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EDUCATION

Norwegian parliament in favour of tuition fees for foreign students law

A majority of MPs in Norway will change current laws to allow universities to charge some foreign students tuition to study in Norway.

Published: 6 June 2023 14:42 CEST
Pictured is a birds eye view of a university lecture hall.
Norway's parliament has moved to allow universities to introduce tuition fees. Pictured is a birds eye view of a university lecture hall. Photo by Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash

Norway’s parliament will adopt a new law that will make it possible to collect tuition fees from international students in Norway.

The government had previously passed a proposal as part of its national budget for 2023 that will see students from outside the EEA, and Switzerland charged for studying in Norway.

All parliamentary parties except the Red Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Party are in favour of the amendment to the Education Act.

The Ministry of Education says that the new act will free up to 2,600 study places in Norway and that universities and colleges will collect around 300 million in tuition fees annually. The ministry also predicts that 70 percent of international students in Norway today would not have studied in the country if there were fees.

The Socialist Left Party has said it will table amendments to the proposed law but says they are unlikely to get a majority. One would allow study places to decide whether they wish to implement fees, and the other would allow a larger group of foreign students to be exempt from tuition fees.

When it formed, the current government pledged not to introduce tuition fees for foreign students, and the party the government typically negotiates with to secure a majority in parliament for its budgets, the Socialist Left Party, also said numerous times it was opposed to the proposal. Despite this, the measure was put forward by the three parties as part of the national budget.

“The free principle is hereby buried; it is a day of mourning for students and for equal opportunities! When it really mattered, neither the Socialist Left Party, the Labor Party, nor the Center Party was willing to stand up for free higher education,” Maika Marie Godal Dam, head of the Norwegian Student Organisation, told Norwegian newswire NTB.

The previous Solberg government tried to implement a similar proposal in 2014 but had to withdraw the proposed legislation.

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EDUCATION

How teenagers who move to Norway can be forced to wait a year to attend school

A change in law means that children aged between 16 and 18 who move to Norway from overseas risk missing a whole year of school before being admitted into classes.

Published: 16 September 2024 09:23 CEST
How teenagers who move to Norway can be forced to wait a year to attend school

Norway offers introductory classes to help get children who move from overseas get up to speed with the country and the local language before joining the mainstream education system.

However, public broadcaster NRK reports that a tweak to the rules means that children aged between 16 and 18 can slip through the cracks and be left waiting nearly a whole year for a school place.

A law change in 2021 tweaked which authority was responsible for integrating young foreigners into Norway and the school system.

A change in the regulations means that those aged 16-18 who will attend a Norwegian high school (vidaregåande skole) may be forced to wait an entire year to be admitted if they arrive in the country after county authorities have handled the annual admissions process.

As a result, it also means that they may be forced to wait to attend a course on Norwegian social studies and language training as the county they live in is only obliged to offer this at the start of their education rather than within three months of arriving, as was the case with the old rules.

“It surprises me that there are no politicians who demand that these young people get a normal schooling,” Ida Enebakk de Santillana, who works as an advisor on integration in Rogaland county municipality, told NRK.

“There is a loophole in the legislation which means that many people have the right to start further education, but at the same time, the county councils are not obliged to take them in outside of the normal admission process,” she added.

Norway’s integration directorate (IMDi) has said it was aware of this issue.

“The problem is nationwide. But it is difficult to measure the extent,” Benedicte Barkvoll, a department director from the IMDi, told NRK.

Earlier this year, the IMDi released a report stating that the regulations on the responsibility to provide an education to young people who move to Norway were not clear enough.

Local authorities in Norway can dedicate additional resources to try to admit students to schools outside of the traditional admissions windows and also have them put on integration courses.

KS, the orgainisation representing local authorities in Norway, said it had raised the issue with the government. It said counties worked hard to ensure that they admitted children onto integration courses and into schools, but that capacity and resources were limited.

“The county municipalities are putting in a lot of effort to make this happen, but the capacity is starting to fill up. They need more resources to give more people an offer,” Kristin Holm Jensen, from the department of education, culture and upbringing in KS, told NRK.

The government told NRK that it initially changed the rules so that young people who move to Norway would be start school and integration courses at the same time as a group of peers.

It added that government directorates were in the process of collecting all the relevant information to make the regulations clear to municipalities and county councils.

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