Only 40 percent of bachelor students and 43 percent of graduate students in Norway complete their education in the stipulated time. – A symptom of poor quality, said the Minister of Education and Research Torbjørn Røe Isaksen.
The report of the state of higher education in 2015, released Monday, shows that are Norwegian students still having trouble completing their studies on time – at all levels from bachelor to doctorate.
The report shows that a minority of Norwegian students fail to complete their studies in the stipulated time. 40 percent of the Bachelor students have completed their studies on time, for the Master’s students the figure is at 43 percent.
The doctoral students fell short of the national goals that between 75 and 85 percent of the doctoral students should present and defend their dissertation within six years. Last year, only 66 percent of the candidates achieved this goal.
Big differences|
– This is not good enough, Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen says to the news agency NTB.
– When we look at the figures for the completion of stuides in the stipulated time and compare ourselves with other countries, it seems clear that we have a problem, he says.
Isaksen believes people taking such a long time in completing their studies and the high dropout rate are two symptoms that more needs to be done to ensure sufficient quality in higher education in Norway .
– It is costly both for society and for the individual student. We are working on a White Paper on education, where we will look into how we can help more people to completing their studies on time, he says.
– There are major differences between the various institutions and various studies. The institutions must now aim to learn from those who have had the most success in getting their students through the course of study, says Røe Isaksen.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
