Norwegian universities can be trusted to charge international students “reasonable prices” but relaxing fee requirements will not be enough on its own to address steep declines in enrolments, according to a rector.
Norway introduced mandatory tuition fees?for students from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland at the start of the 2023-24 academic year, under the Centre Party higher education minister Ola Borten Moe, ending a longstanding principle of free education in the country. The number of new students from outside the EEA and Switzerland subsequently dropped by about 80 per cent.
Under the plans announced this month by current higher education minister Sigrun Aasland, of the Labour Party, international student fees will no longer be required to cover costs; instead, universities will be able to set their own tuition fee levels.
“This will give universities and colleges more room to manoeuvre to attract talented international students,”?. “Greater flexibility in setting tuition fees for the various study programs gives institutions the opportunity to adapt to changing recruitment and competency needs.”
Svein St?len, rector of the University of Oslo, described the proposed changes as “absolutely necessary”, telling?Times Higher Education: “We should not be much more expensive than the other Nordic countries or British universities because then we are not able to compete for what we really need to compete for, and that’s the best students.”
Under the current rules, Oslo currently charges international students between NKr138,000 and NKr170,000 (?10,000 and ?12,000) per year for bachelor’s courses. Potential new fee levels have not yet been confirmed.
Asked if Norway should return to free education for all, St?len?said that he thought?“that battle is lost.” However, more must be done to attract prospective students from lower-income countries, he said, such as the introduction of government scholarships.
“The best thing is that the government [should not make]?too many regulations,” St?len continued. “Universities are perfectly fit to make decisions ourselves.”
“I have confidence in the universities. We should be able to set reasonable prices,” he said. To counter the decline in enrolments from outside the EEA, institutions “need to do a lot of the work ourselves”, he added. “Maybe what we need to do is to work on showing why Norway is an interesting country for studying, so we need to do more recruitment campaigns. I think that has to be done both nationally and at a city level.”
To some, the new plans don’t go far enough. Last month, representatives of five student associations??that “the most sensible thing to do is to remove tuition fees in their entirety and reintroduce the free principle,” describing “international participation” as “key to the success of Norwegian higher education”.
Kaja Ingdal Hovdenak, chair of the Norwegian Union of Students (NSO), told?Times Higher Education?that “the fight isn’t over until higher education is free for all, regardless of nationality.”
“While we welcome the government’s recent steps to reduce some of the financial burden, we are still waiting to see the full scope of the proposed changes,” she said, adding, “Any move that makes education more accessible is a step in the right direction.”
The introduction of tuition fees, Hovdenak?said, “has had a negative impact on both students and institutions”.
“For students, it has created a financial barrier that limits access to Norwegian higher education, especially for those from low- and middle-income countries,” she said. “For universities, it has led to a decline in international applicants, which affects the diversity and global perspective of the academic environment.”
“We urge the government to go further and fully restore the principle of free education for all students, regardless of nationality,” Hovdenak said. “This is essential to uphold Norway’s commitment to global solidarity and equal access to education.”
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