The Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network, NOVA, was founded in 1995, and its primary focus has been on jointly organized PhD courses. The courses were consistently lauded for their high quality and professional performance and regarded as highly valuable by both students, teachers and PhD supervisors. The long-term collaboration have created respect and trust between members and formed the basis for strong networks among scientists.
Due to changed circumstances for several of the members, the board agreed to give SLU the task of creating a new, more cost-effective model for the cooperation. This work resulted in a report that have been the basis for a new agreement for a continued partnership that now is signed by the members. The new model implies each university finance their own NOVA courses, which obtain NOVA-status if the jointly agreed requirements are met. Each member follows their own routines for creating PhD-courses, and the courses fulfilling the requirements are reported to the secretariat, that advertise the courses.
– With the new cooperation model that reduce the NOVA administration and thereby the cost of membership to a minimum, we hope to even attract some of the Danish universities as members, says Ylva Hillbur, pro vice-chancellor for international relations and the new chair of NOVA.
SLU deposits means equivalent to the former membership fee to ensure that we can continue to be as active as before. The call for proposals to arrange NOVA courses is now open. If you are a teacher and wants to arrange a course in cooperation with collegues from othe NOVA institutions, do not hesitate to apply! Detailed description of the call is found here: https://internt.slu.se/en/support-services/education/doctoral-education1/doctoral-courses/slu-nova/
NOVA members: