Minister of International Development Erik Solheim would not have hired you if you only spend time around study halls.

2006-05-03 På norsk

Erik Solheim (The Socialist Left Party of Norway) glances down at his recently polished patent-leather shoes, looks up and smiles.

- I come straight from the Royal Palace, you see, which is why I had to wear a black suit.

Last Friday, the Minister was invited by SAIH (the Norwegian Students and Academics International Assistance Fund) to give a speech at the Fredrikke square during the last day of the campaign week labeled «Education for liberation!». SAIH has drawn attention to the importance of higher education in developing countries, with particular focus on the dictatorship in Zimbabwe.

Solheim provided Universitas with some pointers as to how a regular student can contribute to a better tomorrow:

- Be curious, keep your eyes and ears open! Take part in public debates, get involved through SAIH or other humanitarian organisations. It is an illusion to think that you can understand the world simply by reading books. To put it this way, if I were hiring students, I would be looking for those who had been active during their studies, Solheim says, who himself only got halfway through his 4-year BA degree in History at UiO.

Other invited guests included McDonald Lewanika, leader of Student Solidarity Trust in Zimbabwe. Han yielded the floor following Solheim`s speech about Zimbabwe.

- In my country, an event like this would, as a general rule, never have happened. And if it had, the police would have been prepared to intervene at any given moment if we had said anything they disapproved of. And they would have done so with brutality and violence, Lewanika said, who was touched by the fact that the Norwegian Minister of International Development found the time to come to UiO and talk about Africa.

- That says so much about what society you live in, he said.

On a different note, what does Solheim think about him - and not the Minister of Education and Research Øystein Djupedal - being the first minister of Norway's six months old centre-left government to visit the students at Norway’s largest university?

-Has Øystein not been here? I am convinced that he will come, if only he were notified by SMS, an optimistic Solheim claims before he rushes off to a crisis meeting concerning Sri Lanka.

Gunhild Oland Nedrelid • Sindre T. Lønnes (photo) • Translated by Egil Ellenes