Opening Science Week 2007

Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland's speech at the opening of Science Week 2007, Carnegie Institution in Washington DC. Science Week was arranged by Forum for Research, Technology and Higher Education, The Norwegian Embassy in Washington.

Ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to take part in the opening of the 6^th Science Week.

Today we celebrate the broad and long-lasting cooperation in research and education between Norway and the US and Canada. But Science Week is not primarily a time to look back - the present and the future is our main concern here. The programme for this week includes a broad range of lectures, discussions and workshops. Some of these will focus on how our cooperation can be strengthened in the future. Others will shed light on issues and research fields which are linked to important challenges the global community faces today.

The title of this year’s Science Week, "Climate Action", is highly appropriate. During the last year climate change has been on the top of the international political agenda, and it will stay there for a long time. The award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize clearly demonstrates that the challenges climate change represents are regarded as closely linked to other major global challenges. These are concerned with peace, stability and the fight against poverty. The prize is also a great acknowledgement of the important work of climate researchers from all over the world contributing to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I wish to take the opportunity to congratulate the US with the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007. I am impressed by the effort Al Gore has made to raise public awareness about climate change.

The issues related to climate change are broad and diverse, and concern all aspects of our societies. Over the last few years we have seen examples of extreme weather in many parts of the world, and heard reports about rising sea levels and melting ice. The polar regions function as indicators of climate change; this is where the effects are first observed, and it is expected that the effects will be more radical and develop faster in these areas than anywhere else on earth. We may not know all the exact causal connections that lie behind these phenomena, but still, it is surely time to act! We must do what we can to prevent the worst case climate scenarios, and prepare for the effects of climate change.

For both these lines of action, more knowledge is vital. Researchers now know a lot about the effects of human activity on global warming. Still, we need more accurate predictions, and a better understanding of the climate system and the interaction between different factors. In addition we need more knowledge of how the effects of climate change will influence our societies, and of what we should do to adjust to new conditions in the best way.

Several philosophers of the previous century saw the fact that we are vulnerable, on the one hand, and able to change and adapt, on the other, as characteristic traits of human existence. Philosophers from the earliest times have thought that our ability to learn is among the most typical human traits. And of course, the ability to learn and the ability to change are closely related; in one way we always change when we learn, we develop and adapt to new challenges and new questions.

Climate change is an issue that sharply demonstrates our vulnerability. It also challenges our ability to learn and adapt to changing circumstances. At the same time it underlines the importance of international cooperation. In this context we don’t need the metaphor "we’re all in the same boat" - we are undeniably all on the same planet, and must face the challenge of climate change together.

The knowledge challenges related to climate change involve both research and education. Research will play a crucial role in finding answers to pressing questions about climate change and its effects, both on nature and on our societies. Through research we also hope to find new, more sustainable solutions, for example in the energy sector. Here I believe that countries like the US and Norway have a special responsibility. We are both carbon based and carbon consuming economies. We both have resources available to invest in research, as well as strong research communities in relevant fields. Research in the area of intersection between energy and the environment is one of the thematic priorities in Norway’s research policy.

But there is another vital aspect of this challenge, which the title of this conference also points to. In order to transform the available knowledge into action, this knowledge must reach policy makers. And we, the policy makers, must be ready to listen. I believe it is very fruitful to create arenas of open exchange of ideas and information between research communities and policy makers, as this conference is an excellent example of. Let’s hope that the policy makers of the world will translate scientific knowledge into wise decisions during the next international climate meeting on Bali in December!

In this context we should remember that both the policy makers and the researchers of tomorrow are the students and school children of today. This brings me to the role of education. Through education, children and young people can be made aware of the gravity of the issue of climate change. Changes in attitude may pave the way for a more sustainable development of our societies.

At the same time, we need to secure the recruitment to climate research in the future. In Norway we have launched several measures to improve our teacher training and school education in mathematics and natural sciences, and to motivate more students to choose them at university level. Fortunately we are now seeing increased interest in these subject. I also hope that the focus in the media and in society at large on the importance of research in connection with climate change, will motivate more young people to dedicate their efforts and abilities to research in this field.

The international polar year (IPY) is now well on its way. This huge international research effort is extremely important for the development of polar and climate research, and will give us valuable new knowledge of climate change and its effects. Again the importance of international cooperation is demonstrated; during the polar year, research projects that could not be undertaken by just one or a few countries will be realized. Huge amounts of data will be collected, which may serve as basis for research for years to come.

Norway participates actively in the International Polar Year, allocating more than 320 million NOK, that is more than 58 million USD, over a period of 4 years. The Polar Year is also an important arena of cooperation between Norway and the US and Canada. Among the 26 research projects financed by our special Polar Year-funding through the Research Council of Norway, all but one have partners from the US and Canada. I am pleased to announce that Norway will be hosting the International Polar Year Early Science Conference in 2010. We wish to contribute to a continued international effort after the Polar Year. I hope that the well-established cooperation between polar researchers from the US, Canada and Norway will go on.

Our government has pointed to the High North as the most important strategic area in the years to come. Research and education, both in the High North and relevant to the High North, form a central part of this strategy. The importance of international cooperation in these fields is also emphasized, and we especially wish to welcome researchers from the US and Canada to what we often refer to as our polar gem: namely Svalbard. Svalbard is the most accessible High Arctic area in the world with a broad range of research infrastructure and unique natural conditions for research, including research on climate change. It is an important aim to consolidate and develop Svalbard as an international platform for research and higher education.

Polar and climate research are of course not the only areas of focus in Norway’s transatlantic cooperation in research and education. The US has in fact been the single most important country for Norway’s international cooperation in research and education since World War 2. A large number of students and researchers in various fields have had fruitful stays at US universities and research institutions.

Last month, the Research Council of Norway awarded its annual prize for outstanding research. This year the prize went to a highly respected Norwegian mathematician. At the prize award ceremony, the winner pointed to the importance of the funding that she and other young Norwegian mathematicians received from the Norwegian state for studies at universities in the US in the 1960’s. She stressed that these mobility sholarships had been a key factor in the development of a mathematical community of high international standard in Norway. And this is only one of the areas where studies and research cooperation across the Atlantic have been of great importance to the development of our academic communities.

Quality is a main priority in our research policy. We have decided that in the effort to stimulate more excellent research, it is appropriate to honour excellent researchers. This is also a way of bringing research into the public spotlight. We have therefore established two funds for the purpose of awarding two international prizes for outstanding research at Nobel Prize level, in fields that are not covered by the Nobel Prizes. These are the Abel Prize for mathematics and the Holberg Prize for the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. My ministry has also entered into a cooperation agreement with the Kavli Foundation and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters about the awarding of three new international scientific prizes; the Kavli Prizes in astrophysics, neuroscience and nanoscience. We are very happy that the Kavli Foundation has decided to award these prestigious new prizes in Norway. They will be awarded for the first time next year. I am delighted that Fred Kavli is here today to tell you more about this.

And I am happy to tell you that the US has received something in return for the great benefits the cooperation with US institutions has given Norwegian researchers. No less than 3 out of 6 Abel prize winners are US citizens working at US institutions. So is this year’s Holberg Prize winner, Richard Dworkin, who will receive the prize in Bergen in the end of November. This is impressive, and illustrates why we give high priority to strengthening cooperation with the US both in higher education and research; some of the world’s best and most innovative institutions and research communities are found here.

We want our young researchers to work with institutions and research communities across the Atlantic at the highest international level. At the same time, we would like to see more researchers from the US and Canada at our own institutions. One important measure has been a mobility program, which gives funding for mobility in both directions.

This mobility program is called the Leiv Eiriksson program; a name well chosen to remind us of the long traditions of cooperation between Norway and North America. The Norwegian Leiv Eiriksson was, according to tradition, the first European to travel to North America, around the year 1000. When he came to the land later identified as Newfoundland, he wanted to explore the land and learn from its inhabitants.

Leiv Eriksson is also an illustration of the fact that travel is and has been an integral part in learning as well as in teaching. To experience foreign cultures and to seek new knowledge is personally enriching, but it is also important for the development of the global economy. Further, it lays the basis for international cooperative action, for example against climate change and for peace and stability. I am therefore pleased that so many Norwegian students, academic staff members and researchers are using the many existing opportunities for studying, teaching and doing research abroad.

Two years ago the US and Norway signed a bilateral agreement on science and technology cooperation. The signing of the agreement was on Norway’s side part of the follow up of our strategy for increased scientific and technological cooperation with North America. Now I have the pleasure of introducing the government’s strategy for cooperation in higher education with North America.

The strategy reflects our strong wish to enhance our academic cooperation with universities in the US and Canada. In addition to high quality and innovative approaches, universities in North America have global academic networks. It is important for our higher education institutions to be part of these networks in order to develop academic excellence, and both collaborate and compete to benchmark Norwegian higher education.

The Norwegian strategy for cooperation in higher education with North America focuses on the following four issues:

• we will seek to strengthen the cooperation at governmental level
• we will encourage more Norwegian students to study at universities in North America
• we will stimulate closer cooperation between higher education institutions in our countries by establishing a partnership project
• we will facilitate for better information services about study opportunities and for joint seminars in specific subject areas where contacts can be made and future partners meet.

I am happy to say that it seems to be an easy task to strengthen the cooperation at governmental level. In Norway we are in the lucky position that both the US and the Canadian ambassadors are strongly involved with and interested in higher education cooperation. A joint forum is established, the Transatlantic Education Forum, where the ambassadors and my ministry meet with other stakeholders to discuss issues related to increased mobility and academic cooperation. The common goal is to eliminate or minimize obstacles for student exchanges and partnerships between higher education institutions.

Student mobility is another highlighted area in the strategy. Norway’s higher education and research systems depend heavily upon impulses and partners from abroad, and outbound student mobility has been a crucial part of Norwegian higher education policy for as long as we have had higher education. Cooperation with North America has been an important driving force in the development of modern, post-war higher education in Norway.

Therefore we want to increase the number of Norwegian students that take part of their higher education in North America.

I now have the pleasure of announcing that as a specific measure to stimulate Norwegian students to go to the US, the funding for the Fulbright Foundation will be increased in order to give more students the possibility to study at US institutions.

We would also like to see more North American students coming to Norway. In the academic year 2005-06, Norway sends around 10 Norwegian students to North America for each North American student in Norway. How can this be? I have been told that US President Thomas Jefferson warned against the dangers of sending young Americans to Europe and said: "Of all the errors which can possibly be committed to the education of youth, that of sending them to Europe is the most fatal. " I hope none of you here agrees with him.

I do recognize that it might not be the perceived dangers of Europe, but rather the quality of higher education in North America that prevent youth from considering going abroad for studies. Still I think it is important to inform North American youth of the opportunities for learning that lies in Europe.

To stimulate youth from our neighbour countries in the North to come to Norway, the Norwegian government has decided to establish a granting scheme, The High North Stipend Scheme for students from the US, Canada and Russia. Today about 30 students from the US and Canada are studying in Norwegian universities and university colleges with the High North stipend. Some of them have even moved as far north as possible for university studies, to Svalbard.

For those who are not set to learn Norwegian, an increasing number of Norwegian institutions are offering Masters Programmes in English. Currently there are over 170 master’s degrees available in English. The courses span from Master in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture to Master in Coastal and Marine Civil Engineering.

To contribute to closer cooperation between higher education institutions in Norway and North America, a pilot scheme for a partnership programme will be set up. In order to establish long-term and sustainable networks between institutions, the university administrations need to be involved. This framework programme will support and stimulate activities like student and staff mobility, intensive programs, summer courses, curricula development and joint degrees.

When stressing the importance of partnerships between institutions, I wish to point to two good examples of partnerships between Norwegian and US universities.

The Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the University of Minnesota has an interesting partnership which will be presented as a "dream team" during Science Week. Another example of successful cooperation, between the University of Oslo and Berkley in Social Sciences, is also on the agenda. These partnerships involve student and faculty exchanges, joint curricula and courses and research programs. They are sustainable partnerships that are already up and running. They will be used as models for the type of partnerships I want to stimulate more institutions to establish.

I said earlier that we aim to strengthen the cooperation at governmental level between the US and Norway on issues related to higher education as well as research. And now I will follow up that statement with action. Today I will, together with Thomas Farrell from the State Department, sign a declaration on Higher education collaboration. The declaration is meant to complement our bilateral agreement on science and technology cooperation.

We are signing this declaration to underline the importance of higher education cooperation between our two countries, to enhance partnerships between institutions and to stimulate increased student and faculty mobility. Hopefully this will inspire our universities to joint actions. I will now take the opportunity to wish you all a good Science Week, before I give the word to deputy assistant secretary Thomas Farrel, who will join me in this important step towards increased cooperation in higher education.

Thank you for your attention.