No approval in the Storting for multi-campus or art subjects

Today, the Education and Research Committee at the Storting delivered its recommendation on the Outlook Report.

The committee will retain the intended three funding categories, down from six, and there is a majority in favor of removing many of the other indicators.

The Conservative Party has dissented on the EU indicator and they will present this again when the matter is considered in the Storting. There is otherwise broad agreement on the broad lines of the work on competence reform that emerges in the report.

A number of universities and colleges with many campuses had hoped for and expected a separate funding scheme aimed at the multi-campus institutions. They were disappointed when the Outlook Report came out, and they are just as disappointed now.

Arts and science colleges linked to the subject area have fought to be moved up in the new funding system, but they are also disappointed.

– Glad the government is continuing the work

Margret Hagerup (Høyre) is the spokesperson for the Outlook report and says that the negotiations in the committee have been constructive and that the parties are largely in agreement on the broad lines of the report.

“We in the Conservative Party are happy that the current government, through the Utsynsmeldingen, is taking up and continuing the work that the Solberg government started with the skills reform,” she says to Khrono.

In the Storting, the Conservative Party will propose keeping the EU indicator in the funding system for universities and colleges.

— This is a very important indicator that several consultation bodies have asked to be maintained. We will therefore put this forward as a proposal, even if we have not reached this point in the committee, says Hagerup.

She also points out that the government, through the Utsynsmeldingen, has followed up what was the basis of the management report and the funding committee.

– We are happy that the government is planning to govern more in the big and less in the small, adds Hagerup.

She also emphasizes that the committee supports that, in the dimensioning of future education, priority should be given to study places and education in IT, health and other subject areas that are important for the green shift.

“While taking into account the needs of society and working life, it is important that universities and colleges find a good balance in their portfolios,” says Hagerup.

Happy to support the big lines

Education policy spokesperson for the Labor Party, Lise Selnes, is pleased that there is a majority in the Storting for the government’s main priorities.

“Norway must be able to assert itself internationally and have a competitive business community, we must lead the way in the green shift and ensure a transition where work for everyone is job number 1. Competence is central here,” says Selnes.

Selnes points out that although education at all levels must be sized to a greater extent according to the needs of society and working life, it is important to remember that all education has, and has had, a role in securing knowledge and competence for value creation, renewal, culture and education in society.

“Education and skills development are absolutely central to enabling us as a society to develop new solutions for the green shift. If we are to succeed in achieving the green shift, we also depend on playing as a team with the whole country and all walks of life. Education must therefore be available throughout the country and be accessible to everyone, regardless of finances and background, she says.

Happy for powerful simplification

Selnes is also happy that the majority in the Storting agrees on a major simplification of the funding system and that universities and colleges are thus managed in the big way, and not in the small.

— The funding system is an absolutely central part of the management of the university and college sector and provides a framework for safeguarding social mission, dimensioning and organization of the activity. The changes here are an important part of the government’s trust reform, in that the institutions are given greater freedom by the fact that the funding is less closely controlled by incentives, and this can create greater room for action for the employees, says Selnes.

When it comes to the simplification also in funding categories and the placement of art subjects, which have been criticized, Selnes says that extra allocation from the state budget must be considered.

— It is important for the Labor Party that when removing the EU indicator in a closed framework, we must have an evaluation of how this affects EU research. Our ambition is more funds from the EU for research in Norway, not less, says Selnes.

— Small and vulnerable subjects in the governance dialogue

The Labor Party and Selnes emphasize that subjects within the humanities and social sciences, and minor subjects in general, are important both for them, Norway and from an international perspective.

— These subjects play an important role in dealing with other development trends in a society that is becoming increasingly complex, and where interdisciplinarity is becoming increasingly important. I am also particularly concerned about precisely this and that Labor proposes that the situation for small subjects with vulnerable subject environments should be included in the governance dialogue between the ministry and the institutions, she says.

– In addition, we propose that a broad skills reform be created for lifelong learning in close dialogue with the parties in working life. The government will work fully on this going forward, says Lise Selnes.