Fears that Norway will be left with only German, French and Spanish in ten years

— I do not have the impression that the Ministry of Education has any comprehensive approach to foreign languages. My impression is that neither politicians nor the Ministry of Education fully understand what we are doing.

The criticism comes from head of department Christine Meklenborg Nilsen at the University of Oslo (UiO). She is professor of French and heads the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, the largest language institute in Norway.

– I am afraid that in ten years we will be left with only French, Spanish and German. The situation is critical, she says.

— Disclaimer

Nilsen points out that the new funding model for universities and colleges is based to an even greater extent on completed exams.

— It will once again lead the way for which subjects and subjects can be offered at the institutions. Thus, the model is to a small extent suitable for making strategic, long-term choices about what expertise Norway will need in the future, she says.

— When the research component is also removed from the funding model, it sends a strong signal about what the politicians consider important. However, in sum, it becomes a disclaimer, because we cannot put the fate of our competence in foreign languages ​​in the hands of young people straight out of upper secondary school.

– The numbers are going down

One foreign language after another has disappeared from Norwegian universities in the last 20 years. Hindi, Sanskrit and modern Hebrew, Urdu and Swahili are languages ​​that are no longer available at Norwegian universities.

For the language institutes, there was another setback when it was recently announced that the government wants to remove the additional credit for immersion in language subjects in upper secondary school.

— If the trend continues, Norway risks losing national competence in several language areas. We are losing competence in foreign languages ​​in a naive belief that English is enough. I miss a clear thought about this from a political point of view, says the French professor.

Cut teaching in Slavic languages

In many, there have been few students who have chosen German and French at the universities. Spanish is somewhat stronger. These are foreign languages ​​that are part of the lecturer training.

– As it is today, the vast majority of foreign languages ​​are struggling, and the numbers are falling. Not everything is gloomy. Lately we have seen a slight increase in Italian, and that is very pleasing. At the same time, Russian has a stable influx here. In contrast, Portuguese has far too few students, despite the fact that Brazil is an important partner for Norwegian business, says Nilsen.

Recently, the University of Oslo discontinued teaching in the field of study Polish, Czech, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian at bachelor’s level. However, the university retains its research expertise.

– We have been the only ones to have offered these Slavic languages. It is not a good feeling to have to close the bachelor’s program, but with the financial situation we have no choice. We do so with a heavy heart.

Proposes a contingency plan

– Now there have been crisis reports about the humanities and the closure of foreign languages ​​for many years. When foreign languages ​​are not invested in, isn’t that a conscious policy from the political leadership in the Ministry of Education?

— My impression is that many people think that foreign languages ​​within higher education are a language course. They think that it is just a matter of traveling to the country and learning the language. But what we offer is an academic study of a foreign language, which gives the student a far more solid professional foundation. They gain knowledge that is important for working life. They don’t understand the value of that, I think.

Learning a foreign language at a university is about both acquiring cultural competence and having thorough knowledge of the politics and history of the language area, argues Nilsen.

— If not enough students want to study foreign languages, why should you offer such studies?

– It is quite obvious that we cannot have studies without students. Norway as a nation should secure competence in subjects where there are not enough students, but where there is a need for knowledge. Then we will be able to offer these minor languages ​​in the years when there are enough students.

— A group of 19-year-olds decide

In 2019, a committee presented a report with proposals for how endangered humanities subjects can be saved. The committee proposed a contingency solution where a university or college can receive a direct money transfer to save a subject in question. In order to receive such support, the subject must be threatened with closure at national level, it must be offered at master’s level and apply to subjects that fulfill specific societal needs.

Such a contingency solution does not exist today.

— Today, we size higher education largely based on the wishes of a group of 19-year-olds. I am in favor of students having a free choice, but they cannot be in charge of what skills the nation should have. When the state does not want to protect the foreign languages, what are we left with in the end? asks head of department Christine Meklenborg Nilsen.

Wolf times affect language subjects

Head of department Lars August Fodstad at NTNU recognizes Nilsen’s description of the crisis. Fodstad heads the Department of Language and Literature, which offers studies in German, French and Spanish. He is worried about what might be left of the languages ​​in the long term in the wolf times that are ravaging the universities at the moment. There are cost-saving measures, downsizing, sizing and a new financing model, which emphasizes the production of credits.

NTNU’s dimensioning committee, on which Fodstad himself sat, proposes that study places that are not filled can be reallocated to other study programmes. At the same time, he looks darkly at the fact that fewer people choose to study to become a teacher.

— My institute is big on school subjects linked to lecturer training. We supply the school with skilled language teachers, who will ensure that pupils gain language competence, which in turn means that some of them choose to study foreign languages ​​at university. It’s a circuit. It is very important that we maintain both education and a research environment in foreign languages, but as the financial conditions are now, it is terribly demanding.

Calls for political strategy

The head of the department is concerned that NTNU must not only emphasize quantitative criteria, but also qualitative ones when dimensioning the educations.

He describes the economy in the university and college sector as a combination of planning policy and market policy. The politicians say that they must focus on the skills society needs, which is reminiscent of planning policy. At the same time, the funding systems are made up of a market logic based on what young people want to study.

— I don’t mean that we shouldn’t have market incentives, but they solve some challenges and create new ones.

— What do you think needs to be done to improve the situation for foreign languages?

— If we are to have a minimum of foreign language services north of Dovre, we must have some form of political strategic thinking that we should have this. But it is not realistic with national overrule. The trust reform states that politicians should interfere with the priorities to a small extent. It will then be up to the institutions to do so.

Targets multiple applicants

As head of department, it is frustrating, according to Fodstad, that the financial mechanisms trickle down from the ministry to the faculty and further down to the department. At the end of the day, they are left with tight institute finances that must break even.

— You have extremely little room for maneuver there.

— Will any of your foreign languages ​​be gone in a few years?

– I think German, French and Spanish will survive, but perhaps not in the form we have today. We are now working on making adjustments to the study programmes. What we most want is to make changes to recruit better. Then we look, among other things, at whether the offers can be made available to more applicants, who are not necessarily full-time campus students.

— Starvation

In the worst case, there could be cuts, says Lars August Fodstad.

– If the situation does not improve and the dimensioning work makes the economy even worse for the foreign languages, then we will be forced to make cuts in subjects – and even in study programmes. We do not have concrete plans to discontinue offers, but have a small and vulnerable professional environment and are struggling to get things going both financially and in terms of staffing.

The language institute has no more to go on, says the head of the institute.

– On the contrary, we have an almost impossible task of maintaining a sound supply with the current resource situation. It is in this connection that I am calling for an overarching strategy for foreign languages. In the worst case, the alternative will be gradual budget-technical starvation.

— Needs good language skills

In ten years’ time, will we be left with three foreign languages? State Secretary Ivar B. Prestbakmo in the Ministry of Education comments on Christine Meklenborg’s warning in an email to Khrono:

– We also need good language skills going forward. Challenges related to dimensioning and prioritization of the language subjects are high on the agenda of the University and College Council and the institutions.

– Doesn’t Nilsen have a point when she says that what national competence a nation should have cannot be determined by what young people right from upper secondary school want at any given time?

— It is true that the students’ choices have a lot to say about the dimensioning of higher education. At the same time, surveys and applicant numbers show that young people often make “sensible choices”, or rather, choose courses where there are good prospects for getting relevant work, answers Prestbakmo.

– A good knowledge base and good information for young people is therefore a prerequisite for them to make choices that are in line with society’s and working life’s competence needs. It is also crucial for the institutions’ priorities, which are also important in this context.

— Special measures

— Do you think it is appropriate to strengthen foreign languages ​​in some way (for example in the form of a contingency plan)?

— No, it’s not on the stairs now. If a master’s program is in danger of being closed nationally, we can ask the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills to assess whether special measures are necessary to ensure the necessary skills, writes the State Secretary.

Khrono has asked the directorate what kind of special measures may be involved.

– It is difficult to say anything general about which measures are appropriate if this were to happen. It probably has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. So far, we have not received any such assignment from the Ministry of Education, says Ragnhild Tungesvik, divisional director for higher education and research.