Students Struggle with Oriental Languages

A third of the students studying Arabic and Chinese – 20 of 65 and 30 of 95 respectively – have given up since the beginning of term. The Institute now wants to extend the bachelors\' degree in Chinese to a total of four years. Celine Randers, who continues studying Chinese, understands that people give up, given that students are expected to learn 80 new characters for each lesson. Ingri Kværne Amundsen (19) says that Chinese is not a subject for students who don\'t really know what they want. The head of the department at the Institute for Eastern European and Oriental Studies Mette Halskov-Hansen says that the numbers are not surprising. A crisis after six months, when the first novelty has worn off, is typical, she observes.

Women Losing Funding Battle

Male students studying abroad obtain approximately NOK 6000 more in grants from Lånekassen (The State Fund for Educational Loans) than female students. The director at the Centre for Gender Equality Mona Larsen-Asp demands a thorough review of current procedures at Lånekassen. – Saying that women choose the wrong subjects, isn\'t good enough, she says. – They need to look at which courses are awarded more funds than others, and why, she adds.