Fewer 19-year-olds taking a break before going to university or university college

Tired and sleeping studentsOslo.Tired and sleeping students.Photo: Heiko Junge / Scanpix

A tighter labor market and higher ambitions among Norwegian youth, means that more of them now goes straight to university or other forms of higher education after finishing their first twelwe years at school.

In nine years, from 2006 to 2015, the number of registered students under 20 years  has doubled in Norwegian university colleges and universities, according to Dagens Næringsliv.  The proportion of students that have come to universities and university colleges after completing their basic and secondary education has also increased.
Researcher Per Aamodt says there has been little research on why Norwegians have had a tradition to delay the start of their studies, but he sees similarities between the current situation and the way things have been in past times of economic crisis.
– We have seen similar trends  before at times of high levels of unemployment, like around 1988-1989,  Aamodt, a researcher at the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, says.
Dagens Næringsliv has talked with several graduates abouth their reasons for not  using the year after finishing their basic and secondary education for taking a break from school and studies and  they state the difficult labor market and plans for a long-term education to be among their main reasons for doing so.
– If I had a 100 per cent position, it would have been much more tempting to take a break from school and studies, but it has not been easy. So I may just as well start my studies now,Martin Sandsbraaten, who is graduating from Nydalen Upper Secondary School, says .

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today