounts are set aside:
- NOK 29.3 million to make study programmes more flexible
- NOK 26.9 million for a fund to establish the professional psychology programme from 2026
- NOK 2.5 million for the establishment of the knowledge centre on Campus Kristiansand. Several million have been set aside for this in previous years
Among the other initiatives are funds for the use of artificial intelligence at the faculties, continuation of support schemes for mathematics teaching at the university, follow-up of the communication action plan, and several other support schemes.
The budget was adopted as proposed. (in Norwegian)
Support scheme divided into two levels
UiA has a scheme to support academic environments with the potential to succeed in major research funding programmes. One example is Centres of Excellence from the Research Council of Norway.
The scheme has now been reviewed, and the Board has decided to introduce several changes.
The main measure is to divide the scheme into two instruments. PRIFORSK 1 is aimed at emerging and ambitious environments in an early development phase. PRIFORSK 2 is aimed at already established and strong environments.
Until now, the scheme has only targeted already strong environments.
Another change is that the faculties will now be responsible for prioritising which environments may submit applications. The assessment criteria are also streamlined, and the expectation that the centres should be able to continue without new strategic funding after the five-year period is made clearer.
Taken together, these changes are intended to make the scheme more strategic, more targeted, and better aligned with UiA’s aim of strengthening research quality across the organisation.
More information about the scheme will be published on UiA.no. The first Board decision on new PRIFORSK centres is expected in October 2026.