Norway: 17 Universities Receive NOK 50 Million to Offer More Internships in Health & Social Studies

NOK 50 million has been allocated to a total of 17 institutions of higher education in Norway, including state and private ones, to help increase the number of internships in fields such as medicine and social studies, the Norwegian Ministry of Education has announced.

According to a press release issued by the ministry on Monday, the government will allocate money to cover travel and housing expenses for students whose internships are not near their place of study.

Funding is part of the revised national budget for 2022 and the universities that will receive the most support include NTNU, UiT - Norway’s Arctic University, the University of Western Norway and VID University of Applied Sciences in Oslo, Erudera.com reports.

Some other universities that will receive funding for internships are the University of Oslo, University of Southeast Norway, Volda University College, Molde University College, Lovisenberg Diaconal College, the University of Stavanger, the University of Bergen, and more.

In a statement, Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe said that the whole country should be used as an arena for practice and added that the number of study places has already increased, but more internships are needed.

“In 2022, we will follow up with direct support to educational institutions to make it easier for students to have an internship far from campus. Good news for the municipalities and the approximately 3,500 students who can now receive support for an internship,” the Minister stressed.

Previously, the government allocated funding to create 300 new study places in the field of nursing and asked the universities to add 200 new study places in these fields within the framework.

Earlier this year, government said that it will offer an additional NOK 48 million to create 1,000 new study places at higher education institutions in the country.

“At the same time, we do not want the needle guild for admission to studies for Norwegian seafarers to be smaller. That is why we are increasing the educational capacity at universities and colleges by 1,000 places,” Minister Borten Moe said.

In September, the Norwegian government issued a statement, saying it will work with the municipal sector’s organization KS, the Ministry of Education and other important bodies to offer more internships for students pursuing health and social studies.

The German data provider, Statista, shows that the number of students in higher education institutions in Norway increased over the past decade, from nearly 250,000 in 2011 to more than 318,000 students in 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020, there were 306,453 students enrolled at a university or college in Norway.

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