26 projects between Norwegian educational institutions and partners in countries in the global south have been awarded a total of NOK 178 million. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), the University of Oslo (UiO) and the University of Southeast Norway (USN) receive the most awards.

– Through long-term academic collaboration and mutual student exchange, the goal is to increase the quality of education, both at home and at partner institutions in developing countries, and the money that has now been contributed to, says Minister of Research and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe (Sp).

The disciplines of engineering and science, together with the natural sciences, make up almost half of the project. NOK 23 million out of a total of 178 million was given in support of 67 full-time scholarships.

It is the Directorate for Higher Education and Competence that allocates the money through NORPART program – Norwegian partnership program for global academic cooperation. The program is funded by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

– We need knowledge-based solutions to achieve the sustainability goals. If we are to pass the power tests, we must ensure maximum capacity also in the south so that they can find local solutions that work. The green shift depends on us gathering the good resources, and we do this by connecting wise academic environments across national borders and professional environments, says Minister of Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim (Sp).

More will cooperate

The interest in participating in the program was record high. With 150 applications, there were almost twice as many as in the previous call in 2018.

– Many of this year’s applications show that Norwegian institutions are concerned with incorporating the sustainability goals into their international partnerships. The call came in the midst of the pandemic, where student exchange and global cooperation were hit hard. It is therefore great that the new projects show a great degree of creativity and flexibility, with new forms of collaboration that combine digital arrangements with physical meetings, says director Sveinung Skule in the Directorate for Higher Education and Competence.

Here you can see the 26 projects that received money

The money goes to projects such as:

• Strengthens partnerships for higher education between Norway and the partner countries for Norwegian development cooperation, as well as countries with extensive existing academic cooperation with Norway. Here you can see which 40 countries it is.
• Increases the quality and internationalization of the study programs at the participating institutions in both Norway and the global south
• Develops and implements joint educational activities
• Increases student exchange between Norway and partner countries in the global south