Rector Election - Who is running?

NMBU's financial problems are already causing enough headaches for the university leadership, and now they also have to run an election campaign. Rector Siri Fjellheim’s term ends in July, meaning the rector position will soon be filled again. A new development this year is that the new rector will be elected (rather than appointed) through a vote in which both students and staff can participate. The campaign officially starts at the end of February, but Team Fjellheim has already announced their candidacy.

Journalist: Henrik Bakken
Translator: Bora Gulersen Sezgin
Illustrator: Ingvild Sperstad

Disagreement

The debate surrounding the university’s governance model intensified towards the end of last year, reaching a climax at the last board meeting before Christmas. There, the elected-rector model was approved by a vote of 6 to 5. Without taking a position on the model itself, both the rector and the board chair had warned against implementing this model at that time due to the major restructuring process NMBU is facing. However, the board majority did not see this as a decisive argument. Soon, both students and staff will be able to cast their votes for the next rector, as the election is not far away. As with most things at NMBU, time is tight.

The 2025 Election

The election schedule is already set. The current plan is for the candidate nomination deadline to be February 16, followed by a three-week campaign period from February 25 to March 14. The voting period will take place from March 17 to March 21, and the results will be published on March 31. A new rector and a new board will take over from August 1.

Two Challenges at Once

Tuntreet met with Siri and Director Lars Atle Holm immediately after the university board meeting on January 23, where they had just approved new election regulations. Both Siri and Lars Atle are facing an exciting year with two major uncertainties. The most obvious challenge is financial: in 2025 alone, they need to cut 100 million NOK. In addition, there is now a new risk factor—a human one—as a large portion of NMBU’s leadership will be replaced before the year is over. The uncertainty ultimately comes down to what NMBU’s democratic process decides. “This is a restructuring on top of a restructuring,” says Rector Siri Fjellheim.

Siri4rector2k25?

It was natural to ask Siri whether she wanted to continue as rector. On the evening of January 23, she told us she was "deep in thought" about it but added that she would decide quickly since the election rules had been finalized. And she did.

Efficient Organization

Immediately after her interview with Tuntreet on January 23, Siri called Hilde Vinje to ask her to join a team. "I had Hilde in mind," she says. Hilde is running for the position of Pro-Rector for Education. The third member of the team, Finn A. Weltzien, is running for re-election as Pro-Rector for Research and Innovation. When Tuntreet learned that Team Fjellheim was officially running, we had another conversation—Siri had gone from uncertain to fully committed, and we spoke with two-thirds of the team, Siri and Hilde.

Siri highlights the risk of a major leadership change during a challenging period at NMBU as a key reason why she should continue as rector. “In difficult times like these, continuity is extremely important,” she says, referring to the frequent leadership changes at NMBU in recent years: “First, we had Sjur for two years, then Curt for two years, and now I’ve been here for two years. We need continuity.” This is why she included Finn in her team but adds, “We also need renewal,” expressing excitement about having Hilde on board. Hilde, an associate professor in biostatistics, enthusiastically described the “NMBU spirit” multiple times during our conversation.

Who Actually Cares About the Election?

In 2025, major budget cuts will be made, and the administration has stated that if handled well, these cuts should have minimal negative impact on students. At the same time, NMBU is a place with a high level of engagement from both students and staff. When asked about their campaign focus, Hilde responds, “We believe we can balance this in a reasonable way,” but also emphasizes the importance of staying true to themselves in the process. Siri notes that she doesn’t differentiate between students and staff in this setting and stresses that now that there is an election, “everyone must participate.”

Engaged Candidates

Both Siri and Hilde are enthusiastic and full of energy when discussing their plans for NMBU, and they have no shortage of ideas. They highlight several projects and visions for making NMBU a university of quality and innovation. Key topics include the psycho-social environment, "Students in Research," student volunteer work, academic communities on campus, and alumni engagement—all of which they see as essential for making NMBU an attractive place to study.

Want to Run for Rector? Here Are the Requirements:

§10a Eligibility for Rector and Pro-Rector Elections

To be eligible for the position of rector, candidates must be employees of NMBU with professor qualifications.
To be eligible for the position of pro-rector, candidates must be employees of NMBU with qualifications as a professor, associate professor, senior lecturer, or docent.
External candidates are also eligible if they meet the competency requirements in points 1 and 2 and have expertise in one of NMBU’s fields of study.
No additional formal requirements exist, but it is an advantage if candidates have strategic leadership experience in a knowledge organization within research and education. Familiarity with the administration of such an institution is also beneficial.

The new rector will also serve as chair of the University Board, while the director will take over as board secretary—a role previously held by the rector. At the board meeting on January 23, it was also discussed that the rector may take on a more prominent role as the face of NMBU, particularly in relation to the university’s fundraising efforts with private donors. Someone will need to build relationships before the money can benefit NMBU.

Student Engagement

When drafting the election regulations, a key discussion point was the weighting of votes. The law allows student votes to count for between 25-30%, and since NMBU stands out nationally for student engagement, student representatives Maja Raz Karterud and Magnus Schie Larsen strongly argued for increasing student vote weight beyond the proposed minimum of 25%. The board unanimously supported the increase, but only by two percent. So, the final vote weight will be 27% students and 73% staff members.

As of the time of writing, Team Fjellheim is the only publicly declared candidacy. However, in a comment to Tuntreet, former Pro-Rector for Education Solve Sæbø confirmed via message:

“I can confirm that I am working on assembling Team Sæbø and will run as a rector candidate.”

Student participation in such elections has historically been low. This election presents a great opportunity for Ås students to showcase their engagement by exercising their democratic right to vote.