- The norm in meetings and seminars is: English as the common language shall be used where there are participants who do not understand Norwegian. For seminars, it is best to prepare for the seminar to take place in English. However, it will at all times be acceptable to ask questions or make contributions in Norwegian. When this happens, the chairperson should give a brief summary in English. If a meeting is to take place in English, participants who are expected to contribute should have been notified of the language choice in advance.
- The norm for department board meetings and program council meetings is that they take place in Norwegian, and that documents for the meetings shall be in Norwegian. People who are elected to these forums must understand Norwegian, but they can speak English if they desire. Human Geography, which has open program council meetings, may use English as the meeting language.
- Informal gatherings (such as Christmas and staff summer gatherings with lectures by Norwegian-speaking guests, birthdays, etc.) can alternate between Norwegian and English depending on what the guests are comfortable with. In social interaction, it is up to individuals which language they use, but everyone is strongly encouraged to include all those present.
- Each semester, (non-Norwegian-speaking) temporary employees should be offered an orientation meeting on the main features of management and administration at ISS, and on language policy.
- The ISS language guidelines should also be briefly explained, beyond the 2-year rule, in job advertisements.
- It is not expected that all documents and e-mails forwarded to the staff will be translated into English, but when it comes to important texts, an English summary should be included.
- All collective correspondence from the management to "all employees" should be made in both Norwegian and English. In very long texts, English summaries may suffice (for capacity reasons), with the offer of further elaboration on request.
- The department will plan to conduct a survey on the language issue among the department's students (possibly with subsequent in-depth interviews).
Attachment: Report from the working group on language policy at ISS
Report: Survey of the Students on the Language Situation at ISS (pdf)