Changes to the admissions system for higher education: Removes grade requirements and age points

On Friday afternoon, the government will present proposals for changes to the admissions system for higher education. At the same time, the profession announcement will be made, where recruitment for teaching and nursing courses will be a central theme.

Khrono knows that the most important changes will be that the government removes the current grade requirements for nursing education, removes age points and replaces gender points with gender quotas.

The admissions committee headed by Marianne Aasen proposed a complete overhaul of the Norwegian admissions system for higher education.

The government is not going to promote such an upheaval on Friday. According to Khrono’s experience, there will only be a few changes in a relatively thin Storting message about admission.

teacher recruitment

Clear majority in favor of keeping admission requirements for teacher studies

Removes grade requirements for nursing

One of the upcoming changes will be to remove the grade requirements for entry into nursing education. Here, today, grade 3 in Norwegian and mathematics is required.

When it comes to teacher training, the government will maintain the option for educational institutions to apply for exemptions from the current grade requirements.

Research and Higher Education Minister Oddmund Hoel (Sp) said in question time in the Storting on 14 February that he sees it as most appropriate to remove the grade requirements for nursing education.

The admissions committee, which came up with its recommendation on 1 December 2022, proposed removing the grade requirements for both the nursing and teacher training courses.

Hoel emphasized in the Storting that the government distinguishes between nursing education and teacher education.

“They are different, have different lengths, and completing a master’s degree is more demanding than completing a three-year nursing degree,” he said.

Hoel further said that teachers must be strong in the subjects they have to teach, and that if the requirements for admission were eased, targeted measures would be required to follow up the students.

The minister also pointed out that the government has already changed the admission requirements for teacher training courses. It happened in 2022, when the requirement for grade 4 in mathematics was changed to a requirement for grade 3 if the applicant has 40 school credits.

“This alone has meant that 1,800 applicants who were not previously qualified have become qualified,” said Hoel in the Storting.

recording system

This is at the top of the list of what Minister Hoel views very critically

Away with age points

Today, applicants for higher education can gain two age points per year from the year they turn 20 by waiting to apply for higher education, limited to a maximum of eight points. One of the admissions committee’s proposals was to remove the age points completely, a proposal the government is also putting forward on Friday.

The Minister of Research and Higher Education already said on NRK’s ​​political quarter on 24 January that the government is critical of the age points.

— Of all types of additional points, it is the age points that most directly stimulate a delayed start of studies. This is probably at the top of the list of what we now look at very critically, said Hoel.

When he announced just before Easter that the admission notification will come on 5 April, he told Khrono that an overriding key word was to get young people to start education earlier.

— People must get into education faster, so that they get into work faster. It’s good for people and it’s good for society, he said.

Does not take away the opportunity to take up subjects

The admissions committee also proposed removing the opportunity students have to improve their grades, and it wanted to add entrance exams as a new route into higher education.

According to what Khrono learns, this is a proposal the government will not follow up on in the parliamentary report due on Friday.

Minister Hoel indicated earlier this winter that there are not as many people as one might have thought who take up subjects they have taken before.

He also signaled strong skepticism about entrance exams.

“The scope of improvement private parties is smaller than we had imagined. There are many more who are taking new subjects. Introducing an entrance exam can lead to an entrance exam industry, as we have seen in Sweden, the minister answered at the political quarter on NRK in January.

recording

Girls will be winners if grades count more

Gender points become gender quotas

The admissions committee also proposed to remove gender points, and to compensate by introducing gender quotas in education where the gender balance is skewed.

According to Khrono’s experience, the government has agreed to the introduction of gender quotas as an alternative to gender points.

The committee justified the proposal with the fact that gender points have had little equalizing effect, and that it would rather introduce quotas for studies with a very skewed gender distribution. The best applicants within their quota will then enter the study, in accordance with the admissions rules.

According to the proposal, the gender quotas must be large enough to have a sufficient effect, but the majority in the committee will not conclude exactly how large. Nevertheless, a share of between 20 and 40 per cent is suggested.

Khrono is not aware of what percentage the government here will propose.

In March 2023, the consultation opinions were issued in the wake of the admissions committee’s report “Weighing in – new model for admission to universities and colleges” submitted.

The proposal for gender quotas was supported by several universities and colleges. The University of South-East Norway (USN) clarified that it wanted gender balance in education and working life to be a national responsibility. In other words, it should not be up to the educational institutions to set gender quotas.

UiT also believes that the ministry should determine these quotas, and only where a concrete assessment of the need has been made.

NTNU believes that if gender quotas are to be introduced, there must be rules and mechanisms that ensure that there is no major imbalance in academic level between the students who enter through the quota and other students on the course. This is a point that is repeated in several consultation opinions.

recording

Solid support for dropping age and gender points

No to total restructuring

The admissions committee proposed a radical restructuring of the admissions system, and pointed out that the various parts of the admissions system are interconnected and that introducing only parts of the changes could have adverse effects in other parts of the admissions system.

The change that was proposed included, among other things, ending the current system of split admission, where there is a quota for first-time applicants, and a quota for the rest, with 50 per cent of the places in each category.

Instead, the committee would introduce a grade quota and a quota for entrance exams. The committee proposed a distribution, where 80 per cent of the places would go to the grade recording.

The government says no to entrance exams, but there may still be changes to the distribution of quotas for first-time applicants, where this will be increased. Both the Labor Party and the Center Party have stated in various contexts that they want young people to start their education earlier.

The admissions committee suggested that it should not be possible to improve your grades from upper secondary school, but that you should have the opportunity to take new subjects from upper secondary school after you finish. The government does not support the proposal that it should not be possible to improve grades from upper secondary school.

The admissions committee proposed to discontinue all additional points, such as age points, gender points and points for completed first-time service.

Khrono has reason to believe that additional points for conscription will be retained, also with reference to the proposals that the number of conscripts should be increased significantly.