The Norwegian student organization wants to change the current admissions system to be less about grades. This winter, possible changes will be assessed politically.
Less than 20 minutes ago
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Monday came the numbers for this year’s study admissions.
For the first time in several years, the number of applicants to higher education decreased this year. At the same time, the number of study places at educational institutions has increased. This leads to less competition for places. A record number entered their first election this year.
– We are back at the 2019 level of applicant numbers, and I think that is good, says Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe.
It was during the corona pandemic record number of applicants to higher education.
Increasing character chase
Maika Marie Godal Dam is not as pleased. She is a leader in the Norwegian Student Organization (NSO).
– With today’s admissions system, there can be decimals that separate the applicants from each other, and determine the future of young people.
Of this year’s qualified applicants, 15,982 were not offered a study place. This may be because the applicants, for example, have only applied for study programs for which they did not have a high enough score.
– In recent years, we have seen an ever-increasing rush for grades, to enter a number of studies, says Godal Dam.
–– Today, the path to higher education is more accessible to some than to others. If you come from a financially well-off home and can afford the private schools, you have a better starting point for achieving higher education.
Now NSO wants to look at alternative admission forms.
– We see the need to make changes to the current admissions system, so that the pursuit of grades does not continue to increase, says student leader Godal Dam.
VG wrote on Monday about Marcus (20) who got 21 sixes – but still wasn’t good enough for medical studies.
Although fewer are applying for higher education, the score limits continue to rise. All of the top studies have the point limit increased this year.
On Monday, the Education Minister VG responded on whether it is sustainable in the long term that there are higher and higher point limits for the studies.
– No, replies Borten Moe, and elaborates:
– There will be competition for the most popular fields of study, and that also means that within a number of subjects and disciplines, more people will apply there. Then it is natural that there is a part that does not enter. What is interesting and important is discussing the admissions system, and a committee has been set up to deliver a report on the system in December.
–There may be changes
By 1 December 2022, the Admissions Committee, which was formed in the spring of 2021, must deliver a Norwegian public inquiry (NOU) to the Ministry of Education.
The committee will make its recommendations on how to create comprehensible and flexible admissions regulations, which safeguard applicants’ legal security and which can be adapted to future higher education and technological developments.
For the work, they have received 54 submissions from universities, colleges and organisations.
Borten Moe believes there are good reasons to go through the admissions system now.
– Well-founded questions can be asked about inflation in extra points, and whether it makes sense for so many people to spend so much time taking up subjects, said the education minister on Monday.
He points out that Norway is the only country that he knows of with an unlimited number of attempts to take up subjects.
– Does it make you a better teacher or doctor? Is it good for yourself and society that you spend your best years taking up subjects? It’s hard to argue that it makes sense. We obviously have to look at that, and it has to be discussed starting from the NOU that comes for Christmas, the minister concluded.
NSO leader Godal Dam highlights several possible measures.
– It may be that you document relevant experience in a letter of experience, that you send a letter of motivation, or conduct interviews or entrance exams for specific studies, explains Godal Dam, and adds:
– We think the Admissions Committee is also looking at that. We are excited to see what they propose.
Godal Dam expects the government to listen to the Admissions Committee when the report is ready.
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