How To Discuss The Issue Of International Students In Nordic Universities

Transcription

1 ISU NORWAY MEETING WITH THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION MONDAY 13 th OF JANUARY 2014 Meeting with State Secretary Bjørn Haugstad at the Ministy of Education and Research (KD), Monday 13 th of January 2014 Present at meeting: State Secretary Bjørn Haugstad, and three senior advisors of the Ministry of Education. ISU National President Abbas Ahdal Sharif, NSO Political Advisor Janne Nyhus, NSO International Officer Axel Nerdrum and ISU National Secretary Nadia Jafa Jounes. Meeting initiated by a welcome by State Secretary Bjørn Haugstad. President Abbas Ahdal Sharif presents ISU. The ISU wishes to discuss these issues during the meeting: 1. Joint degrees programme (Internationalisation) 2. Visa renewals 3. Quota Scheme beneficiaries 4. Issue of tuition fee for international students 5. Masters programmes Samordna Opptak Unfortunately, the recent memo has not been received by the State Secretary. The State Secretary therefore stands unprepared to discuss the issue of Samordna Opptak (Joint Admissions system) for Master students and the Joint Degrees Programme. The State Secretary has received an older version of the memo and is therefore able to discuss: Page 1 of 5

2 1. Quota Scheme beneficiaries 2. Visa renewals 3. English medium Master degrees 4. Issue of tuition fee for international students 1) Quota scheme: KD has allocated 12 million kroner to SIU. A new evaluation of the quota scheme is expected by the end of January 2014; however the State Secretary states that they cannot be sure when to expect the evaluation. The State Secretary points out that ISU is an important actor with which to discuss this issue. According to the State Secretary there are no plans to increase the quota scheme so far. However, there are no plans to make reductions either. Overall the KD is satisfied with the current number of quota students. The KD would like to look into having more quota scheme students in Norwegian institutions, but this must be measured against other implementations and priorities. 2) Tuition fees: Tuition fees can be discussed together with the quota scheme issue. Free tuition for international students is costing the Norwegian government. The State Secretary states that the principles of tuition fees need to be adjusted. The money spent on free tuition could also be used to increase the numbers of students in the quota scheme. All expenditures must be properly prioritized and measured against other things on the budget. The State Secretary also states that if tuition fees are to be introduced, the KD will have to make a strong case for it. The KD has not yet worked on any other proposals and are therefore unsure of which to prioritise. The state secretary is uncertain of whether the issue of tuition fees will be looked into. If the issue is dropped it will not be mentioned in the budget. The department does not yet know it there will be an internal government process in relation to tuition fees. ISU and NSO are invited to come with suggestions and arguments. ISU is encouraged to submit all enquiries and arguments. Page 2 of 5

3 3) Visa Renewal: ISU stated that many students need to leave Norway before finishing their studies due to shortage of funds and thus the inability to renew their student visa. Many of these students lose contact with their Norwegian institution as well as they might not have the proper library access and information flow in order to finish their studies and thesis in their home country. The ISU suggested that instead of UDI requirement of funds to renew the student visa, the visa renewal should be issued upon completion of a semester, given that good results have been achieved by the student. The State Secretary sees this as a reasonable request, as the Ministry of Education wants people to concentrate on their assignment and exams, rather than having to work. ISU suggests a joint meeting with the Ministry of Education and Research together with the UDI. ISU also suggests to come up with numbers and statistics on how many students have to leave due to shortage of funds, so that the Ministry can look into the matter. The State Secretary requests a memo on the situation and how the current arrangements are affecting students. The Ministry s main concern in regards to this issue is how UDI will know that the students are able to support themselves. ISU emphasises that many students are short of only a small amount of money when it comes to renewing their visas. Therefore, the ISU suggests that the Norwegian institutions follow the British and Canadian model for foreign students, which stresses the student s good achievements in order to renew the student visa. 4) English medium Master Degrees: The state Secretary mentions that the implementation of English medium courses is left up to the institutions themselves. Some institutions are aggressive in providing English medium courses, where as some are more reluctant. The State Secretary assures that the institutions that are reluctant are still mentioned in the dialogue. Otherwise, it is mainly left to the institutions and the Ministry cannot force them. 5) Discussion of ISU s finances situation and the future: Most of ISU s funding comes from the Ministry of Education. ISU is grateful for the significant increase of funds from to Norwegian Kroner in one year. ISU now has 27 active local branches despite some Page 3 of 5

4 of the local branches falling away due to merging institutions (such as NVH merging with UMB). Much of the funding goes to the annual National Assembly and Leadership Meetings so that ISU can get feedback and create workable matters. The position of National Secretary has also been increased to 50%. continuity in the organisation. A 100% National Secretary position will be good for ISU appreciates if the Ministry would consider the next application for funding, in order to increase the National Secretary position to 100% and create continuity. The deadline for the application is 15 th of March ISU wanted to share offices with NSO. However, as the NSO has grown larger it is not physically or financially possible to merge offices. It will be positive for ISU to share offices with NSO, and if an opportunity arises ISU glad to take it. Whereas the National Assemblies are mainly political, the Leadership Meetings regard how the institutions accommodate international students. ISU is aware that some of the Norwegian institutions have great international offices, where others are understaffed. Bigger institutions have better offices and staff, and thus can better accommodate the students. During the next Leadership Meeting ISU will discuss the issue of denying housing to students over 30 years old, and how to directly communicate our concerns with the housing offices. Also, many international students are in medicine, engineering and such time consuming studies and therefore hard to get them to be active within ISU. The State Secretary is happy to have another meeting with ISU before the summer 2014 in order to better discuss the rest of the issues regarding Samordna Opptak, Quota Scheme and Internationalisation. The State Secretary requests a memo on the visa renewal. The State Secretary tells ISU to have patience if we want the UDI to join the meeting. The State Secretary also hopes that for the next meeting the Ministry will have solutions to the ISU s issues or a straight answer, instead of leaving the ISU hanging. Page 4 of 5

5 Nadia Jounes, ISU National Secretary January 18 th 2014 Page 5 of 5