The title above is the judgment on the universities and university colleges in Norway. The sector wants more free money to fix the problems. Tora Aasland promises nothing.

FOTO: Brian Olguin

FOTO: Brian Olguin

– Such a remarkable part of the money is earmarked and that means that the room for independent action is more or less gone. The sector therefore loses its ability to be innovative. This means that factories will be prioritized over institutions of education, says Svein Harberg, department representative in the Committee of church, education and research.
He thinks the university and university college sector has for a long time worried about the control in detail from the department, and that therefore none of the published information is news.

Not earmarked money

A committee was appointed by the Ministry of Education and Research to evaluate the education institutions´ room for independent action in Norway. Last Thursday the end report was published. The report presents a series of recommendations for increasing the room for independent action to the education sector. The recommendations that are especially accentuated concern control in detail. It is claimed that earmarked grants tie the institutions down to using too much of the grants to follow up the instructed projects.
– The room for independent action has to be increased in order to strengthening the basic granting. With a larger room for independent action, the working conditions for the scientific staff will improve. That again will lead to a better economy and more time for research. That will result in better research, and that will give the students better teaching, says Bjarne Hodne, leader of the Norwegian Association for Researchers (NAR).

No promises

The minister for education and research Tora Aasland cannot promise less earmarked granting in the time coming, despite the report´s plain language minister.
– The most important goal with the earmarking in 2009 and 2010 has been to meet the challenges that come with new places of study. Fewer earmarked granting is a question about budget, says Aasland.
The government still claims responsibility for other recommendations in the report. Among other things, they want to decrease the use of temporary employees and ease on the demand of reports.

– Comical statements from Aasland

For a long time, disagreement has reigned between the Ministry of Education and Research and the educational institutions on the matter of how tight the sector is working, economically. Aasland claims that the report has lead to a joint understanding.
– The group acknowledges that remarkable granting have been provided to the sector these last few years. We have not heard of that before, says Aasland.
The increase that Aasland refers to, however, is not a relevant increase for the sector, says Mari Mamre, student representant in the university board by the University of Oslo.
– I think it´s comical that Tora Aasland can see this report as a victory when she and her department receive a devastating report on their own politics. There has been a proper increase in the total of the granting, but there is a lot hidden behind these numbers. Earmarked grants and report demands do among other things lead to increased expenses for the institutions, says Mamre.

– The recommendations won´t do

During the next three years there is expected 33 000 new students to the educational institutions in Norway. Several thousand new places of study will strongly limit the economical room for independent actions, according to the report. Leader of the National Union of Students in Norway Anne Karine Nymoen sees this is problematic.
– We are preoccupied with securing teaching based on research. And that should not be adapted, even though the committee has ascertained that. Therefore the committee recommends fully financing the places of study the first two years, but if it´s supposed to be possible to welcome all the new students, these recommendations are insufficient, says Nymoen.

Can affect research

Vice-chairman in NTM, the Norwegian association for civil servants Anita Solhaug is worried that a large number of students will affect the research. She thinks that there is already too many students by a number of the educational institutions.
– The universities get money through taken study points, and therefore they admit many students. Seeing that the classes are supposed to be based on research, the staff will be positioned in time-pressured situations that will affect their research, says Solhaug.