some notes on mode 1 and mode 2assessing the competence of applicants for associate professorships and full professorships. part
of this job involved becoming familiar with the scholarly output of the applicants for which
a doctoral thesis often represents the cornerstone. over the same period of time the author
has been an external examiner for a substantial number of doctoral dissertations. her notes
from studying more than 50 doctoral dissertations have made it possible for her to notice some
tendencies concerning how academically professional scholarship is developing through the
doctorates in the nordic countries. The middle part of the diagram concerns the period since the
author began her work as the founding director of the doctoral programme at the oslo school of
architecture in 1990. This long period has provided her with a broad experience as an academic
manager at various levels of such responsibility, from a micro level to a macro level. The third
part of the diagram addresses the period of her extensive activity as an academic teacher at the
doctoral level, with a special interest in matters concerning knowledge in design fields.
3 around the middle of the 1970s, new reforms and university laws made a significant impact
on the higher education in scandinavia. in denmark the university law of 1973 modernized
the existing university system first time after 1858 (Ku 2010). in norway the doctoral degree
became the standard qualification for the ‘middle group’ of the academic staff to be granted a
tenured position (uio 2009: 9). in sweden, the Reform 1977 (Högskolereformen 1977), included
professional and artistic education into a unified university system and it introduced a two- tier
educational system, based on basic education and research education (Kmh 2007: 3). higher
education in professions should be from then on based on research.
4 in 1993, new university laws were adopted in the three scandinavian countries. in norway
the new law (Kongelig resolusjon) decreed a merger of 98 regional colleges into 26 so- called
state colleges. only the four universities and the six autonomous university colleges then had
the right to confer a doctoral degree, but it was opened for the new state colleges to build up
their scholarly competence and apply for this right (nou 2008). The danish university law,
concerning all institutions of higher education, opened up a stronger academic and economic
autonomy for them (Børing and maassen et al. 2003). it established a new, formalized position
for doctoral degrees in the national system of higher education. The swedish decree regarding
higher education (högskoleförordningen) also granted stronger academic and economic
autonomy, but in return demanded higher and more explicit results.
5 The members of the nordic network for research education for architects, designers and
artists, were professors: niels albertsen, aarhus school of architecture, denmark; halina
dunin- Woyseth, oslo school of architecture, norway; Jerker lundeqvist, Royal institute of
Technology, stockholm, sweden, and, anna- maija Ylimaula, Faculty of architecture, oulu
university, Finland.
6 after several years of preparation, the ministers in charge of higher education in all the countries
taking part in the Bologna process decided to adopt the future of doctoral programmes as a
specific Bologna objective at the september 2003 meeting in Berlin. doctoral education has
been recognized as the third and highest cycle of education, after Bachelors’ and masters’
degrees. ‘They emphasize the importance of research and research training and the promotion
of interdisciplinarity in maintaining and improving the quality of higher education and in
enhancing the competitiveness of european higher education more generally. ... ministers ask
higher education institutions to increase the role of relevance of research to technological, social
and cultural evolutions and to the needs’ of society’ (quote source: Berlin 2003).