Cutting NORPART is an ‘attack’ on HE internationalisation

Nine academics at the universities of Bergen and Oslo have accused the Norwegian government of betrayal and wasting their time, following the announcement of plans to cut the Norwegian Partnership Programme for Global Academic Cooperation (NORPART) higher education funding programme between Norway and the Global South.

The nine staff members, all scientists, said in an open letter to Parliament that the government had created unnecessary work for them after the number of funded projects next year was reduced from 35 to seven – a fall of 80% in funding – despite receiving more than 190 applications by the 19 June 2024 deadline.

Confusion over the future of the scheme has also attracted criticism from other stakeholders, who were invited to submit comments on the government’s financial proposals for NORPART to Parliament’s committee on education.

NORPART aims to strengthen partnerships in education and research as well as mutual student mobility between higher education institutions in Norway and in some 40 partner countries in the Global South.

According to NORPART rules, applications for funding must include at least one partner that is an accredited higher education institution in one of the NORPART partner countries.

They are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The open letter

The researchers said that it was not the first time that funding had been stopped. “The same happened in 2023,” the nine researchers said in their open letter to the parliamentary education committee.

“Then, NOK175 million [US$15.8 million] was announced on call in February and a large number of researchers started to prepare their applications. In May the contra-message came from the government and the call was temporarily stopped.

“In the budget plans for 2024, there was a proposal to end NORPART, but after the budgetary negotiations in the autumn of 2023, NOK35 million was allocated for the 2024 programme and the sector interpreted this as a sign of the programme being saved.

“This impression was strengthened in the spring when the new call came,” said the scientists.

“To terminate a programme after the deadline of the call and the applications have been sent in is felt like a betrayal by researchers that have invested many man-months in preparing the applications.

“NORPART has funded 81 projects since 2016 and strengthened research and teaching capacity in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The projects have also built competence and strengthened research quality at Norwegian higher education institutions,” the scientists noted.

The nine signatories are Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Bente Moen, Simon Øverland, Ingunn Engebretsen, Bjarne Robberstad, Halvor Sommerfelt, Ingrid Miljeteig and Thorkild Tylleskär from the University of Bergen, and Lumbwe Chola from the University of Oslo.

Other stakeholders also angry

Students are among the stakeholders unhappy about the treatment of NORPART. The National Union of Students in Norway (NSO), representing 270,000 students, has asked the government to reverse the cuts.

It said in a statement: “NSO is disappointed over the governmental proposal, for the fourth year in a row, to cut development aid funding for higher education. If these cuts are approved, the government will have reduced its development support for education [by] more than one billion NOK” (US$90.5 million).

“The NSO therefore demands that the Parliament reverse the governmental proposal of cuts in development aid for education,” the NSO stated.

The students union argued that NORPART is an important funding mechanism for mutual student exchanges between higher education institutions in Norway and countries in the Global South.

“The phasing out of the programme will have huge implications for higher education both in Norway and in the cooperating countries. Seen in relation to the introduction of tuition fees for students from outside Europe, this is making the Norwegian higher education sector even more closed for students from outside Europe.”

Universities Norway also urged the government to continue NORPART to ensure continued international cooperation among higher education institutions. The association said that the proposed closing of NORPART in 2023 did not happen due to intervention by the Socialist Left Party.

“Universities and university colleges are still battling with the effects of the introduction of tuition fees for international students. The number of international students has dropped dramatically, resulting in great economic consequences for higher education institutions,” Universities Norway stated.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund urged the government to reconsider its position on NORPART at a time of increased global unrest.

The organisation said: “We see increased polarisation, authoritarian forces are advancing and there are enormous global challenges to be solved. In this situation, higher education is playing a key role and the great challenges cannot be addressed without international collaboration.

“The government’s policy is driving us in the opposite direction. In addition to the introduction of tuition fees, which have reduced the number of international students from third countries by 80%, the support for NORGLOBAL and NORPART has been reduced, and now there is a proposal to scrap NORPART.

“Taken together, these measures demonstrate a trend where the government is not taking global international higher education cooperation seriously. This is significantly weakening Norwegian higher education and the Norwegian effort in the field of global collaboration.”

Academics ringfence cooperation with the Global South

Individual academics also expressed dismay and frustration.

University of Bergen Rector Margareth Hagen told University World News: “The University of Bergen has [had] collaboration with higher education institutions in the Global South as a main strategic priority for more than 40 years, and has built up a large network of contacts with research milieus in many countries where research cooperation is ongoing.

“We are noticing that the present government is not continuing the funding measures that different governments have practiced over the years. Therefore, I would like to appeal to the partners in the ongoing budgetary negotiations in Parliament to continue the funding of the NORPART programme.”

Arnhild Leer-Helgesen, associate professor at the University of Agder and chair of the Norwegian Association for Development Research, said: “The proposed cuts in NORPART are another sign of the increased Eurocentrism in higher education and research in Norway.

“The current government continues to undermine academic cooperation with countries outside Europe, which is a severe threat to the quality of education and research in Norway. Global challenges need solutions based on knowledge from different perspectives and contexts. This is severely undermined in Norway today.

“The government does not only propose cuts in NORPART and other support to education in the Global South, but to pay student fees [200 governmental grants] to Norwegian institutions through the development aid budget,” Leer-Helgesen said.

“In a global context with increased threats to academic freedom, broad international cooperation should be strengthened, not reduced,” she noted.

‘Sinister down-prioritising’ of Global South

Associate Professor Poul Wisbourg, chair of global development studies in the Department of International Environment and Development Studies at Noragric – the Norwegian University of Life Sciences – told University World News: “NORPART is important for our international university cooperation. It creates opportunities for students, with links to research and civil society cooperation.

“Students, researchers and administrators need predictability, so the current delays and cuts are really damaging. They also appear as part of a sinister down-prioritising of cooperation with the Global South.

“When tuition fees for non-European students were debated and introduced in 2023, many politicians, including from the government parties, stressed that special measures for development partner countries in the Global South should be implemented.”

He explained: “Yet, right after these statements NORPART was put on ice and then cut. This reflects insincerity in the approach to academic cooperation with the Global South. We should not let war and livelihood crises at home turn our eyes wholly inward or to Europe.

“We need global cooperation to build understanding and the capability to deal with global crises and opportunities regarding food security, health, democracy and climate change, among others. These institutional partnerships also provide for cultural exchange, research collaboration, innovation and enterprise.

“In terms of priority, the most important step is to ensure that all qualified students, including those from the Global South, have access to apply for admission on equal terms (with no or the same fees).

“Long-term, well governed and predictable programmes, such as NORPART, support a wide range of institutional collaboration with partner countries in the Global South to ensure cultural and geographical inclusion in global development and promote the diversity of Norway’s international engagement.”