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TUITION FEES

Norway moves closer to introducing tuition fees for international students

The Norwegian government has agreed on a budget for 2023 and plans to introduce tuition fees for foreign students from next year remain unchanged, The Labour Party has confirmed to The Local. 

Published: 30 November 2022 10:37 CET
Updated: 3 December 2022 13:59 CET
Pictured is a university lecture hall.
The Norwegian government has taken another step towards introducing tuition fees for foreign students in Norway. Pictured is a university lecture hall.Photo by Dom Fou on Unsplash

Norway’s minority government, consisting of the Labour Party and the Centre Party, agreed on a state budget for 2023 with its preferred negotiation partner, the Socialist Left Party, on Tuesday evening. 

Among the proposals from the original budget were plans to introduce tuition fees for students from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) from next year. 

The original proposal was met with backlash from students and the Socialist Left Party (SV). However, despite the opposition from SV, the government will press on with its plans. 

Mina Haugli, the communications adviser for the Labour Party’s parliamentary group, told The Local that there had been no changes to the proposal following the announcement of a budget being agreed upon. 

“There are no changes on that matter (tuition fees for foreign students) in today’s agreement,” she confirmed to The Local. 

News that the government would get the green light for its plans has been expected since last week after the Socialist Left Party confirmed to The Local that even though it was opposed to the plans, it would not bring them up in talks. 

What happens next? 

In agreeing on a budget with the Socialist Left Party, the government has secured a parliamentary majority for its fiscal plan for 2023. 

Essentially, this means that barring any late U-turns from the government, the policy will be officially adopted later this week following the budget debate in parliament. 

While the government and opposition will debate policies from the budget, it has the majority it needs to vote through the proposals. 

Once the budget has passed through parliament, the government will begin implementing the policy.

Then, more solid details, such as how much it will cost non-EEA students to study in Norway, will begin to emerge. 

Currently, there are only estimates floating about on how much students will have to pay to study at Norwegian universities. 

Previously, State Secretary for Education Oddmund Løkensgard Hoel told public broadcaster NRK that a study place in Norway could cost students around 130,000 kroner a year. 

However, fees will be at the university’s discretion, meaning that foreign students could end up paying more or less than the estimated figure. 

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SCHOOLS

Norway’s government reverses cuts to private and international schools

Proposed cuts to around 150 private schools offering both primary and secondary school education have been reversed by Norway's government.

Published: 7 May 2024 10:39 CEST
Norway’s government reverses cuts to private and international schools

The initial cuts were announced as part of the state budget for 2024 last autumn, and private schools told The Local that the cuts threatened their existence. 

Following backlash and protests last year, the government said it would tweak its plans, and on Tuesday, it announced the cuts would be reversed and a new subsidy scheme would be adopted. 

“We believe that the new model provides a better distribution between schools. Some schools were overcompensated, while other schools were undercompensated,” school policy spokesperson and MP for the Centre Party, Marit Knutsdatter Strand, told public broadcaster NRK. 

Independent schools in Norway will now receive 484 million kroner compared to the 515 million kroner the government planned to save by cutting subsidies. 

The announcement has been met with mixed reactions from some private schools. 

“We are happy that the government is correcting the cut from last autumn and that almost all the money is coming back. At the same time, this is money we thought we had and which was taken from us, so there is no violent cheering…” Helge Vatne, the acting general secretary of the Association of Christian Free Schools, told NRK. 

When the initial cuts were announced last year, the government said that it would no longer pay subsidies for both levels of education offered at private, independent, and international schools and that such institutions would instead receive only one grant. 

The extra subsidies have been paid out to compensate for the higher per-pupil running costs of private schools. 

In return, private schools must adopt certain parts of the Norwegian curriculum and cap fees. As a result, fees at schools that receive money from the government typically range between 24,500 kroner and 37,000 kroner a year.

However, not all schools accept government subsidies. These institutions, therefore, have more say over their curriculum and charge higher fees to compensate for the lack of government funding. 

READ MORE: Why some international schools in Norway are much more expensive than others

Some 30,000 children in Norway attend a private or international school, according to figures from the national data agency Statistics Norway. 

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