In a press release, Norway’s ministry of education and research announced new proposals allowing its universities to set their own tuition levels for students from outside the European Union and European Economic Area.
If passed into law, the measure would abolish the current requirement for tuition fees for students outside of EU, EEA, and Switzerland, to reflect full-cost pricing, and provide “greater flexibility in setting fees for various study programs”, so that institutions can adapt to changing recruitment and competency needs, as per the ministry’s statement.
“Higher education institutions in Norway will still be charging tuition fees from students from outside of the EEA and Switzerland. However, the proposal of the Government entails that the higher education institutions will have more flexibility in determining the fee. This will apply to all programs across institutions,” minister of research and higher education, Sigrun Aasland, told The PIE News.
“The Ministry of Education and Research will provide more details of the proposed changes in the autumn.”
For the student union, the fight isn’t over until higher education is free for all, but this is a step in the right direction
Kaja Ingdal Hovednak, Norwegian Student Organisation
While Norway, like several of its European counterparts, once offered free higher education to all international students, this changed in late 2022 when Ola Borten Moe, then minister for research and higher education, proposed introducing tuition for students outside the EU and EEA.
Moe argued that since Norwegian students often pay full tuition fees when studying abroad, there was no reason for things to be “any different in Norway”.
Though Moe’s move was seen as compensating for a NOK 300 million (GBP £22.5m) cut in higher education funding and saving the country €115 million, the ministry has now acknowledged that the policy, which came into effect in June 2023, has had significant repercussions for Norwegian institutions.
According to the ministry, since the tuition requirement, the number of new students from outside the EEA has fallen sharply by 80%, with high fees and cost of living making it difficult for Norwegian universities to attract international students.
A November 2022 report by Study.eu highlighted similar findings, surveying over 1,000 non-EEA students.
The results had predicted that introducing tuition fees would be widely unpopular, with nearly 80% of international students saying it would be impossible to afford studying in Norway if costs reached around NOK 150,000 (GBP £10,913) per year, the upper end of what many university programs currently charge.
A report from Statistics Norway last year showed that over the past decade, 10,282 of the 43,451 international students who came to Norway were from outside the EU and EEA, with the largest sending countries being Nepal, China, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, USA, India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Russia.
While the number of non-EEA degree students rose from 747 in 2013/14 to 1,564 in 2022/23, Statistics Norway, citing the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills’ State of Higher Education Report 2024, highlighted that “the number of new degree students from outside the EEA and Switzerland was almost halved”, following the implementation of the tuition fees.
However, the policy U-turn may offer temporary relief to student groups across Norway, who have been calling on the ministry to reinstate tuition-free higher education for all international students.
“For the student union, the fight isn’t over until higher education is free for all, but this is a step in the right direction. The fundamental principle of free education must be restored, and we are watching with great interest to see the full details of the legislative changes,” said Kaja Ingdal Hovednak, chair of the Norwegian Student Organisation, as reported by University World News.
While the proposed change could impact non-EU/EEA students considering Norway, Gerrit Bruno Blöss, CEO of Study.eu, believes the effect would likely not be a “strong one”.
“Our data shows that interest from large source countries like Nigeria, India, Pakistan is still there, but at a lower level and with low likelihood to enrolment,” stated Blöss.
“Norway’s big draw in the past was that every university in the country was tuition-free, period. This fact generated a lot of prospect interest early in the study choice journey. If the new context is “fees, but a little lower than initially”, it won’t bring back that same level of interest.”
According to Blöss, Norwegian universities need to make significant investments in marketing and recruitment to attract a different, more affluent group of non-European students, something institutions in Norway have yet to fully master.
“The introduction of fees has led to initial marketing and recruitment efforts; but at a slower pace than neighbouring Sweden and Finland when those countries introduced fees. In effect this meant that the drop in non-European enrolments could not yet be offset,” he added.
While stakeholders await further updates on the proposed policy, Norway is taking steps to ease conditions for international doctoral students and researchers.
The government has removed the requirement for language training for postdoctoral fellows, focusing more on supporting Norwegian language proficiency, and has additionally reduced the financial requirement for international PhD students to stay in the country.
“Norway’s Ministry of Justice and the Public Security has now instructed the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) to reduce the maintenance requirement for PhD candidates to just 80,000 kroner (from the previous 325,000 NOK) ,” stated Aasland.
“The Government has also decided to spend NOK 100 million each year from 2025 to 2028 on a scheme to recruit international researchers from all countries outside Europe. This will fund up to 30-40 researchers who will come to Norway.”
The minister further added that an ongoing study, set to conclude by November 2025, is assessing the need for more international research staff, as between 2014 and 2019, Norway saw an 8% rise in international workers with PhDs.
“In a recent survey conducted among 120 actors in the Norwegian health industry, nearly 40% of the companies reported having foreign employees with scientific expertise, and an equally large proportion expressed a need to increase the number of foreign employees with scientific expertise,” she added.
Harinder Aulakh, an Oslo-based entrepreneur, also stressed the need for expanded scholarships, clearer funding for low- and middle-income students, streamlined visa and post-study work routes, stronger integration support, and greater outreach and alumni engagement to position Norway as a true global education hub.
“If Norway wants to rebuild trust and momentum in international education, these steps alongside the fee flexibility proposal can together create a more open, inclusive, and competitive future,” stated Aulakh, CEO and founder of Firmli, which he says can now support Norwegian institutions with smarter pricing, renewed outreach in regions like Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, and improved communication with students and agents.
