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After signing off as rector of the University of Oslo, Svein St?len didn¡¯t take much of a break: ¡°I was back at work two days after finishing,¡± he said.

The chemistry professor has just completed two terms as the head of Norway¡¯s top-ranked university, a limit he set on taking up the role in 2017. His next chapter will be devoted to establishing the Global University Academy, a collaborative initiative to improve?refugees¡¯ access to higher education. Partners currently include around 20 universities worldwide, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Unesco.

¡°UNHCR has the goal of reaching 15 per cent of refugees getting access to some higher education before 2030,¡± St?len said. ¡°In order to do that, you need to innovate. We¡¯re trying to make an alliance of different universities that can all contribute some courses. We hope to make scalable programmes that can really make a difference for many.¡±

St?len¡¯s ¡°eight good years¡± as rector involved some ¡°hard fights¡±, he told ̽»¨ÊÓƵ. Among them was Norway¡¯s introduction of mandatory tuition fees for students from outside the European Economic Area, which resulted in the number of new non-EEA students plunging by about 80 per cent. Another controversial law, introduced about a year later, mandated that international PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows and other academic staff learn Norwegian.

Both developments have been walked back: PhDs and postdocs will no longer be required to take Norwegian classes, while universities will now be able to set their own international tuition fees. ?¡°We need to have student fees, but they have to be reasonable. They haven¡¯t been reasonable,¡± St?len said. ¡°Some of these [changes] have been hard to reverse, and we managed to do that.¡±

For new rector Ragnhild Hennum, formerly the dean of Oslo¡¯s faculty of law, St?len predicts the economic climate will prove the biggest challenge, alongside global geopolitics. ¡°A lot of money is now going into defence, and I think it¡¯s obvious that that¡¯s needed,¡± he said. ¡°But there will be pressure on the budgets of universities.

¡°I think it¡¯s a pity, because when you look at the Draghi report [on European Union competitiveness] and so on, it¡¯s obvious that we need to invest. But what we see now is that we are probably going to disinvest, in many countries in Europe.¡±

The higher education landscape that Hennum will navigate looks significantly different to the one St?len inherited. Then, ¡°everything was about being open¡±, he said. ¡°Open research, open innovation, being open to society and the Sustainable Development Goals.¡±

Eight years later, ¡°it¡¯s much more about national priorities, geopolitics and research security,¡± he said, pointing to the Covid pandemic and Russia¡¯s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as significant turning points. ¡°They¡¯ve been interesting years.¡±

Nevertheless, St?len said, openness remained a priority of his tenure. ¡°We have tried hard not to be too strict,¡± he said. ¡°When export control and research security became an agenda point, we tried not to be too bureaucratic, because that makes it very difficult for [academics]. We¡¯ve tried not to impose the maximum restrictions on research; rather the opposite.¡±

¡°I got a lot of criticism after being on television many times to defend our collaborations with, for example, China,¡± St?len reflected. ¡°Some politicians say we should have nothing to do with China, which is, in my opinion, completely wrong. We need to collaborate with what¡¯s soon going to be the strongest country in the world.¡±

¡°If you¡¯re going to do anything with climate or sustainability, [for instance], then we need to collaborate,¡± he continued. ¡°Of course, we have to do it in a careful way. We can¡¯t be na?ve. We have to do it with wisdom.¡±

That openness to collaboration, St?len hopes, will be his legacy as an Oslo rector. His tenure saw the introduction of Norway¡¯s ¡°first innovation district¡±, Oslo Science City, intended ¡°to secure [extra-university] interaction across sectors¡±. The university played a significant role in the development of the Guild of European Research Universities and participates in multiple Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence, created by the Guild and the African Research Universities Alliance. Oslo also became a founding member of the European university alliance Circle U.

Overall, St?len said, he¡¯s ¡°rather happy¡± with his achievements in the role. ¡°What is important is that what you start is maintained and developed further, and I have the feeling that most of the new initiatives that we have started are in good condition, and that they will develop further with the new directorate,¡± he said.

¡°You could always wish for more," St?len added. ¡°But I¡¯m very good at remembering what I managed, and forgetting what I didn¡¯t.¡±

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com