When Oddmund Hoel took over the minister’s office in the Ministry of Education on Tuesday, he announced an urgent notification to the Storting about the admissions system for higher education. – We are in a situation where we lack manpower. The main objective with a new system is to get people into studies faster, and out the other end faster, says Hoel. The basis for the message is the report Optaptaksutvalet delivered in December 2022. They proposed a number of measures which they believed could simplify and make the admissions system fairer. – We went in to create a wholesome system, and then we took some drastic measures, some might think, says selection manager Marianne Aasen. Among other things, they will scrap additional points, such as age points and points for science, and replace the opportunity to improve grades with a national entrance exam. Research and Higher Education Minister Oddmund Hoel visited the Political Quarter on Tuesday. Photo: Milana Knezevic / news The age bonus may expire The government has not concluded what measures from the committee they will proceed with. But the system of additional points, and especially the additional points, can be thin on the ground, says Hoel. – The age points are the additional points that most directly contribute to delayed start of studies. So they are probably at the top of the list of things we look at very critically. One of the studies that has noticed the system of additional points the most is medicine. The age score contributes to artificially high grade requirements, believes the leader of the Norwegian Medical Student Association, Aladdin Boukaddour. – We have seen people who have had enough points after one or two years, but who chose to wait because it was more practical and economical to max out these points, which are a total of eight points. He welcomes the removal of the extra points, and believes that the current arrangement is not feasible. – It is not economically beneficial to put one’s life on hold just to accumulate age points. Nor do we see that it can produce better employees in the long term. Will still have a second chance When the committee came up with its proposals just over a year ago, it was the proposal to remove the possibility of taking up that subject that perhaps caused the most reactions. – We insist that it is the grades from secondary school that should apply when ranking. Today, you can take up that subject for as long as you want. It is a system that does not work very well. We propose to remove this, and replace the system with an entrance exam, says Aasen. Committee leader Marianne Aasen hands over the report to the then Minister of Research and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe (Sp) The critics believe that it could lead to increased pressure on grades in the secondary school, and that it is important that people can be able to get a second chance. This is something they will also hear from the minister. – We believe that one should be able to get a second chance. One should not get hung up on just the grades from secondary school. But whether it will take place in an entrance exam, as the committee proposes, or whether we are holding on to the possibility of improving the grades, we will have to clarify later. And even if the goal is to get young people through education and into work quickly, it should still be possible to take a year off to find out what you want to do. – We have to take care that those who come straight off the shuttle bus are not always super-motivated to start their studies straight away. There should perhaps be an opening to be able to dawdle around a bit, but there should be a limit to how many years one can dawdle before one gets started.
ttn-69
Oddmund Hoel will change the admissions system for higher education – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
