In its upcoming budget proposal, the Social Democratic government will end the current annual spending cuts imposed on universities by the previous administration.

The so-called reprioritization policy (omprioriteringsbidrag) required educational institutions to cut costs by two percent annually.

But that demand will be discontinued, the Ministry of Higher Education and Science confirmed in a press statement.

Provided the proposal is eventually voted through parliament, savings at universities of 300 million kroner in 2020 will no longer be necessary.

“Education is what we live on, and never-ending cuts naturally reduce quality and give uncertainty regarding quality. That’s why we want to stop this policy,” Minister for Higher Education and Science Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said.

Taxation of mobile phones used for work, inheritance taxes and levies on profits from shareholding will cover the costs of maintaining university funding, according to the proposal.

Specifically, the government proposes a rollback of reductions to inheritance taxes; removing tax subsidies on work telephones; and retaining an existing limit on taxable profits on shares, which the previous government had planned to remove.

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