The 1950s

In the 1950s, continuing education of managers from various areas became a new area of education. There were also continuing education courses tailored to specific companies or occupational groups. BI had the business network through its students and the ambition to offer tailored corporate training. However, the Administrative Research Institute (AFF), which was established by NHH, became the largest supplier of this in the education market. Another development in the 1950s was that the professional and trade union organisations became more involved in education and training issues. BI therefore did not benefit much from the new markets that arose, and was often left out of the new networks that developed in the 1950s.

The 1960s

The number of students attending BI continued to grow in the 1960s. At the same time, the increasing number of students was met with expanding study programmes offered with a summer school and the option to supplement the daytime course with a one-year full-time course in either operations analysis or finance.

On 1 July 1968, BI went from being a privately owned limited company to a non-profit foundation. This meant that students attending BI’s two-year daytime programme would have part of their tuition covered. The grant was set at 75 per cent of what the State regarded as BI’s operating expenses. Over just a few years, BI’s position in society was radically changed. The school was bigger and had a lively student community. The government support gave BI a new financial foundation, but also meant that BI had to accept being controlled and governed by the State.

The idea that BI would conduct its own research was not new, but was strengthened under Komissar. The breakthrough came when BI established its own research committee in 1975. In 1977, the committee defined four primary areas for continued research at BI. These were administrative practice, purchasing economics, the capital market situation and material administration.

In the 1970s, the authorities were working on three issues that affected BI’s position as a private alternative within higher financial-administrative education. The first applied to the accountant education, the second was related to the follow-up of the Private School Act of 1970 and the third dealt with higher education in Eastern Norway. In parallel to these developments, the explosive increase in students in the 1960s was declining somewhat. This was not only caused by the establishment of the regional colleges, but also that Norwegian youth was characterised by the anticapitalistic trends through the EC referendum. This appeared to have an impact on the study paths chosen.

However, the enrolment numbers started to increase towards the end of the 1970s for the advanced programmes in business administration at NHH and BI’s graduate business administration programme. The Government started to realise that the public was dependent on help from private alternatives in order to cover the demand. Through the difficult political process in the 1970s, very positive relationships were formed between BI’s management and the public. A relationship of trust had been established, which entailed that BI could start seriously discussing whether BI would receive formal official approval as a business school with the right to offer Master’s degrees in business and economics. 

Research was already a defined task when Randers started the position. His most important task became developing BI into a specialised university institution. The academisation came in the form of Randers increasing the faculty by adding external forces. Significant individual freedom was considered necessary to attract superstars.

As a result of this, a gradual halving of the teaching commitment was introduced in the 1980s, which made it possible for faculty members to undertake assignments as consultants. This made BI a more attractive workplace. Externally financed research increased and BI’s faculty often contributed at academic congresses.

Academic communities were also being established in research centres. At the same time, the academic management was strengthened when Kjell Eliassen was chosen as BI’s first provost in 1985. He had a dedicated responsibility for academic development.

In December 1988, BI moved into new premises in Sandvika. The building was perceived to be a physical expression of the changes the institution underwent in the 1980s. Organised around a glass promenade and with a modern library with a central location in the building, the character of a specialised university institution was emphasised. The building also realised the idea of more rational and efficient teaching with several small and large auditoriums.

Fusion between BI and NMH

The work on merging BI with NMH and OHH started back under Jørgen Randers in 1989, but the proposed agreement was not supported by the faculty. However, in 1992, both institutions reached out to BI again for new negotiations as the costs of improving these two small private schools were too great.

BI finally achieved mergers with NMH and OHH in 1992, NILA and Oslo Markedshøyskole in 1993 and Bankakademiet in 1994. This also allowed BI to focus on competing against more quality-conscious friends, such as NHH in Bergen. The offer vis-à-vis the lifelong-learning segment was also established. This took place through the launch of the Master of Management programme in 1992.

Lorange had a strong desire to strengthen the research aspect. It was very imbalanced at that time, and there was generally too little research. As a step in encouraging faculty to research more, he introduced performance appraisals in connection with the annual reporting. This had an impact and he continued this effort by working to strengthen the faculty by elevating a single unified team – instead of forming an A team and a B team.

New Royal Decree

BI’s standing in the political environment was still poor when Onarheim became President. Like Lorange, it was important for Onarheim to use his time as President to build trust in the Storting and in the Ministry. This was particularly clear in connection with the approval of the Master of Management (MM) study programme.

A year after BI applied for approval of the MM programmes, we were told that the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) could have Master of Management programmes, but BI had to stop. After this decision, Onarheim offered to take Jon Lilletun (Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs 1997-2000) on a drive to confront him with the issue.

Fourteen days later, there was a new Royal Decree where BI also received its final approval. Lilletun became a good advocate for BI, and BI’s management was highly dependent on having an open and good relationship with him in order to obtain these approvals.

The divide between the public and private sector in an education context is in the process of becoming less pronounced as the 1990s progress. BI is now performing research assignments for both State-owned and private entities. In the education, there are separate study programmes in the private and public sector for the MBA programme and Master of Management. The public sector is increasingly becoming a market for the services that BI provides.

Open to the world

BI started competing more and more in an international market, which meant that it became necessary to introduce teaching in English. This was introduced partly for the bachelor level and completely for the master and doctorate levels. BI thus became more open to the rest of the world.

The international effort was also about establishing separate operations outside Norway. Business is international, which means that BI as an education institution must learn from the international market. Following in-depth deliberations, the management decided to establish operations at Fudan University in Shanghai in China in 1995, and at the International School of Management in Lithuania in 2000.

When Reve came to BI, its campuses were spread across three different locations in Oslo and Bærum, in addition to the other regional campuses. A joint location was therefore prioritised, and Nydalen was chosen as the location. The building was opened the same day that Reve resigned as President.

Accreditations also played a key role in Reve’s term as President. BI received its first international accreditation from EQUIS back in 1999, and BI received Norwegian approval from NOKUT (the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education) in 2004, in addition to a reaccreditation from EQUIS. This was first and foremost a stamp of quality for the outside world, but was also especially important internally due to the improvement processes that large parts of the organisation had to undergo.

Fearing that the school would be perceived as unclear, he wanted to sharpen the disciplines around business administration and economics, marketing, strategy, management and administration. BI’s unique feature would still be a combination of academic clout and business relevance. The number of campuses apart from Oslo was reduced from twelve to three during Colbjørnsen’s term, the number of bachelor programmes was reduced from 19 to 13 and the number of Master of Science programmes from eight to five.

Most of the new strategic foundation was in place in 2013, and two areas were particularly prioritised. BI already had the European EQUIS accreditation in place. BI’s Norwegian Executive MBA programme and the BI-Fudan MBA programme in China were also accredited by the Association for MBAs in 2013. Just before the end of Colbjørnsen’s term, the institution’s accreditation in the US Association of Collegiate School of Business (AACSB) was also approved, making BI a Triple Crown school.

Due to an increasingly robust financial situation and earnings, BI was able to implement a major improvement in 2013, with regard to digitalising our study systems, examinations and teaching methods. This would allow us to provide our students with much faster and better service, to create new learning forums online, simplify the examination and grading process and, not least, further develop the educational science.

Digitization affects our sector, how the teaching and the examinations are conducted. It affects our daily processes and support functions that benefit both students and employees, and it places new demands on the content of the programmes we offer our students.

BI must have courses and programmes that are digitally updated and relevant. BI's academics must cultivate an understanding of technology, digital skills and a "digital mind set". Therefore, in recent years, much has been invested in professional development and recruitment to ensure that BI will be equipped to create this new professional platform.

As BI enter the jubilee year, the school launch two new programmes that take these needs seriously. The Master of Science in Business Analytics combines skills in data science with business school subjects, and Executive MBA Digital enables executives to set digital agendas and handle digital transformation in their own organization. Digital is launched as a new "line" at EMBA, and the first class starts in March.