Key figures and Department Strategy

The Department is recognised for its wide disciplinary diversity. Its academic profile encompasses Comparative Literature, Digital Culture, Classical Studies, Art History, Nordic Literature, Language and Subject Didactics, Old Norse Philology, Norwegian as a Second Language, Linguistics, and Theatre Studies.

With more than 25 active research groups, two research centres, and a range of externally funded projects, the Department maintains a high level of activity across a broad spectrum of research and teaching.

This diversity of expertise contributes to a dynamic academic environment and supports the Department’s strong research profile.

Summary

LLE shall conduct research at a high international level and generate new knowledge for the benefit of our students and society at large. We shall attract and retain outstanding researchers and research trainees. Academic staff shall be able to make full use of their allocated research time, while externally funded projects shall increase research activity, enabling us to publish more and higher-quality research in recognised scholarly outlets.

LLE shall assume a particular responsibility for the Norwegian language, Norwegian academic language and terminology. To secure sufficient resources for research and teaching, we shall attract and retain the most talented and motivated students to our degree programmes and continuing and further education offerings. Students shall choose LLE because we continue the traditions of the humanities in a contemporary context while providing knowledge and skills that are valued in working life.

At LLE, students shall have close contact with leading researchers and excellent teachers, as well as access to collections and digital tools available only here. Students shall learn to understand and apply theory while developing skills that are relevant in professional life. This will contribute to strong completion rates in our degree programmes and a sound financial foundation, generating income that can be reinvested in research. Increased research activity will in turn strengthen our ability to secure external research funding.

This strategy is based on and supports the University of Bergen Strategy 2023–2030 and the Faculty of Humanities Strategy 2023–2030.

On 1 September 2022, the Department Council adopted a decision that LLE’s strategy should prioritise four main areas: research excellence, completion rates, employability, and the dimensioning and revision of study programmes.

Main Objective

The principal objective for LLE during this period is to maintain sufficient financial resources to conduct research and provide education in humanities disciplines that contribute to shaping society, across a broad range of subjects and fields.

The department’s academic staff must be able to devote their research time to research without excessive interruptions. Staff must have access to resources that provide favourable conditions for research and opportunities for mobility and network-building. We must have sufficient teaching staff to deliver high-quality education without overburdening employees and to ensure that staff have time to engage with students.

The department’s administrative staff support teaching and research activities and are essential for delivering high-quality education, managing large projects and securing additional external research funding.

Research

By 2026, all staff with allocated research time shall have the opportunity to make effective use of that time and carry out high-quality research published in recognised scholarly outlets.

A greater number of externally funded projects shall lead to increased research activity. International collaboration shall strengthen both research and doctoral education.

By 2026:

• All researchers shall have adequate operating funds.
• We shall have more externally funded PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows.
• More staff shall undertake research stays abroad, and more international researchers shall visit LLE.

To achieve this, we will:

• Plan and deliver teaching in ways that protect allocated research time.
• Ensure that teaching buy-outs do not negatively affect teaching quality or place undue burdens on colleagues.
• Provide strong administrative support throughout all phases of research projects.
• Make effective use of research groups, particularly interdisciplinary groups, to develop excellent research and strong applications for external funding.
• Utilise the University of Bergen’s research infrastructure to support high-quality research and projects.
• Allocate increasing levels of funding to research.
• Submit well-developed applications to the Research Council of Norway and the European Union.
• Build networks and arenas for collaboration to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary and cross-faculty projects in the arts, natural sciences, medicine, social sciences and law.
• Develop networks and meeting places for international cooperation and the exchange of new academic perspectives.
• Capitalise on our disciplinary breadth by focusing on shared research questions and theoretical perspectives through seminars and research groups.
• Ensure that international staff are able to receive Norwegian language training during working hours.
• Actively promote a positive and inclusive working environment.
• Evaluate and improve the supervision of PhD candidates.
• Integrate PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows into the department’s research groups.

Employability

By 2026, students in all degree programmes shall experience their education as relevant to working life.

To achieve this, we will:

• Introduce practical training elements in all degree programmes where appropriate.
• Offer one or more courses that include extended placements, preferably interdisciplinary and based on previous experience.
• Provide clear information about placement opportunities.
• Organise annual career days.
• Strengthen engagement with our alumni and involve them in teaching and career events.
• Enable students to visit relevant organisations and institutions and receive visitors from them.
• Strengthen administrative support for employability initiatives at LLE.
• Communicate clearly through websites and teaching activities where our graduates find relevant employment and which skills acquired through our programmes are valued in working life.

Dimensioning and Revision of the Study Portfolio at LLE

By 2026, LLE shall offer degree programmes that reflect both student demand for education and labour-market needs for qualified graduates across a broad range of disciplines.

To achieve this, we will:

• Review and adapt educational provision within the various academic disciplines through cooperation among subject areas and dialogue between the disciplines and the department.
• Develop action plans within each discipline to achieve LLE’s overall objectives for the dimensioning of the study portfolio.
• Adjust teaching and supervision workloads so that staff use their agreed working hours for teaching and are able to take research leave without negatively affecting their academic environments.
• Actively use staff workload accounts as a tool for promoting an equitable distribution of work across disciplines, including facilitating the use of teaching resources across disciplinary boundaries where appropriate.
• Remain informed about labour-market demand for qualified graduates and changes in students’ educational preferences.

Improved Completion Rates

By 2026, more students shall complete their studies within the prescribed period of study and fewer shall withdraw before completing their degree.

To achieve this, we will:

• Provide prospective applicants with clear and effective information about our programmes.
• Promote Norwegian language courses in information aimed at international students.
• Facilitate a strong academic and social environment for students.
• Ensure that students get to know one another early in their first semester.
• Create spaces that encourage interaction outside seminar rooms and reading rooms.
• Make the relationship between teaching and research visible from the beginning of students’ studies.
• Enable students to meet leading researchers early in their programmes.
• Include students in the research community and invite them to local conferences and other research events.
• Make seminars with a high degree of student participation a central form of teaching, particularly during the first two semesters.
• Provide academic and social activities of the “Look Up from Your Books!” type. All degree programmes should include at least one off-campus event each semester.
• Maintain close cooperation with student committees.
• Enable international staff to attend Norwegian language courses during working hours.

Norwegian Language

The department shall work to ensure that the Ministry of Culture follows up Telemarksforsking’s recommendation to establish a permanent research environment for applied Norwegian language research at the University of Bergen, through dialogue with the Faculty, the Language Council of Norway and the Ministry.

The department, the Faculty of Humanities and the University Library shall jointly examine how such a centre can best be organised, in cooperation with relevant existing language-related research environments at the department, the faculty, the library and the museum.

The centre should be organised in such a way that its staff are able to contribute to the department’s other research and teaching activities.