Do your duty - Demand your rights
Fact sheet
Reform of the quality of higher
education
Students will be given increased
rights both in relation to the quality of courses and the financing
of studies. This will entail clearer obligations on the part of the
students as regards progress and completion of studies.
This is the core issue addressed by the Report to the
Storting on higher education submitted by the Government on 9 March
2001: Do your duty - Demand your rights (Report No. 27 to the
Storting (2000-2001)).
Main points of the report:
- Priority is to be given to a combination of teaching methods
involving a high level of student activity, new forms of assessment
and regular feedback that promotes learning.
- Educational institutions are to enter into agreements with
students concerning courses, clearly outlining the rights and
responsibilities of the institution and the student in relation to
each other.
- Organization of the academic year in three terms will be
enabled.
- A new common degree structure is proposed for most courses,
involving a lower degree on completion of three years of study
(bachelors) and a higher degree building upon this to be awarded on
completion of a further two years of study (masters).
- In the view of the Ministry, there is no room for more
universities covering a broad range of disciplines than the four we
have today. However, the "colleges of science" (vitenskapelige
høgskoler) will be designated as universities while state colleges
(høgskoler) with the right to award doctorates will be able to
apply for designation as universities.
- Rectors will continue to be elected as they are today. However
it is proposed that heads of institutes shall be permanently
appointed. Appointments are to be made on the basis of broad
academic experience and competence.
- The Ministry proposes an increase in ordinary educational
support of NOK 12 450 per academic year to
NOK 80 000 per academic year. The grant element will be
39 per cent.
Spearhead for competence
The report places a major emphasis
on fostering and further developing the institutions needed for
development of the knowledge society. Universities and colleges are
to function as spearheads in such a process. They must be in the
forefront internationally and fulfil their role in the knowledge
society as regards quality and provisions for participation in
education. New challenges, expectations and potential for
educational institutions and competence policy call for a critical
approach to the content and structure of courses and of competence
policy. In its report the Ministry considers a number of major
structural measures aimed at enhancing the ability and will to
restructure, more effective periods of study and more effective
transfer of knowledge from universities and colleges to the world
of work and to civic life.
The report also emphasizes that major social changes and
changes in the expectations of students and of working and civic
life are a challenge for educational institutions and for the
established policy for higher education and research. Educational
institutions cooperate closely with the spheres of working and
civic life, and must also fulfil their role as a spearhead in the
development of competence.
In the figure below the Ministry sums up the major conditions
affecting the universities and state colleges (høgskoler) and the
demands made on them by the community at large.
Figure 1: Motivating forces
Students must succeed
In the view of the Ministry, the
relations between students and institutions must be strengthened.
Educational institutions must make provisions to enable closer
follow-up of students throughout their studies. The Ministry
therefore proposes the introduction by educational institutions of
new study arrangements whereby students are admitted for three-year
courses. In order to enhance the learning yield and progression,
emphasis shall be placed on teaching methods involving a high level
of student activity combined with assessments that promote learning
by means of regular feedback. Educational institutions are to enter
into agreements with students clearly outlining the rights and
obligations of the institutions and students in relation to each
other.
In the view of the Ministry, enhancement of learning yield
and quality of studies is dependent on better utilization of the
whole academic year. In this connection, an increase in the number
of terms from two to three per year will also be considered. Three
terms will enable greater flexibility in the composition of
subjects, courses and degrees.
Figure 2: The growth in student numbers between 1970 and
1999
Degree structure
The Ministry proposes the
introduction of a common degree structure throughout higher
education with new designations for the different degree levels.
Lower degrees awarded on completion of three years of study
(bachelors) will provide professional qualifications and/or qualify
for admission to higher degree studies. The higher degree
(masters), which will build upon the lower degree and be awarded on
completion of a course of two years’ duration, provides
professional qualifications and/or qualifies for admission to
doctoral studies.
Formal research training will continue to have the current
duration of three years. In the view of the Ministry, this
structure should apply to most courses.
There will be a need for two types of course: one resembling
the traditional theoretically oriented Norwegian university degree
at the masters level, the other more practically oriented. It
should also be possible to establish course components that do not
build directly upon courses taken at the lower level, but which
combine subjects and disciplines in new ways. The first type of
degree will qualify for admission to formal research training while
the second type will not necessarily do so.
International institutional cooperation
and student mobility
It is the Ministry’s view that
Norwegian institutions should be in the forefront of academic
cooperation and student exchanges between countries. This can be
promoted by increasing the priority given to participation in
international programmes and exchange agreements between individual
institutions. It is seen as a goal that all higher education
institutions shall offer students a period of study abroad as a
component of the Norwegian degree course. The Ministry will
consider whether it is appropriate to require educational
institutions to offer opportunities for study abroad to all
students who wish it. The Ministry will review the arrangements for
fee grants and other additional grants to ascertain whether it is
possible to redistribute some of the funds to strengthen the
internationalization strategies of Norwegian universities and
colleges.
In the Ministry’s view it is important that the Norwegian
universities and colleges continue to develop their provision of
courses held in English. Educational institutions should decide for
themselves what provisions they will make in relation to other
languages. In the light of the evaluation of the NUFU agreement
(National Programme for Development-Related Research and
Education), the Ministry will consider special incentives to
encourage Norwegian education and research institutions to enter
into mutual academic cooperation and exchange agreements with
corresponding public institutions in developing countries.
Distribution of responsibilities,
profile
In the view of the Ministry, there
is no room for more universities covering a broad range of
disciplines than the four we have today. Concentration of resources
and development of dynamic academic institutions of a certain size
is essential for a successful raising of the quality of Norwegian
research.
The Ministry proposes that the designation "college of
science" (vitenskapelig høgskole) be dropped, and that the existing
colleges of science be designated as universities.
The Ministry further proposes that colleges entitled to award
doctorates shall be able to apply for designation as universities.
Designation as a university entails specific academic
responsibilities within the disciplines where the institution is
entitled to award doctorates.
The research profile of the state colleges must be developed
in close cooperation with working and civic life within the sectors
for which the individual state college qualifies graduates, and the
state colleges must be major actors within regional innovation.
Increased freedom to improve
quality
In the view of the Ministry, the
current form of organization does not provide universities and
colleges with sufficient freedom and responsibility to achieve
overall objectives. There are many and varying requirements at
different levels. Educational institutions are expected to deal
with a number of tasks of importance for the country’s culture,
welfare, environment, economy and democracy. At the same time they
are required to contribute to education and research of immediate
benefit to working life in both public and private sectors. These
goals and requirements necessitate a clearer definition of the
degree of autonomy that educational institutions are allowed.
The Ministry therefore proposes that universities and
colleges be redefined as administrative bodies with special powers,
and that educational institutions are allowed greater freedom in
academic, financial and organizational issues. It is also proposed
that measures be established for more flexible use of personnel
resources.
Universities and colleges must be allowed to have the main
responsibility for ensuring the quality of their own provisions.
All institutions are to prepare plans for work on quality and are
to implement systems to document the quality work. Network Norway
Council is to be defined as a quality development instrument and
given the appropriate terms of reference and organization.
Good control
Control arrangements must result in
better assurance that educational institutions develop and follow
up quality development strategies in education and research and
that they make efficient use of their resources. By changing the
form of association and creating a wider gap between the Ministry
and the educational institutions, the Ministry wishes to emphasize
the educational institutions’ independent responsibility for
shaping their own future. The Ministry proposes a set of measures
to ensure that the composition of the board, competence and access
to means of control provide favourable conditions for increased
will and capacity for control, responsibility and restructuring of
educational institutions.
The Ministry recommends that educational institutions
continue to elect a rector, who shall chair the institution’s
board. An increase in the number of external board members is
proposed, coupled with a reduction in the number of employees on
the board.
In order to secure and develop the quality of education and
research and to increase the control within educational
institutions, the Ministry proposes to strengthen academic
management at the levels of basic units and departments. Institute
Heads shall be appointed, placing a decisive emphasis on broad
academic experience.
Financing that promotes quality
The design and use of the financing
model for universities and colleges must support major educational
and research policy goals and strategies. In the view of the
Ministry, quality considerations in education and research are best
safeguarded by means of a financing system that emphasizes the
results attained and by introducing a partial distinction between
teaching and research in the calculation of budgets.
In order to safeguard considerations regarding long-term
research activities, breadth of academic provisions and maintenance
of costly disciplines, the Ministry emphasizes that a performance
orientation in the financing model must be balanced by the
introduction of basic financing of educational institutions as a
third type of budget component in addition to the
performance-oriented component of the financing of research and
teaching.
Improved study financing
Students are currently entitled to
NOK 67 550 per academic year in the form of ordinary
educational support. NOK 20 200 of this is awarded as a
grant, i.e. a grant element of approximately 30 per cent, the
remainder as loan. The loan and grant are paid simultaneously at
the start of each semester.
The Ministry proposes that the ordinary educational support
be increased by NOK 12 450 per academic year to
NOK 80 000 per academic year.
The ordinary educational support is to be paid first as a
loan. Parts of the loan may be converted to grant when the student
has completed the studies for which support has been applied. If
the student follows the normal progression, NOK 31 300 of
the amount of NOK 80 000 will be converted to grant.
This corresponds to a grant element of approximately
39 per cent.
Figure 3: The development of the grant element including the
proposal in the report to the Storting.
