1. Inspiring excellence – The Norwegian Way
Centres for Excellence in Education (SFU)
Helen Bråten, NOKUT
Your submission title:
Inspiring Excellence – The Norwegian Way
Your submission has been accepted under the following Conference track:
National and institutional approaches to quality and evaluating impact
Your session will take place on:
Tuesday 6 June – Parallel session – 17.10

2. Centres for Excellence in Education
National prestige initiative – 2010
Enhancement and innovation BA + MA levels
Lifting the status of teaching and learning

3. The SFU initiative Stimulate excellence in education
Contribute to more knowledge and research to underpin enhancement and innovation
Contribute to the sector-wide development and dissemination of knowledge and practices
SFU initiative shall
 stimulate universities and university colleges to establish and develop academic communities that offer excellent education
 contribute to knowledge-based analysis and development of teaching and learning and that this underpins quality enhancement and innovation
 contribute to stronger interaction between higher education and the relevant societal and professional fields
 contribute to the sector-wide development and dissemination of knowledge and practices
An SFU must therefore
 offer excellent R&D-based education
 develop innovative ways of working with R&D-based education
 encourage student engagement and ownership of learning
 contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge and practices about the design of teaching and learning environments that are conducive to learning

4. 3 main selection criteria
Documented excellence in the established educational provision
Innovation: centre plan for innovation and enhancement
Dissemination: Centres for excellence
Disseminate knowledge, good practices and results from the centre nationally and internationally.
Plans on how to help others improve.

5. Funding Initiative: ca 505 000 euros annually
Centres: < euros annually – top funding
5 years, interim evaluation, + 5 years?
Sucess = euros over 10 years
New calls for funding every 3 years

6. 2011 – Pilot- Teacher education
ProTED – University of Oslo and UiT- Arctic University
2013 – Open call
CEMPE – Norwegian Academy of Music
MatRIC – University of Agder
BioCEED – University of Bergen, University Centre Svalbard, (UNIS) and Marine Research Institute
2016 – Open call
Center for Computing in Science Education (CCSE) – University of Oslo
Centre for Engaged Education through Entrepreneurship (Engage) - NTNU and Nord University
Centre of Excellence in Computing and IT (Excited) – NTNU and Nord University
Centre of Excellence in Film and Interactive Media Arts (CEFIMA) – Norwegian Film School/Inland University College of Applied Sciences

7. Excellence in the SFU initiative
Relative and contextual
Multi-actor, multi-level and multi-dimensional
Input
Process
Outcome

8. Knowledge-based developments
Excel, be pre-eminent, stand out from the rest (Elton 1998)
National and international comparaisons
contribute to knowledge-based analysis and development of teaching and learning and that this underpins quality enhancement and innovation

9. Key elements in the initiative
Knowledge-based analysis and development of T&L
Research, SoTL
R&D-based education
Integrated models
Student engagement (partnership, co-creation)

10. Centres for Excellence
“A key characteristic for a successful SFU is humility: an acceptance that all new ideas do not necessarily originate here, that there are other excellent teachers elsewhere” Lawson 2016:140
Dissemination
Cooperation and collaboration

11. Impact of the SFU initiative
Higher status and priority to teaching and learning
Arenas to discuss teaching and learning
Common language
Collaboration
Deprivatizing teaching
Research on education, SoTL
More awareness around learning, excellence and indicators
Higher priority and status to teaching and learning
More attention to teaching and learning
Resources (time & money)
Legitimacy for institutional and individual focus
Strategies – anchoring in senior management
Innovation
Student-active learning / student engagement
Arenas to discuss teaching and learning (institutional and national)
Deprivatizing teaching
Collaboration
Between HEIs in Norway and internationally
Internally: staff, students, adm. staff, pedagogic units, leaders,
Development of common language
Research on education, T&L
Higher reflections around quality, excellence and indicators

12. Thank you!
Helen Bråten