Former higher education minister Henrik Asheim (H) says Norway is ready for a fundamental change in the admissions system. He is backed by incumbent minister Ola Borden Moe (SP).
– Many take repeated lessons. Whether we should have a limit on how many times a subject can be retaken is debatable, says Henrik Asheim.
This week, most of the higher education applicants have received Samortna admission letter. Out of 133,000 applicants, 64,000 have been awarded Get a place in their first exam.
Asheim believes the enrollment system is ripe for change. He is particularly concerned with cleaning and passing the many extra points that can be earned in addition to grade points.
He also believes that a big problem is that many people spend years taking courses to land their dream course.
– Creates an injustice
The point limits for the most popular surveys continue to rise, and the competition is fierce. In 2021, almost 50,000 private exams were taken in Norway. Many private coaches spend years improving their high school grades.
– A combination of fewer extra points and preventing the inflation of grades that occurs when people take courses may provide a better system, says Asheim. Pinposton.
– What is unfair in the current system?
– The challenge is that the longer you do other things, the more points you get. The sum of it creates an injustice, for example, a 19-year-old struggling to get in because he has to wait to earn extra points.
Important for age points
Asheim is particularly critical of age points. After age 20 you earn two age points every year. That is, someone with a 5 grade point average in high school would have the equivalent of a 5.8 “average” four years later. But the candidate will compete in normal quota.
The right-wing politician believes that age points act as an incentive to postpone studies.
– Norwegian students are among the hardest starting students. He says this may be because many people retake courses over several years and age points are absolutely necessary to get them.
Entrance test instead of marks?
During Asheim’s tenure as Minister of Research and Higher Education, he set up a committee to review the current admissions system. The committee will submit its recommendation in December.
– Fewer people need to take lessons, more easy to come by Start your studies soon Last week, group leader Marianne Assen wrote.
Today, most colleges and universities have grade-based admission. The Conservative Party wants to change the system for extra points and allow universities and colleges to run more of their own entrance exams.
Mo: Too late to review
Ola Borden Mo from the Center Party is the Minister of Research and Higher Education in the current government. He shares many of Asheim’s problematic interpretations and credits his predecessor for setting up the aforementioned admissions committee.
– Our admissions system is too mature for a proper review, he says.
Mo also believes that the main problem is that many people spend too much time taking lessons.
– It makes no sense that resourceful Norwegian youth spend years perfecting their diplomas. This is a massive sub-optimization of social resources, he says.
Asked if he wanted universities to be allowed more freedom in how they conduct their admissions, he replied that he would wait for the discussion until the committee submitted its report.
If the committee recommends other admission forms?
– Then I wait, opened with suspicion, says Borden Moe.
A purely merit-based admissions system has some obvious advantages, he says: It’s transparent and perceived as fair.
Moe also shares Asheim’s concern about the number of extra points awarded. Although most additional points were introduced with the best of intentions and reasons, he believes they are grossly inflated.
– Which additional points should go first?
– Here I would first like to read the report of the Committee. But if there are any additional points worth keeping, he says, they’re providing first-rate service.
– Determining Decimals
Mika Kodal Dam is a leader in the Norwegian Student Organization (NSO). They write in a press release that there is a “rush for grades” to get into more difficult courses, and many are taking out student loans to retake courses at private schools.
According to Dam, it is costly and demanding for both the individual and society.
– Everyone should have the same right and opportunity to education, but not everyone has the time and money to take lessons. We see the need to make changes in the existing admissions system so that quality propensity does not continue to increase, says Dam.
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