Solidarity Incentive
Norwegian Students and Academics International Assistance Fund (SAIH) will probably be rewarded 30 Norwegian kroner out of the semester fee this autumn, which constitutes an increase of 50 per cent. Den Konservative Studenterforening (DKSF), a union of conservative students, is still critical to the manner in which this money is collected.
A decision from the General Board of SiO dated 15 April allowed an increase of ten kroner from the semester fee to go to SAIH, 30 kroner in total. DKSF is critical, not to the cause, but to the method.
“We feel that it is good to give as much as possible, but out of your own will,” Krister Øie Braute, leader of DKSF, says. “They could have increased it to a hundred as far as I am concerned, but as long as it is forced, not voluntary, we feel that it is a wrong approach. We think that SAIH`s work is important, but they would have had more legitimacy if this had been something students contributed to out of will, not because they had to.
Something In Between
The decision of the General Board of SiO was encouraged by Velferdstinget, a student welfare establishment. Leader of Velferdstinget Inge Carlén feels that an increase was about time.
“In recent times, twenty kroner has been insufficient,” he says. In answer to a question concerning the payment method, he replies that this method is supposed to work as a “solidarity incentive”. This payment is included in the semester fee with a possibility of refund upon request.
“Is solidarity incentive a self–contradiction?”
“Well, in the mere beginning, we discussed whether this payment should be obligatory or optional. The result is something in between.
Good Timing
Leader of SAIH, Kathrine Sund, is very happy that Velferdstinget took the initiative to increase the support.
“This goes to show that they are committed,” she says. “And this was especially convenient this year! We are in the process of applying for a new 3–year framework agreement with NORAD, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and BI, the Norwegian School of Management, will join this autumn too.”
Sund explains that it is impossible to predict in exact terms how much SAIH will earn due to BI. But she says it is “considerable amounts”. She also rejects that the support is not voluntary.
“If you want your money back, you just have to send us an e–mail,” she says.
“How many people do that?”
“Well below a hundred out of 115 000!”
