Course 3: Professions and Societal Development

Bergen University College (HiB)

Course Leaders:

• Tom Skauge (PDF), Associate professor, HiB
• Tor Halvorsen, Associate Professor, Department of Administration and Organization, UIB

Invited course leaders:

• Konrad K. Jarausch, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Francis Appiah, Professor, Executive Secretary of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Governing Council Secretariat, Ghana
• Kjell Underlid, Professor, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College
• Janet Harris, Associate Professor, Centre for Knowledge Based Practice, Bergen University College
• Thorolf Krüger, Professor Faculty of Education, Bergen University College
• Anne-Mette Magnussen, Associate Professor, Bergen University College
• Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, Professor Autonomous University of Mexico City

Short Course description:

This course is designed for new PhD students as a broad introduction of research on the division of professions and expert labor as well as selected areas of specialization. Professions provide the important link between the world of work and the world of education, the two basic institutions contributing to human and societal development. The course will give an overview of some of the classical texts of the theory of professions and the link between professions and modernity. Theoretical developments, such as the actor-based framework for the study of the professions developed by Konrad H. Jarausch amongst others and systems of professions as discussed by Andrew Abbott will be of central importance for discussions of relations between professions, professions and the state and questions of how professions have contributed to democratic and societal development. Newer theories on professions and societal development will be discussed against new knowledge on gender, class and culture.

The PhD-course will also raise the issue of professions and societal development in different contexts. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of professionals and the emergence of new knowledge societies and the potential role of knowledge in poverty reduction strategies. Other themes include a more detailed presentation of systems of and sources for professional knowledge, such as the discussion concerning evidence based knowledge and other sources of expert knowledge. Attention will also be placed on ethical challenges in professional work and education for professional work, leadership in professions and in knowledge based organizations and the dilemma between profession and organization. Trust and power as systems of authorization and market closure are also important issues that will be raised.

For full course description and syllabus: Click here (PDF)