Organisation and employees
At the end of 2022, BI had 1,024 employees, divided into 528 administrative staff and 496 faculty.
The board
BI is an independent foundation led by a board of ten members. The board has overall supervision over the operation of BI and adopts overall regulations. It appoints the president, deals with strategic plans, adopts budgets, determines accounts and is at the highest decision-making level in all important matters. See the board's report for an overview of the board.
The control committee
The audit committee reviews the profit and loss account and balance sheet, selects an auditor and checks that the board's administration follows statutory provisions and articles of association. The control committee consists of three members, all external.
The control committee in 2022
- Christian Winther, Pangea Property Partners
- Olve Gravråk, Valogiant
- Hege Stensland Sveen, Virke
- The president and the director of strategic financial management from BI
The committee meets twice yearly, once during the spring semester and once during autumn, usually in June and December.
The Senate
BI Senate is the highest academic body under authorisation from the board. It establishes our educational offer's content, admission rules, exemptions, exams, admission requirements, censorship, and the competence profile for faculty. The Senate presents cases to the president to hire new faculty; the president has the final say regarding employment.
The Senate in 2022 (per 31.12.2022)
- Karen Spens, president, permanent member
- Ingunn Myrtveit, provost, permanent member
- Bendik M. Samuelsen, provost, permanent member
- Harald Øverby, provost, permanent member
- Siv Staubo, Dean Bachelor, permanent member
- Jørgen Juel Andersen, Dean Master, permanent member
- Lars Olsen, Dean Executive, observer
- Luk Warlop, Dean PhD, observer
- Kari Birkeland, faculty representative, 01.08.2021- 31.07.2023
- Bjørn Erik Mørk, faculty representative, 01.08.2021- 31.07.2023
- Kim van Orschot, faculty representative, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024
- Costas Xiouros, faculty representative, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024
- Morten Kinander, representing the department heads, 01.08.22 – 31.07.23
- Kristin Røthe Søbakk, administrative representative, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024
- Fridtjof Scheie, administrative representative, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024
- Iben A Eikrem Nesset, student representative BISO, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2023
- Marthe S. Hanssen, student representative BISO, 19.11.2022 - 31.07.2023
- Kyla Basden, student representative Master Chamber, 01. 08.2022 –31.07.2023
- Erlend Kvaal, faculty deputy representative, 01.08.2021 - 31.07.2023
- Kristine Nielsen Seeberg, administrative deputy representative, 01.08.2022 - 31.07.2024
Management staff who report to the president can join the BI Senate meetings.
Management
BI's management team as of 31.12.2022
- President Karens Spens
- Provost Ingunn Myrtveit
- Provost Bendik M. Samuelsen
- Provost Harald Øverby
- Division Director for Full-Time Studies Marius Eriksen
- Division Director for BI Executive Lise Hammergren
- Director for Strategic Financial Management Thomas Hvamstad
- Director of Communications and Public Relations Yngve Kveine
- Digital Director Elin Borrebæk
- Head of Organisation and HR Wenche Helene Nilsen
The president
- BI's president is also the formal general manager, with per procurationem signing rights. The board appoints a president for four years at a time.
- The president runs the foundation and will comply with guidelines provided by the board and their orders.
- The president has an advisory role in academic and administrative matters.
- The president has the final authority in employing scientific positions and is head of the BI Senate.
- The president ensures the Foundation's accounts are balanced and follow laws and regulations.
Provosts
- The provosts will stand in for the president if needed and have the following responsibilities
- Provost for student learning
- Provost for research and academic resources
- Provost for studies and programmes
Educational affairs committee - UUV
BI has an educational affairs committee (Undervisningsutvalget) for each programme area: Bachelor's, Master's, Executive and PhD.
- The educational affairs committee are advisory committees for the dean in the academic matters they decide.
- The committee deals with academic matters such as study plans, review of course descriptions (objectives, subjects, literature, educational model and form of evaluation), assessment of competence level and area of competence for lecturers, supervisors and examiners, study progression requirements, admission rules, collaboration partners assessment and approval of company-internal courses, studies and programs seeking state approval for study credits.
Appeals Committee
- The Appeals Committee processes complaints on individual administrative decisions and, based on the board's decisions, other appeals/complaints from the candidates. The Appeals Committee has five members, each with a personal deputy.
- The chairperson and deputy chair must comply with specific statutory requirements for functioning as a court of appeal judges. The chairperson and deputy are not employed at any BI department. Two of the members will be students.
BAMU
BAMU is BI's Works Council and Working Environment Committee. BAMU is tasked with making our workplace safe and enjoyable for employees throughout the organisation. The Committee participates in all planning and work for safety and working environment. It carefully monitors employee safety, health and welfare developments. BAMU's job is to ensure the safety and working environment, and EMS measures are carried out in a comprehensible and justifiable manner.
Employees
At the end of 2022, BI had 1,024 employees, divided into 528 administrative staff and 496 faculty.
This corresponds to an increase of 36 people from 2021. The administrative staff increased by 18 people, and so did the number of faculty. However, the increase is not equivalent when it comes to full-time equivalents (FTEs). There has been a significant increase in hires of associate professor II positions (i.e. 20% of positions) and some hires to associate professor and qualifying fixed-term positions on the academic side. Of these, there are 5 appointments at campus Trondheim and campus Bergen. Altogether, the increase amounts to just under 5 FTEs. On the administrative side, the increase reflects a strengthening of the MSc and internationalisation, as well as the Learning Center resulting from strategic priorities. There has also been a need for increased IT support capacity, student inquiries to InfoHub, and resources for various development projects.
The figures correspond to around 923 FTEs, an increase of 23 FTEs from 2021. This is mainly due to an increase of 18 FTEs in administrative staff and just under 5 FTEs among professional staff. Out of 403 full-time faculty, BI has a total of 128 professors, of whom 38 are in the position of Professor II. Just over 35% of BI's employees are women, while the proportion of women among the professors is 25%. The balance of faculty with an international background is 40 per cent. On the administrative side, the proportion is approximately 8%. In addition to Norwegians, 58 other nationalities are represented. In addition to BI's faculty, 323 hourly lecturers were associated with BI in 2022, an increase from the previous year of 20 people*.
*Figures for employees can deviate from the statistics found in DBH. This is because reporting to DBH is done on 1 October, while BI's Annual Report figures are from 31.12.
In 2022, a change was made to the contractual relationship with BI's student employees. These students hold a small position fraction of a maximum of 40%. Altogether there are 139 people, and they make up 35.7 FTEs.
New president
Onboarding the new president and provost and establishing a new senior management group was the focus in the autumn of 2022. In this connection, the rector's office conducted extensive visits throughout the organisation to listen, learn, and get to know the organisation.
The appointment of a president and provost strengthened the management capacity of the presidency. Also, it led to changes in organisational reporting for several units. Outreach was merged with the communications department, and the corporate business was merged with the executive unit. After the provost for research resigned in December 2022, the library reports to the provost for student learning, while the research administration and PhD dean report to the provost for research and academic resources. The full-time director is the interim head of the innovation department.
Organisational development
BI's Strategy 2025 emphasises "Operational Excellence" as a strategic priority. Many of our digitisation initiatives significantly impact work processes and the distribution of roles and responsibilities, often leading to organisational structure changes.
The full-time Operational Excellence project has looked at a more efficient organisation of study administrative support functions. The work has resulted in many minor adjustments in responsibilities, roles and reporting. Collecting study administrative tasks that do not require physical student proximity to a central unit strengthens competence and equal treatment of cases.
As a result of the semester planning project, it was natural to create a closer organisational link between lesson planning and exam planning, and lesson planning was moved from full-time to study quality. Study quality further gathered all work with accreditation in a newly created department and has also reorganised the programme administration in three programme areas to ensure more holistic support for deans.
Responsibility for Property management, development and services was transferred from the CFO to the Digital Director due to greater tasks and service delivery synergies with Digital.
Pilot – new workplace concept
As a result of a more hybrid and flexible working life, it is desirable to consider future sustainable workplace concepts supporting this working style. Last year, a new activity-based workplace concept was established at campus Oslo. There has been extensive involvement of employees in the physical design and furnishing of the work zone. The aim is to draw experience from the pilot for further development of BI's workplace areas.
Working environment and sick leave
BI facilitates an inspiring working environment that promotes the individual's well-being, health, learning and development. The environment must be characterised by diversity, equality, consideration, and respectful and open communication. BI has zero tolerance for any form of abuse of power.
The first months of 2022 were still characterised by the pandemic, with a lot of digital teaching and extensive use of home offices before society opened up again. In connection with the return to campus as a workplace, BI has established a "Guideline for Hybrid Working", which allows employees to work both from home and from campus. After the pandemic, meetings, where all or some participants participate digitally, have become common and provide new flexibility.
In the spring of 2022, a working environment survey was carried out for all BI's employees. The results largely coincided with previous years. The investigation was extended to, among other things, questions about the home office. The survey is primarily a survey of the psychosocial working environment and was followed up by each manager with his unit. Based on the survey, BI has decided to focus on the following in the future:
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)
- Ability to change
- Leadership and cooperation
BI has explicitly focused on preventing bullying, harassment and sexual harassment. A policy against bullying, harassment and sexual harassment has been drawn up, in addition to procedures for handling such cases. In 2022, several workshops were held with dilemma training on this topic for all managers at all levels at BI, shop stewards, safety representatives, and HR. In 2022, a digital training module was also prepared in Motimate, aimed at managers and employees.
BI's primary work-related health risks are conditions related to stress, interaction challenges, and strain on muscles and skeleton. Offering psychosocial counselling to all employees has contributed to preventing sickness absence and conflicts, improved conflict management and strengthened stress management. Psychosocial counselling combined with close and good cooperation with the occupational health service has contributed to employees returning to work more quickly after an illness.
In 2022, the total sickness absence reported by a doctor among BI's employees was 3.0%. This is an increase from 2021 (2.4%). There is reason to believe that the increase was mainly because many employees were infected by COVID-19 in 2022.
At campus Oslo, there was an incident in 2022 where a lift to banners in the ceiling partially fell. The incident could ultimately cause serious personal injury. The incident has been followed up as a deviation. A new safe routine (procedural and technical) is in place. The property department is responsible for handling this. There are otherwise no serious incidents, injuries (material or persons) or accidents recorded in connection with the performance of work at BI in 2022.