Five student organisations have called on the Norwegian minister for research and higher education to reintroduce tuition-free higher education for international students outside of the European Union, European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

“Tuition fees are leading to Norway losing the battle for talented people,” the organisations told Sigrun Aasland in a statement published in Khrono.

“We are glad that the Labour Party government recognises international participation as a key for success. The most rational action now is to remove tuition fees totally and reintroduce free higher education,” wrote the group, comprising Kaja Ingdal Hovednak, chair of the Norwegian Union of Students; Øyvind Bryhn Pettersen, president the Association for Norwegian Students Abroad; Thea Tuset from the National Union of Students in Higher Vocational Education and Training in Norway; Guro Kvilten, president of the Erasmus Student Network Norway; and Selma Matsdotter Bratberg, president of The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH).

Turning point

The five student leaders described the autumn of 2023 as a “turning point” for Norwegian higher education. This is when former minister for research and higher education Ola Borten Moe from the Centre Party succeeded in introducing tuition fees for students from countries outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

“Through this action a long and proud principle of free higher education in Norway was broken,” they wrote.

They drew attention to the fact that the government’s decision happened despite the fact that all 87 written responses to the hearing on the governmental proposal were against the introduction of tuition fees. “Such a massive takeover of a whole sector, contrary to all advice, was rare in Norwegian politics,” they wrote.

The students said since the policy was introduced, the country had lost almost 80% of all non-EU students, leading to the closure of study programmes and a reduction in the quality of Norwegian higher education.

They argued that the principle of free higher education had given Norway a competitive advantage when it came to attracting international students and partly compensated for the relatively low number of English-taught study programmes and high living costs in Norway.

“In the face of authoritarianism, attacks on democracy, and major global challenges, community and cooperation are crucial. We are therefore completely dependent on the exchange of knowledge across national borders,” they wrote.

Minister’s openness to change

They referred to a recent report by Aasland which acknowledged that the research system was not functioning optimally and opened the door to a reconsideration of the structure of tuition fees.

Aasland’s openness to rethinking the fees was reiterated in her answer to a question in parliament in March from Alfred Bjørlo from the Liberal Party regarding the possibility of fast tracking researchers from the United States following the “narrowing of academic freedom and a deterioration of the conditions for conducting research”.

Aasland said: “International cooperation in the field of education and research is crucial for researchers to be able to contribute to solving the major societal challenges facing the world. This is reinforced by the fact that we live in a world that is constantly changing.”

She said that she was concerned that Norway should be an attractive country for talented students and researchers from different parts of the world, including from the United States, and said she would look more closely at how to attract and retain international expertise in Norway in the future.

In an apparent response to these sentiments, writers of the Khrono statement said: “It is positive that universities can gain more flexibility in setting tuition fees, but we fear a situation where this leads to the financial burden being shifted onto the universities.”

Commodification of HE

Bratberg, president of the SAIH and co-author of the statement, told University World News the country was seeing the consequences of the tuition fee policy in the reduction of international students from beyond Europe.

“It’s us, Norwegian students, Norwegian academia and the Norwegian society that are paying the price. It’s time that the Norwegian government recognises the value of international collaboration within academia. The tuition fees have to go.”

Professor Gentian Zyberi, head of department and professor of international law and human rights at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo, told University World News higher education was a human right based mainly on merit and should not become a commodity and a preserve of the few who can afford it.

“The state should reconsider withdrawing the fees for international students and push in international forums … that higher education is provided for free in other countries too, instead of joining those countries that have commodified higher education,” he said.