Ministry of Education and Research: Budget for 2005

NOK 700 million for the school reform

The Government proposes to allocate around NOK 700 million to starting the implementation of the reform in primary, lower and upper secondary education that was presented in the Report to the Storting Culture for learning earlier this year. It is suggested that approximately NOK 500 million of this amount should go to the first part of the scheme that is to raise the competence of teachers and head teachers to the level necessary to carry out the reform. The Government also proposes to allocate NOK 14.2 billion to research and development – an increase of around NOK 400 million compared to 2004.

Concerning the reform in primary, lower and upper secondary education, it is suggested that NOK 145 million be allocated to increasing the number of lessons in this sector of education by a further four lessons per week from autumn 2005. Together with the previous increases made in 2002, this means that the total number of lessons will rise by 12 lessons per week in this period.

The development and introduction of new curricula is also assigned priority in the reform. An allocation of NOK 40 million in 2005 has been suggested for this purpose.

Other significant points in the budget proposal are as follows:

• The quality reform in higher education: the quality reform was fully financed by an allocation of NOK 1,144 million in 2004, and the same amount will be allocated in 2005. Parallel with this, university and university college budgets will be increased by around NOK 274 million due to the growing number of study points awarded.
• Buildings in the university and university college sector: the Government suggests an allocation of NOK 175 million for equipment in new buildings at universities and university colleges.
• New recruitment positions at universities and university colleges: the Government proposes to allocate around NOK 86 million to 100 new doctoral posts from autumn 2005 and to the 200 doctoral posts that were established in autumn 2004.
• Admissions: due to overall budget allocations, the total budget for universities and university colleges will be reduced by NOK 78 million. This means that the number of student places will be reduced by around 4,000.
• Research and development: total allocations to research and development in the national budget comprise NOK 14.2 billion. Priority will be given to increasing the funds for petroleum research. The tax deduction scheme for companies’ investments in R&D – SkatteFUNN – is additional to this. Total tax deductions in the period 2002-2004 will approach NOK 4 billion.
• Fund for research and innovation: the Government proposes to increase the capital in the fund for research and innovation by NOK 3.2 billion to NOK 36 billion.
• Establishment of three national seed capital funds: lack of “venture capital” constitutes a significant impediment for the commercialisation of innovative new projects. To improve access to such capital, the Government proposes to permit NOK 500 million in subordinated loan and NOK 125 million as a loss fund to set up three new nationwide seed capital funds. The funds are to be financed on a 50/50 basis by the state and the private sector, and will be established in the university towns of Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim. However, the funds will enable investments in projects to be made throughout the country.
• Financing studies – write-downs on student loans for borrowers who live and work in Nord-Troms and Finnmark: to ensure the availability of employees with higher education in the state-supported region, the Government proposes to allocate NOK 84 million to write-downs on student loans for borrowers who live and work in Nord-Troms and Finnmark. A suggestion will be made to wind-up the scheme for travel grants for students in Norway and the Nordic countries. The cost norm in the State Educational Loan Fund will continue at the current level.

Budget proposals according to category

The budget proposal for 2005 from the Ministry of Education and Research amounts to NOK 58.2 billion. The table below shows the distribution among the different categories.