The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) received a total of 7651 applications for recognition of foreign higher education last year, a slight increase from the previous year.
The biggest change in 2016 was the large increase in the number of applicants from Syria. The top three on the applications list are now Poland, Syria and Lithuania.
Altogether, NOKUT received 871 applications for recognition of higher education taken in Syrian educational institutions last year. That’s more than double the number in 2015.
‘Our estimates indicate that we will receive an even higher number of applicants from Syria, and other refugee countries, during 2017. The total number of applications may rise to 9000’, said director, Terje Mørland, of NOKUT.
He said that the high number of applications has meant that the national body must postpone the introduction of new services, such as qualification assessment for refugees, and new authorisation of vocational training.
‘We must also reduce ambition levels for an extension of the approval system for vocational education and training’, said Mørland.
He added that it appears that refugees first seek recognition after they have been in Norway for some time. Therefore NOKUT expects an increase in the number of applications in the future.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
