Election Committee seeks consultation on Ole Petter Ottersen as new Vice-Chancellor

Mikael Odenberg, the chair of the Karolinska Institutet board, writes in his blog today, 1 February, that the Election Committee will be consulting with the Consultative College on the proposal to put forward Ole Petter Ottersen’s name to the government for the position of vice-chancellor at Karolinska Institutet.

This means that only one candidate will be proposed following the consultation between the board’s Election Committee and the Consultative College (which represents the university’s faculty, employees and students). The meeting is due to take place on 14 February.

Mikael Odenberg comments that the Search Committee, whose task it was to identify suitable candidates, had made considerable progress in its work and shortlisted seven from a long list of 225 names, including eight applicants and 49 nominations, and interviews with dozens of potential candidates.

Of these, Ole Petter Ottersen, Professor of Medicine and Rector of Oslo University, and formerly in the running for the same post at Gothenburg University, was the only Scandinavian-speaking candidate. The other six were English speakers.

“On 14 February, we will be presenting the Consultative College with a thorough report of the application process to date, and the deliberations that led the Election Committee to arrive at its decision,” writes Odenberg in today’s blog. “In our view, Ole Petter Ottersen has the leadership qualities that KI seeks and the ability to bring his colleagues and the university’s staff and students on board the change programme. He also has experience of leading a large university and conducts research of great significance.”

Text: Madeleine Svärd Huss

Translation: Neil Betteridge, Sara Aldén