The four great ones – a commentary by Michael Brøndbo

Fact: For the fourth year running, the number of students taking a full course of studying abroad with financial support from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund has gone down. According to ANSA, the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad, the number of students doing part of their education abroad has done the same. Norwegians just don’t seem to want to take the chance on going abroad anymore.

The reason why? The way I see it, there are two reasons for this: First of all you’ll need a doctorate in applied bureaucracy in order to find the information you need on studying abroad. Secondly, you have to be rich. Or at least be prepared to take on a debt of an unimaginative size if were to choose a country that charges tuition fee – which of course, most countries do.

But that was the way it used to be. Next year, the government with the Education Minister Djupedal at the helm will deliver a white paper on this subject. It’s time to restore our position, correct the mistakes from the Quality Reform, analyse the situation, time to make sure that Norway becomes a leading exporter of eager students. On top of Djupedals wish list are the great, powerful countries with exotic languages and cultures that Norway ought to have more knowledge of. Countries such as Russia, India, China… and USA. Today’s and tomorrow’s giants. Well thought out, Djupedal.

Nonetheless, I’m sure you could do with some advice, Djupedal. Here are mine:

First: Introduce national exchange programmes with admission through the Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service (Samordna opptak). Let the high school graduates see that India and China are a definitive possibility in the brochures they are given at school. Yes, it’s a lot of money and a lot of work, but if you’re really serious, you have to make an offer that students will want to take. You cannot trust the research communities at university level to do all the work, as some of that work can be carried out through exchange programmes at a lower level.

Secondly: Reward: research communities that have exchange programmes. When these communities receive grants, not only based on the number of students they admit, but based on the number of exams these students take, it’s possible that a lot of the communities hesitate from letting their students go abroad. The challenge is to find a balance.

Third: Make studying abroad easier and more accessible by recognizing more study abroad programmes. When Norwegian universities receive grants from the number of exams taken at their institution, they may be more reluctant to recognize exams taken abroad. There may be other reasons for this as well, but the fact remains that a lot of students today are told that the classes and the exams they’ve taken abroad aren’t worth more than the paper it’s printed on. This is a severe problem, and a problem that you, as Minister of Education and Research, ought to solve.

Fourth: It is essential to have a financing scheme that doesn’t give students debts that will take a lifetime to pay back. It’s simple: I know that it doesn’t seem fair to contribute to sustaining a cruel financing system in a country lead by George W. Bush, but if you really want to make people study in the US, you may have to go along with spending money on covering the students’ tuition fees.

A challenge? Definitely. But no one said being in politics was easy.