"I'm glad that Lars has accepted the position. He has extensive experience in launching, building and innovating bachelor programmes through from the position he held as Head of Department at Høyskolen Kristiania, "says Bendik Samuelsen, forthcoming provost of Academic Programmes.
The Bachelor area is central to BI's business model. In the future, one of the most important focus areas for BI will be to further develop the bachelor portfolio and provide attractive and future-oriented studies.
Furthermore, implementation of the new strategy will involve launching new bachelor programmess and innovation of learning content, course design and distribution models, as well as more focus on learning environment to reduce first year student dropouts.
Olsen himself is very excited about his new tasks.
"I want to help BI succeed, and look forward to further developing the bachelor portfolio in line with the pace of change that our present time requires. I am looking forward to taking on the new tasks, and learning more about the different bachelor programmes, the Associate Deans, campuses and the programme admanistration," says Lars Erling Olsen.
Extensive experience
Lars Erling Olsen has a master in Business with specialization in accounting and financial management and holds an MBA from NHH. Prior to joining BI, Olsen was associate professor, and from 2013, professor at Høyskolen Kristiania. At Kristiania he was also a part of the institution’s management team as head of department and academically responsible for Executive programmes. Olsen has previous experience from BI through a PhD studies and as a PhD candidate in the period 2006-2009. He has also worked as a lecturer at the Master of Management programmes and Sørlandet Merkevareskole under the leadership of BI Kristiansand.
“In addition to his career in academia, Lars has experience from the customer side as product manager at Mills, and from holding courses and working as a business consultant. Therefore, he knows the labor market well, which will be an important prerequisite for developing relevant programmes and candidate profiles that businesses need," Samuelsen continues.