No Norwegian for you

The University of Oslo (UiO) encourages their international students to attend beginner courses in Norwegian, yet it seems that the reality for many students does not live up to the university’s ideals.

– The University strongly advised us to join the classes. So it’s a big disappointment, says Martin Pioch, one of the students who won’t be learning Norwegian at UiO this fall.

Missed opportunity

Joining Pioch among the 120 unlucky are Janne Harder and Lea West. They are very surprised that so many students have been turned down.

When she applied to exchange to Norway, Harder was advised to apply for the Norwegian classes. Nobody told her that she was not guaranteed a place in the course.

– I would really like to learn Norwegian. My plan was to take the course and join a student organization, so I could meet Norwegians and talk Norwegian with them.

She will still be joining a student organization, and is relieved that Norwegians (in most cases) have a more than adequate grasp of the English language. Yet, in order to begin to integrate fully, to begin speaking Norwegian with actual Norwegians, to fully appreciate the subtleties of three men wearing safari hats or songs about the hatred of seagulls … well, you’re going to have to learn the basics.

– I feel like I’m missing an opportunity, Harder says.

An alternative would be to hire a private tutor, but that can be very expensive. Especially for an international student in Norway.

– I didn’t come here just to speak English, but to learn another language as well. It’s already very expensive to be an exchange student in Norway, so hiring a private teacher is out of question, Pinoch says.

No clear solution

Inga Bostad, the Vice principal at UiO, says it’s regretful that the University does not have the capacity to offer all the international students Norwegian courses. The University is now looking at what they can do with the situation.

– It is not easy to predict how many students will apply to our Norwegian courses. The amount of international students that wish to join changes every year.

According to Bostad, it’s not the complete number of international students that has increased, but the number of applicants to the courses. She adds:

– International relations are important to UiO, and it is important for us that the international students have a nice stay and benefit from the courses we offer.

In demand

– We just don’t have the capacity to teach all the international students. We have applied all the staff and resources at our disposal, but we’re not able to do anything more, says Andreas Sveen, head of education at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at UiO.

Sveen says the demand has been high for several years.

– It is a very popular course. In 2006 the head masters office made guidelines for which students we were supposed to prioritize. This years intake is done in accordance with those guidelines, say Sveen.

Vice principal Bostad explains that the priority guidelines were made in case a situation like this was to happen, but has no easy solution for the students that are effected.