INN University and NAV have had a number of collaborative meetings in recent years. Photo: INN University.
“INN University takes the needs of working life seriously,” says director of NAV Innlandet, Bjørn Lien.
With around 19,000 employees and managing a third of the state budget, NAV – the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration – is a large organization that allows for collaboration on many fronts.
“The most important thing for NAV is that in INN University we have a partner that helps us work in a more knowledge-based way than we would have done without them on the team. We are a decentralized and change-willing organization that needs knowledge at all levels,” says Lien.
Was recommended to study at INN University
Oda Kristine Sveen is one of many NAV employees who have both taken their original education with us, and later returned for professional development – studying while employed. She completed a bachelor's degree in child welfare pedagogy in 2011 and is now working in guiding young people at NAV Gjøvik. In the summer of 2021, she completed further education in process management in competence development, which INN University offers on behalf of NAV for their employees.
“My immediate manager recommended that I enrol in the study programme, as he took it the semester before me. My motivation was professional development, in order to be able to lead development processes in NAV. I work as a project manager in an inter-municipal project, and the study programme has made me better able to reflect on my own role and take into account the different needs and prerequisites of the actors in question,” says Sveen.
Jan Tore Stø, department director at NAV Lillehammer-Gausdal, has also studied with us in an advanced stage of his career. For over twenty years, he has held various managerial positions in NAV and previously the Labour Market Agency. In 2010, he completed a master's degree in public administration (MPA) – Modern management at the Lillehammer campus.
“I took the study programme at the same time as working in the county management in NAV. As a manager, it is important to be able to sort the landscape a little bit, and not jump on everything that is fashionable related to leadership style and organization. The study programme made me better able to make the right assessments and decisions, so that I became more confident in my own managerial role,” says Stø.
Personally, he benefited greatly from his time as an established career student.
“We reflect in a different way with many years of practice in our bag. I had my study technique from before and studied something I was genuinely interested in and that was relevant to my job, so the result also benefited me personally,” says Stø.
Since the collaboration agreement between INN University and NAV was signed, Lien believes that the collaboration was revitalized in many ways in 2019, something we are now beginning to see the consequences of. That year three specific areas of collaboration within research and development were agreed upon.
Collaboration within three areas
The first area of collaboration revolves NAV employees’ use of legislation in the right way, so that as a result of the collaboration guides can become more secure in meeting the users. INN University and NAV are also working together on an innovative project where attention is focused on exclusion among young people. The third area of collaboration takes a closer look at how to work as a guide in a digital everyday life, and how this affects the user’s interaction with NAV.
“The collaboration in these areas is rooted at the top level and was implemented in 2021. INN University has over time proven that they are concerned with our practical and real challenges, and that they take our interdisciplinary expectations seriously,” says Lien.
Ingjerd Thon Hagaseth has a shared position between NAV and INN University, and functions in many ways as a link between the two organizations. She believes innovation is a key word in the collaboration.
“NAV and INN University are different in many ways, but we have many issues that are relevant to both of us. It is important to identify and integrate these into the organizations. My job is to seek these links,” says Thon Hagaseth.
Our educational offering has for a long time been a natural link to NAV.
“NAV recruits widely within special health subjects, and there is no doubt that many of our educational programmes are important for the NAV of the future. We will help keep the educational programmes up to date, aligned with the way NAV and the welfare state want to look in the future,” says Hagaseth.
Many of our study programmes are relevant to NAV
“Many of the educational programmes at INN University are important for NAV, and in addition you have a number of programmes that are adapted for current NAV employees,” says Lien.
Process management, a guide study programme, and administrative law are among the subject areas where we have offerings aimed at NAV employees. Sveen, who herself studied process management, believes that the need for further education is great among employees in NAV in general.
We need professional development beyond what we learn in our job, and I see it as a positive thing to be in a position where we must learn something new and develop. Increased knowledge provides increased insight and security in the tasks we solve, and we can develop in collaboration with INN University both at the individual and institutional level,” says Sveen.
In addition, several NAV employees are engaged as guest lecturers with us, among them Stø with the master’s degree in innovation and master’s degree in public administration.
So where will the collaboration go next? Innovation and development are two main keywords in the short term, as NAV is a changing organization that adapts to the users in terms of work methods. The goal is better services for users, a need that can be met through, among other things, new study programmes with us.
“It will be important for us to follow up and ensure that the new study programmes and courses work as desired. In a longer perspective, we must move forward in the collaboration. What challenges can we solve together, and what should we now work together towards? We must keep this in the forefront and address it in our joint evaluations,” says Lien about the collaboration, which has been extended until 2022.
This article was originally published in Norwegian on 11 November 2021 and was translated by Noorit Larsen.