Academics criticise call for curbs on what students study

On 27 July 27 2025 Member of Parliament Peter Frølich, who also is in the top leadership of the Conservative Party, stated on his LinkedIn page: “I might step on some people’s toes: But do we really need all these nonsense studies in Norway?

“Everybody knows that we are in need of one thing for the future: Workers with a relevant education.

Nevertheless, a great amount of resources are used on studies that it is difficult to see the relevance for the society of ‘Social sustainability’, ‘Gender, sex and diversity’, ‘Sustainability and culture’, ‘Intercultural relations’. What on earth are these, really?

“The government is also continuing to water down the requirements for becoming a university. At the same time the demands for becoming a nurse or a teacher are lowered. This will lead to a greater dropout from these studies. That is self-evident.

“It is simply the time to use our money on the most important education Norway is in need of. This will imply some more political control over the study places. But that is the way it has to be”, Frølich wrote.

This led to a prominent cover in the major university newsletter Khrono, with the title: “Conservative top politicians want to scrap ‘nonsense studies’: Are these the emperor's new clothes?”

It has been met with many interventions arguing for the defence of the so-called ‘nonsense studies’, and in particular the danger of having more political control over the content of the studies at universities. Many commenters have mentioned Trump’s USA as the dangerous road ahead should this principle be a reality.

On 5 June 2025 the Conservative Party chair Erna Solberg said that the party wants less social sciences and the humanities [at universities].

“We are fooling a part of the youth,” she said as a precursor to the general election on 10 September 2025 where the Conservative party is polling poorly and where the right-wing Progressive party, according to polls, is the largest non-left wing party. She said that in order to have more study places in the natural sciences, some other study places – the social sciences and the humanities – would have to be reduced.

Sjur Bergan, an independent higher education expert who previously led the education division of the Council of Europe told Khrono: “The intervention by Frølich has led to comparisons with Trump. Even if the development in the USA is very worrisome, there is one more relevant European comparison: The Hungary of Orban.

“In 2018 the government in Hungary withdrew the licence for gender studies at both public and private universities. In practice gender studies were unlawful. As we know, the government in Hungary has also taken several other measures against higher education and the country is not something that Norway should want to be associated with.”

The ‘media storm’

The discussions have also reached the newspapers Klassekampen and VG.

“I find the intervention of Frølich to be frighteningly authoritarian. I find that the Conservative Party in the education policies now are approaching more and more the Progressive Party,” Sigrun Aasland said to Klassekampen.

“First”, Aasland noted, “politicians shall not interfere and point out themes and subjects that they do not like or think are not useful. Secondly, we shall of course make priorities within higher education, and we do. The Labour party has been very transparent in our prioritisation of subjects we know there will be a need for in the future”.

Frølich said that he had received very many reactions in support of his views in an interview with VG.

VG also published a survey, “Are studies in for instance social sustainability and intercultural relations important in the workforce?”, which by 4 July had been answered by 5,449 votes. 33% answered ‘yes’, 57% ‘no’ and 10 per cent did not know.

Of the many interventions on social media, one anonymous reader wrote on LinkedIn: “Bachelor degree in folk dance [Campus Rauma, University of South-Eastern Norway]. Do not think one will be wise of [participating in] that. It is ok to dance but what can you do with a bachelor degree in folk dance?”

Stian Roland, University Lecturer at University of South-Eastern Norway who is responsible for the bachelor degree, told University World News: “A bachelor degree in folk dance is not just about folk dance, it’s an investment in cultural heritage, identity, and community.”

Commitment to traditional knowledge

Through UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Norway is committed to preserving and transmitting traditional knowledge, and education is central to fulfilling that obligation.

“Roland said there is a real demand for folk dance competence in cultural institutions, festivals, schools, and local communities. While the number of graduates may remain modest, it is essential to maintain a qualified professional environment that can protect and develop this part of our national heritage – and create the jobs that are possible within this meaningful niche.

“Moreover, the programme provides students with broad, transferable skills such as communication, collaboration, project management, and creative problem-solving – ensuring that graduates are well-equipped for a variety of roles both within and beyond the arts and culture sector,” Roland said. “Investing in folk dance education is investing in cultural sustainability and societal value.”

‘Highly polarised’ debate

Higher education expert, Professor Bjørn Stensaker at the Department of Education at the University of Oslo, told University World News: “The debate is an example of how the higher education sector is drawing increased political interest. So far, the debate is very polarised and does not take into account how complex the governmental steering of the sector really is.

“A lot of the challenges we currently see are a result of reforms aiming at making the higher education sector more efficient; fewer reforms have aimed at making the sector more effective from a system perspective.

“It is an impossible task to try to identify the relevant competence of tomorrow. While a number of new studies appear every year, there is still a remarkable stability between larger disciplinary areas such as social science, science, health, humanities, etcetera.

“This is mainly a result of student preferences, and historically students have made wise decisions that also have benefited the society at large.”

Sigve Næss Røtvold, chair of NSO – The National Union of Students, told University World News: “We in NSO are of the opinion that today’s higher education institutions are well suited to set the dimensioning of higher education studies so that they are attractive for the students and that society is getting candidates with relevant qualifications.

“A stronger political governance will not improve this situation and might come at the expense of the competence readiness,” Professor Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, former chair of the leadership group of GENIE (Gender Initiative for Excellence), at Chalmers University of Technology, and now Charles W Duncan, Jr. Welch Professor of Chemistry at Rice University, Houston, Texas told University World News: “These happenings in Norway align directly with what the administration in the US is currently doing. Also in Sweden, my home country, the government has started to take more control over education. This is a scary trend.

“Universities need autonomy, not political control. Universities have large responsibilities towards society and need freedom to make their own priorities around research and education.

“Academic freedom and diversity of people and topics is the best approach to solving major societal challenges. We do not know what the future will need”, she said.