International cooperation
The Faculty’s management is actively seeking to assure the quality of international exchange programmes for basic and specialist training. This is being done by establishing contact at dean level and by undertaking in-depth visits to assess how both parties can best benefit from such cooperation. Agreements have recently been signed with Ankara and Cape Town to this end.
The Faculty has been involved in shaping the terms for European dental education by prioritising active participation in the DentEd EU project and in ADEE activities. The Faculty has recently applied to the Nordic Council of Ministers (autumn 2010) to prepare a report on establishing a Nordic master’s degree in biomaterial science in cooperation with NIOM, and the universities of Gothenburg, Turku and Åbo.
In the case of participating in international meetings and agreements on research exchanges, most of the international cooperative research efforts are conducted at department level by individual researchers. For example, a joint PhD council has been established in cooperation with the Forsyth Institute
National cooperation
The Faculty shall be a premise provider to the development of research and education the field of dental health, and holds regular meetings with the Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Directorate of Health, which regulates specialist education and implements special measures to promote clinical research.
The Faculty shall strengthen cooperation with the public dental health service. This can be achieved by, for example cooperating with the authorities over competence building and the establishment of regional centres of dental competence. The Faculty’s social responsibility for training candidates for both the public and private sectors shall be the main focus of its activities so that the needs of the population for prevention and treatment of diseases and infections of the oral cavity and maxilla can be safeguarded.
The Faculty also works closely with the Norwegian Dental Association and makes significant contributions to systematic continuing education in the form of a range of course modules.