For the last two years, NTNU has worked to establish a central infrastructure to welcome and accommodate foreign researchers. On Monday, 10 May, “International Researcher Support” was officially opened as a centre and meeting place for foreign employees. The centre should help NTNU’s different departments and subject areas with the burden of dealing with cumbersome regulations and very slow bureaucracy.
Bildetekst: Katja Reiter and her three children followed her husband when he got a job at Q2S (Centre for Quantifiable Quality of Service in Communication Systems) two-and-a-half years ago. They are originally from Erfurt, Germany. Katja has been trained as a teacher in her home country, but has had difficulty finding work in her field in Trondheim. She is now taking Norwegian classes, and gets some practical language training by meeting partners of other NTNU employees during regular Friday get-togethers at the Info House.
Professor Torgeir Moan is the head of CESOS (the Centre for Ships and Ocean Structures), a research centre where fully 60 per cent of the staff are non-Norwegian. That makes him one of the most needy in terms of getting help from NTNU's new service for foreign researchers.
Lots of work
“The most demanding thing we do in terms of recruiting from abroad is working with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), a process that often takes a lot of time. Another critical point is housing for researchers who come, often with families. A third factor is the researcher’s partner and the needs of any children in terms of social integration.”
Moan has spent several research years at major American universities such as MIT and Berkeley. He highlights them as role models for NTNU in terms of overall purpose and in looking at the situation holistically.
“It's all about giving the researcher as few worries as possible on the home front, so that he or she can give 100 per cent to the job he or she has come here for. It will be interesting to see what happens here in Trondheim. There is no doubt that there is a tremendous need.”
One of three academics is a foreigner
The Sokolova case, in which a Russian PhD candidate was initially expelled from Norway because she had commuted from Oslo instead of living with her then-husband, showed that the immigration rules for so-called experts can pose a serious bottleneck for NTNU’s strategic goals. The university has a stated commitment to build its international profile by recruiting the brightest minds from around the world.
In 2008 there were about 400 faculty members with foreign citizenship at the university, in addition to 650 students. Foreigners make up almost a third of the university’s academic strength, according to Kathrine Vangen, project manager for International Researcher Support.
Support for one million annually
Each of these foreigners will have been through the immigration mill. The experience of different NTNU disciplines in working with immigration issues will be collected, and could provide the key expertise that will help Moan and other departments and faculties.
NTNU has been working to establish the service since 2008. It costs about one million kroner have some kind of intake service available for assistance.
“In short, our job is to have top skills in critical areas that affect foreign researchers who come to NTNU,” Vangen says.
International Researcher Support is physically located at the Info House, located next to the main administration building at Gløshaugen. The idea is that the service will provide a knowledge base for NTNU’s different disciplines, a point of contact with public authorities, and a social meeting place for foreign scientists and their families (see photo).
“The biggest challenge is undoubtedly government immigration regulations. There is a tremendous amount that must be arranged to get a researcher situated with all the proper papers. Everything from the work it takes to get a working and residence permit, to getting a national identification number and a bank account. And providing housing for a new family, preferably in the vicinity of the campus and the workplace, is becoming a growing challenge in the tight rental market,” said Vangen.
“Family Package” for integration
Vangen and her colleague Marit Svendsen also try to help researchers’ partners with social integration.
For this purpose, NTNU has hired a private company, Expat Mid-Norway, which provides support for many of the practical issues surrounding an international move to Norway.
A representative from the company has a fixed “office day” during the week at the Info House, and can answer various questions. The different departments and disciplines pay 29,000 NOK for a “family package” for a year. Expat Mid-Norway then takes care of all the practical arrangements surrounding the move to a new country, assisting with advice and tips, even meeting the family at airport and going to realtor showings if needed, according to Vangen.
Demand for a Trondheim centre
The Service Centre for Foreign Workers is a collaboration between the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, the police, tax authorities and the Directorate of Immigration. These centres have already been established in Oslo, Stavanger and in Kirkenes -- but not yet in Trondheim. Here is where the municipality and the county should recognize an opportunity, says advisor Marit Svensen.
“With the region’s collection of knowledge-intensive enterprises represented by NTNU, SINTEF and Statoil, it would be a real boost to establish a Service Centre for Foreign Workers here in Trondheim,” says Svendsen.
