7 International degree students who come to Norway

There has been a significant increase in the number of international students who come to Norway to study since the turn of the millennium. Some of the growth is due to external factors, such as an increase in international students globally and more participants in the EU education programmes. However, it is also partly a result of Norwegian political priorities, as well as factors at Norwegian higher education institutions, such as more programmes taught in English, more widespread and more extensive institutional cooperation with overseas institutions, and the absence of tuition fees.1 In the first edition of the OECD’s Indicators of Talent Attractiveness, Norway ranked very well on the indicators pertaining to how attractive Norway is to international students. Norway was in second place, after Switzerland, ahead of Germany and Finland.2 Elements that explain the positive results include courses in English, the absence of tuition fees, and the fact that a student visa includes the right to work part-time alongside studying. As a general rule, however, international students are not entitled to Norwegian educational grants and loans.

A survey conducted among international students in Norway in 2019 has provided further insight into students’ reasons for choosing Norway. High educational quality is the most important factor for full-degree students. The second most important factor is the perception of Norway as peaceful and safe. A quarter of the students cited the opportunity to stay on and work in Norway after graduation.3

Norway has attached particular importance to exchanges through institutional cooperation in its policy. Attracting full-degree students has not been a priority, except in connection with joint degrees, which are somewhere between exchange mobility and full-degree mobility. The Quota Scheme, which has now been discontinued, provided a grant to study for a full degree in Norway; however, the political reasoning behind the scheme were development aid and capacity building in the Global South, as opposed to attracting students to Norwegian institutions. From 2020, funding for full-degree mobility will also be available through NORPART. International degree students have made up a proportion of between 3 and 4 per cent of all enrolled students in Norway in the past ten years.

Norway has traditionally had a relatively high ratio of students who choose to take a full degree abroad, and relatively many Norwegian students still continue to go abroad to study – just under 7 per cent of the total student population. By comparison, the average in the EU is about half this, and in the OECD area around a quarter of this.4 Although more students are coming to Norway to take a full degree than before, when compared this group still make up only about half the number of full-degree Norwegian students studying abroad. This sets us apart from many other European countries, such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and especially the United Kingdom, which attract more degree students than they send out.5

Several of the countries with which Norway cooperates on education and research attach significantly more importance to attracting students from abroad than sending their own students overseas. This is the case in Finland, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia. Countries like China and India, which have previously largely sent students abroad are starting to focus more on inbound student mobility. For many countries, attracting degree students is part of a broader strategy to attract highly skilled workers.6

7.1 The value of inbound degree students

From a knowledge-policy point of view, inbound degree students constitute a valuable resource for increased internationalisation of study environments in Norway. They can help Norway reach the goal that all Norwegian students shall be part of a learning environment that also includes international students. International full-degree students will be able to make an even greater contribution to internationalisation of the study environment, if compared to inbound international exchange students, since they stay in Norway longer. This can benefit the institutions, the academic communities and the vast majority of Norwegian students who do not go abroad during their studies.

Analyses and surveys nevertheless indicate that international students are an underutilised resource in this perspective.7 Norwegian institutions have come a long way in their efforts to make arrangements for and receive international students. However, it remains the case that there is often very limited contact between Norwegian and international students, and that the potential inherent in the international learning environment is not fully exploited. It is therefore important that the institutions work systematically to strengthen the interaction and contact between international and Norwegian students.

Degree students who stay on and work in Norway after graduation make a positive contribution to the Norwegian economy. International graduates are better equipped for work in Norway than other migrant workers, having already spent at least two years here. Many will also have learned some Norwegian, although most will have studied in English, and will be able to function more easily in a Norwegian work setting than people who have never been to Norway before. However, this potential value of international students who have completed a degree in Norway has largely been overlooked and overshadowed by other considerations.

Historically, Norway has attached political importance to trying to prevent the “brain drain”, i.e. emigration of highly educated individuals from their country of origin to another.8 In this area, however, there is a big difference between how Norway relates to its priority partner countries in respect of education and research policy on the one hand and developing countries in the Global South on the other.9 A national policy for the recruitment of students can take these kinds of differences into consideration. A more strategic, coordinated approach to recruiting international students must be based on a conscious balancing of knowledge and competence policy interests against aid and migration policy objectives.

7.1.1 Conclusions and measures

• The Government wants the institutions to strengthen their work to create an international learning environment with systems to ensure the best possible interaction between Norwegian and international students in both academic and extracurricular contexts.

7.2 National policy to attract students to Norway

Norway demonstrates openness to international degree students by offering a wide range of master’s degrees in English and its system of full public funding of education for everyone – including students from non-EU/EFTA countries. Political priority has also been attached to international joint degrees, which also involve recruiting international students to degree courses, even though joint degrees will often comprise semester mobility between the participating institutions.10

However, no national targets or strategies have been designed for international degree students in Norway. In order to achieve a more coordinated national policy for the recruitment of international degree students, a good balance must be struck between different policy areas, and in the recruitment of international students, clear, coordinated signals must be conveyed.

7.2.1 Return versus staying on in Norway

Students from the EU and EFTA area who follow the teaching at an approved higher education institution in Norway are granted the right to reside and do not have to apply for a residence permit in Norway.11 However, students who are going to study in Norway for more than three months must register with the immigration authorities. In addition, they must have health insurance and sufficient funds to cover their living expenses.

Students from non-EU/EFTA countries must apply for a student residence permit. This kind of student residence permits are granted under “the precondition that the applicant will leave Norway on expiry of the residence permit”.12 The immigration authorities must assess the applicant’s “possibilities for returning”, i.e. the probability that the applicant will leave Norway upon expiry of the permit. This assessment will place emphasis on “both the applicant’s individual circumstances and the general situation in the applicant’s home country”.

However, the condition that the applicant will leave Norway when the residence permit expires is not absolute. The regulations have been relaxed several times since 2001, and now, under certain conditions, international students who complete a degree in Norway can apply to stay on in Norway for twelve months to find work or start their own business.13 By comparison, Germany gives international students who complete a degree in Germany three years to find work or start a business.

Germany, which, like Norway, does not take tuition fees from international students, wants to attract more students from all over the world and get them to stay on and work after graduation.14 This is part of Germany’s strategy to remain one of the most innovative and competitive knowledge economies in the world.

Many of the international degree students who come to Norway are considering or would like to remain in Norway after graduation and work, and the proportion has risen in recent years. In a survey from the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) among international students in 2019, as many as 70 per cent of the degree students expressed this view, compared with 62 per cent in 2016.15

7.2.2 The right applicants?

In terms of quantity, the number of international degree students applying to study in Norway is satisfactory.16 However, a large number of applicants does not necessarily indicate that the institutions are managing to attract the students they aim to attract. The fact that Norway does not work strategically on attracting students may be a contributing factor in the institutions not getting the students they aim for, and that the inflow of international students is not aligned with Norway’s national geographical priorities or skills needs. Diku’s survey among Norwegian universities and university colleges reveals that the institutions do not necessarily perceive a large number of applicants as something of added value. The institutions would prefer stronger applicants and more applicants from the countries with which they have the most academic cooperation, not least from the EU and EFTA area.17 Strategic measures at the institutional level and clear national signals could help stake out a common course for the work.

There may be several reasons why Norway has to date attached less importance to recruiting international degree students than many other of our neighbouring countries.18 The fact that Norway does not have tuition fees may be one element; Norway’s strong economy may be another. In Sweden, where the number of students from outside Europe fell sharply after the country introduced tuition fees in 2011, both the education authorities and the higher education institutions themselves have regarded it as necessary to invest resources in developing and adopting a more active policy towards trying to restore the number of international students; for example, through increased marketing and scholarship programmes. However, some countries, including Germany, do not have tuition fees and at the same time have an active policy to attract international degree students.19

Norwegian internationalisation policy over the past ten years has rested on a foundation of cooperation between higher education institutions and measures to promote student exchange. Attracting degree students has not been an important political priority. Other countries’ more proactive policies in this area are leading to increased competition for international degree students. Norway ought to adopt a clearer stance in order to be able to recruit the most attractive international students.

7.2.3 Recruitment in relation to Norway’s skills needs

Almost half of the EU member states prioritise both attracting international students, especially degree students, and getting them to stay on after they have completed their degree.20 A more targeted recruitment policy must be designed to meet needs across sectors and weigh up and rank multiple considerations: education and research policy (attracting the best students, or those from our priority partner countries); labour and industrial policy (innovative students, within certain subject areas, from countries that are important trade partners); immigration policy (avoiding student residence permits being exploited for other purposes, promoting certain types of labour immigration and preventing others); development aid policy (attracting and educating students, capacity building, preventing the brain drain); and foreign policy (networks and diplomatic relations in current and future partner countries).

This is not the first time the idea of a more active policy in this area has been launched. In the Strategy for Export and Internationalisation from 2017, the Government argued that student mobility, both inbound and outbound, ought to be regarded as a long-term investment in the further development of Norway as a knowledge nation.21 The strategy refers to a global race for “the brightest minds” and to recruit “the world’s most talented students”. In this context, more targeted recruitment is seen both as an instrument in the long-term plan for research and education and the ambitions to build world-leading academic groups, and as a means to strengthen Norway’s reputation and increase its attractiveness for foreign investment and businesses.22 Published by the Ministry of Industry and Fisheries, the strategy is signed by six ministers – for industry, fisheries, foreign affairs, oil and energy, environment and climate, and education and research, respectively. Recruiting talented students to Norway and paving the way for them to work here during their studies and especially after graduation are important measures in respect of the skills and competencies Norway will require in the future.

7.2.4 Conclusions and measures

• The Government wants a clearer, more strategic national policy indicating which international degree students Norway should target, and will therefore create a working group that will consider a more deliberate policy towards international degree students at Norwegian institutions. This policy should build on overarching policies and frameworks regarding education and research, trade and industry, immigration, development aid and national security. The development of this kind of policy must take national needs for skills and competencies into consideration and involve non-academic players, such as the Ministry of Industry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the social partners (employer and employee organisations). The report will build on the overall national priorities specified in the long-term plan for research and education (cf. white paper Report no. 4 to the Storting (2018–2019)) and the strategy for export and internationalisation (cf. the Ministry of Industry and Fisheries 2017).

• The Government wants greater focus in the work to attract students on the opportunity to apply for a job or start up a business in Norway for one year after completing a degree. The Government encourages the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) and the higher education institutions to inform international degree students about this opportunity.

7.3 Number, origin and place of study

In 2015, four times as many foreign students came to Norway as in 2000. Some of these originally came to Norway for reasons other than to study; for example to work, as refugees, or as children of foreign parents. Even disregarding these, there has been strong growth in the numbers. Instead of figures for foreign nationals, figures are used (below) for what the OECD calls international degree students, which are students who are assumed to have come to Norway with the aim of studying for a degree. Exchange students and international degree students who have come to Norway for reasons other than studies are thus excluded.

After a slight decline from 2015 to 2017, the number of international degree students in Norway rose again in 2018 and 2019 to just over 12,300. Figure 7.1 shows the countries from which the most students come.23

Zoom in on image

The figures include students who have upper secondary education from another country or non-Norwegian country background in Statistics Norway data or foreign nationality. The figures do not include exchange students and students who have lived in Norway for more than five years at the time of counting.

Source: Statistics Norway, education statistics

The number of degree students from Russia has also decreased, and has more than halved in the past five years. One explanation for this is the discontinuation of the Quota Scheme for students from developing countries, countries in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which until 2015 included approximately 150 Russian students; in 2018, there were fewer than 20 people still in this scheme.24 In 2018, there were just over 900 degree students from countries in Africa in Norway, unchanged from ten years earlier. This indicates that the Quota Scheme had limited impact on attracting students from African countries to Norway.

Table 7.1 shows the number of international degree students at Norwegian universities and university colleges. The University of Oslo (UiO) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) receive by far the most international students: 1,844 and 2,093 respectively.

Most students (per 2019) come from China and Sweden, followed by Germany and Denmark. In 2015, Swedes made up the clear majority, but numbers have declined in the subsequent years. The decrease coincides with a parallel decline in labour immigration from Sweden. This is partly due to the decline in the unemployment rate in Sweden during the period.

The specialised institutions have the most international students, in relative terms: Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) and Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) have 26, 16 and 13 per cent respectively, while MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society and the Sámi University of Applied Sciences have just over 10 per cent.

The state and private university colleges have the lowest proportion of international degree students, with less than 2 per cent: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), Kristiania University College (HK), Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education (DMMH), the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH) and NLA University College.

7.4 More strategic work to attract international degree students to Norway

In the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs’ consideration of the national budget for 2016, the majority asked the Government to “initiate work to establish a separate strategy for how Norway can attract skilled international degree students at the master’s level.”25 One result of this process was the report, which the Ministry of Education and Research commissioned from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU), now Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku)26, and the Government wants the work on developing determined policy in this area to be continued.

International degree students ought to be recruited for academic reasons, such as on their academic merit and the objective of internationalising the study environment. At the same time, the needs of Norwegian employers and industry ought to be taken into account in discussions about Norway’s objectives for attracting international degree students. This applies to how to strategically design the schemes for inbound degree students, in view of both the actual study period and what happens after graduation. Studies from other countries show that international students make a net contribution to the economy, even disregarding any tuition fees. This is mainly due to the fact that many of these students work during and after their studies.

7.4.1 Geographical priorities

An important distinction can be drawn between students from within and outside the EU and EFTA area. In practical terms, it is currently much easier for students from EU and EFTA countries to come to Norway to take an entire degree than it is for other students. Students from other countries face more stringent requirements regarding visas and residence permits, making the path from application to attendance longer, more uncertain and more costly, than it is for students from the EU and EFTA area. Nevertheless, 66 per cent of the current international degree students come from countries outside this area.27 As mentioned above, some institutions want to attract more European students.

The Government wants master’s degree students from EU and EFTA countries to make up a larger share of the international degree students in Norway. This will be in line with much of the input from the sector in connection with this white paper, and it may contribute to more people staying on and working in Norway after graduation, because it is much easier for people from the EU and EFTA area to both study and work in Norway. A more concentrated focus on Europe can be expected to strengthen both the higher education sector and Norway’s international network and position in important partner countries, contributing to common European goals concerning the free circulation of labour.

However, it is not a goal that the mobility of degree students to Norway should be limited to Europe and the EU and EFTA countries. Recruiting academically strong students from our priority partner countries outside Europe is an important measure to realise the goals relating to international cooperation on education and research expressed in, for example, the Panorama strategy.28 In their consultation responses, several institutions express their desire to recruit more degree students from partner countries outside Europe.

An important reason why the Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs asked the Government to develop a strategy for recruitment was the discontinuation of the Quota Scheme and the start-up of NORPART. The change resulted in a reprioritisation from granting scholarships for full-degree studies to providing support for inbound exchange students as part of an institutional collaboration. Starting from 2020, money will once again be allocated to enable students from the Global South to take a degree in Norway, now through NORPART. This measure addresses a wish that large parts of the sector have expressed since the discontinuation of the Quota Scheme. Several institutions and academic communities stress that degree students from certain developing countries in the Global South are an important element in their work to internationalise their studies.

7.4.2 Proportion of international students in organised research training

In 2018, 42 per cent of the people who completed a doctoral degree in Norway had foreign nationality.29 This is a new record and illustrates the significance of international recruitment to Norwegian academia. At the same time, there have been discussions about whether the proportion of overseas PhD students and doctoral candidates might be too high, especially in some subject areas. The highest share is in mathematical, natural science and technological subjects (i.e. STEM), where foreign nationals accounted for roughly two-thirds of the doctoral degrees completed in the years 2016–2018.

The Government holds that there should not be a national cap on the proportion of international PhD students, and that it must still be up to the individual institutions to assess who they want to employ, in line with the relevant legislation and regulations on, for example, employment within the EU and EFTA area.

7.4.3 Knowledge base and recruitment

A more targeted, knowledge-based recruitment strategy must be developed and continuously updated. What happens to international degree students after graduation? How many return home or move to other countries, how many stay in Norway, and how many of this latter group become active participants in Norwegian working life and business?30 International students are a resource in Norwegian higher education, but they also make a contribution in other parts of society.31 More knowledge is needed about their impact on the Norwegian economy and labour market and for Norway’s international relations.

7.4.4 Conclusions and measures

• The Government wants a greater proportion of the full-degree students who come to Norway to come from the EU and EFTA area and from Norway’s priority partner countries outside Europe. Furthermore, the higher education institutions should use the opportunities inherent in cooperation programmes with the Global South in order to strengthen mobility and cooperation with developing countries in the Global South at master’s degree level.

• The Government will consider conducting a socioeconomic analysis of the impact of international degree students on the Norwegian economy, employment and society, both during and after their studies. The analysis will also include the impact of international students on Norwegian higher education, including the role they play in internationalisation at home. It is also natural to consider whether such an analysis should be done on a regular basis and also include international PhD students.

7.5 Welcome to Norway

A recent study conducted by the British Council of eleven European countries found that the easier it is for international students to come (assessed on how easy it is to get a student visa, post-study work opportunities and scholarships), the more the student inflow to the country increases.32 In other words, national policies on recruitment and getting graduates to stay have a major impact on how many international students come and how many stay.33

7.5.1 Residence permit requirements

Students from non-EU/EFTA countries must apply for a student residence permit if they want to study in Norway for more than three months.34 The applicant must have been admitted to a full-time study programme at an approved Norwegian higher education institution. In order to renew their residence permit, the student must be able to demonstrate “satisfactory progress” in their studies. In 2019, the processing fee for an application for a student residence permit was NOK 5,300; however, in the national budget for 2020 it was reduced by NOK 400. Students must pay this processing fee each year when they renew their residence permit, and if they apply for a recent graduate residence permit to seek work as a skilled worker after graduation. In order to qualify for a residence permit, the student must also have secured housing, which most people have covered through the higher education institutions’ housing guarantee for international students. In their consultation responses to this white paper, several institutions report that they experience this application processing fee as an obstacle to recruitment.

Students from non-EU/EFTA countries must meet the so-called “means of subsistence requirement”, which means that they must document that they have the necessary financial means for subsistence for the entire duration of the residence permit. For the 2019–2020 academic year, the requirement was NOK 121,000, which is the same amount as the basic support that Norwegian students receive. The Government is not planning to change this.

Another aspect of the residence permit is the processing time, which makes the process from admission to a study programme to start-up considerably longer for students from countries outside the EU/EFTA area. A long application processing time can cause problems for the students, or result in them deciding to study elsewhere while their application is still being processed because they receive confirmation that they can study in another country in the meantime. A coordinated admissions system for international students applying for master’s degree studies in Norway may shorten the processing time for applications for a place on a programme. This is discussed in more detail below. In order to take full advantage of this, it is also important that the application process for a residence permit is efficient, so that the institutions do not lose good applicants to other countries due to long processing times.

As a result of the need for a residence permit, and because it often takes a long time for prospective students to meet all the conditions and have their application processed, the institutions lose good applicants and students from countries outside the EU and EFTA area. Norway must be at least as great as countries Norway competes with at attracting international degree students.

Under certain conditions, international degree students who have come to Norway from a country outside the EU and EFTA area may leave Norway to go on exchange abroad in a third country without this affecting their residence permit. Given that most of the education is taken in Norway, holiday breaks in their home country and study mobility to another country ought not to create problems for the residence permit.

7.5.2 Admission to joint master’s degree programmes for international students

The institutions currently spend a lot of time verifying and approving qualifications issued by foreign educational institutions. This requires specialist expertise and good knowledge of some of the countries the applicants come from, as well as language proficiencies. The Government wants to establish a joint admissions system for international master’s degree students where the basis for admission to Norwegian higher education is assessed centrally and only once per applicant. Many of the institutions confirm in their consultation responses that this will free up resources at the institutions, enabling them to spend more time attracting the students they want, or concentrate more on other types of student mobility. A joint system for admission to master’s degrees for international students will also make it easier to promote Norwegian higher education – for example, through a joint deadline for applications. Furthermore, an admissions system of this nature would yield useful data and statistics about international students in Norway, applicants, and the interest in studying in Norway internationally.

The Government points out that a joint project has been established between the Norwegian Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education and Research (Unit) and higher education institutions with an ambition of establishing a joint master’s degree admissions system for all students. The Government will set up a joint system for admission of international students to master’s degree programmes at the first opportunity. The work must be coordinated with the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) with regard to information, marketing and data collection for international students. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) must be involved in view of their role in assessing the level and authenticity of foreign higher education, as well as NOKUT’s responsibility for maintaining the GSU list (Higher Education Entrance Qualification for foreign applicants).

7.5.3 Use of Norwegian and use of English

As a small-language nation, Norway must offer courses and degrees in English in order to be able to attract international students in significant numbers. This has been a political priority for several decades, and the institutions currently offer a wide range of courses in English, including more than three hundred master’s degrees. By contrast, there are only a dozen or so degrees at bachelor’s level taught in English. As discussed in chapter 5, the Government does not want to increase the overall use of English as a language of instruction in higher education in Norway, but the Government does want the higher education institutions to make conscious choices about the language of instruction. Although international students cannot be expected to master Norwegian as a language of instruction, and courses and programmes taught in English are therefore a prerequisite for attracting degree students, the institutions ought to offer Norwegian lessons and encourage international degree students to learn some Norwegian. If international students do not learn any Norwegian at all, it becomes more difficult for them to integrate into the academic environment on campus during their studies, and not least to work in Norway after graduation.

7.5.4 Conclusions and measures

• The Government wants the work to set up a joint system for admission of international students to master’s degree programmes to start as soon as possible.

7.6 Profiling Norway as a knowledge nation

The Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku) has an overarching responsibility for profiling Norwegian higher education abroad, while the institutions themselves are responsible for recruiting international students. Through its Study in Norway website, Diku and the institutions provide information about courses and programmes offered in English.35 Strategic marketing aimed at international master’s degree students has not previously been a priority, but it can be stepped up as part of a more targeted policy to attract students in line with geographical and other priorities.

Unlike Norway, our neighbours Finland, Sweden and Denmark have political frameworks defining how the country is to be profiled as a knowledge nation. In Finland, the objectives have been included in the work on recruitment to form a national strategy that encompasses several policy areas and ministries. The recruitment of “talents” is linked to growth, internationalisation and innovation in the Finnish labour market. In Sweden too, recruitment work is included in the profiling of Sweden as a knowledge nation.

7.6.1 Overarching objectives and priorities

Several of our neighbouring countries have changed the emphasis in their national profiling work, in line with recent years’ international developments. The Government supports the call voiced by many of the institutions in their consultation responses for a coordinated, central profiling of Norway as an education nation, as this could provide national momentum to their own local work to attract international students. The overarching objectives and priorities for the coming years ought to be reviewed, and it must be clarified to what extent international degree students are to be prioritised in the national profiling work. Some general guidelines already exist, in the Government’s Strategy for Export and Internationalisation (2017)36 and in the Long-Term Plan for Research and Higher Education (2018).37

7.6.2 National alumni network

It may be appropriate to establish a national alumni network for international students, with a view to promoting Norway as a knowledge nation, developing Norway’s network of international contacts, and the work to establish overseas traineeships. Some networks of this nature already exist at the individual institutions. Noralumni is a platform in Norway for alumni networks run by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) and Innovation Norway. Noralumni networks already exist for China and Japan. A number of other countries have also established alumni networks, often associated with national scholarship schemes.

7.6.3 Conclusions and measures

• The Government wants to establish a working group consisting of the Ministry of Education and Research (secretariat), other relevant ministries, and national stakeholders such as the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku), the Research Council of Norway (NFR), and Innovation Norway, in addition to the institutions. The working group will be responsible for proposing overarching objectives and priorities for the profiling of Norway as a knowledge nation abroad, in line with the relevant overall policy objectives.

• The Government will assess the pertinence of establishing a national alumni network for international students. This will involve, among other things, mapping the institutions’ existing alumni work and assessing whether establishment of a national network can strengthen the work of profiling Norway as a knowledge nation and the work of establishing traineeships abroad.