November 18, 2025

Universities make own decisions about foreign student fees

Ongoing uncertainty about the university tuition fees to be charged to third country students embarking on studies in 2026 and 2027 means Norwegian universities are making their own decisions about fees – a situation attributed, in part, by higher education experts to the absence of a coherent national internationalisation strategy.

In a surprise turnaround reported by University World News in June this year, the government announced a proposal to remove the full-cost funding requirement for students from outside the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and allow higher education institutions to set the level of tuition fees they charge foreign students.

The proposal arose out of concerns about a loss of international talent and the drop in international student numbers following the introduction of the full-cost fees policy introduced in 2023 by the former minister of research and higher education Ola Borten Moe.

The number of third country students studying for a degree was 3,700 in 2022 and approximately 2,000 in the autumn of 2023 and in 2024.

According to the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, by mid-2025, more than 800 third-country students had paid for education in Norway for one or more semesters, most of them for degree studies.

In the autumn semester of 2024, 660 students from third countries paid tuition fees to take a degree study. Compared to the fall semester of 2023, there was a decrease in new paying students in degree programmes – from 427 students in fall 2023 to 324 students in fall 2024.

However, the shift in policy signalled by new Minister of Higher Education and Research Sigrun Aasland in June was too late to benefit students who had already applied for a study place for 2025 and 2026 at full-cost fees.

Tight timeframe

The current situation leaves higher education institutions, which usually announce the allocation of study places and tuition fee levels for 2026 and 2027 in November, with an application deadline for February or March the following year, with a challenge.

The timeframe is now too tight for reduced tuition fees to be officially implemented, as such a measure requires a legislative change. It means that institutions will technically have to apply the full-cost fees model for the study years 2026 and 2027 – unless they think the political signals are so strong that action to reduce the fees could be taken immediately.

Higher education institutions are also waiting for a formal decision on whether the budgetary cuts for 2023, 2024 and 2025, which amounted to NOK322.6 million (US$321.83 million), will be reversed by the new government.

When asked in June by Liberal Party chair Abid Raja, Aasland said the budgetary cuts would not be reversed.

She said: “Setting the tuition fees lower than today does not need to mean that the total income will be reduced. On the contrary, the institutions can recruit more tuition fee-paying students and thereby increase the total income.”

Free tuition principle

However, Henriette Johnstone, president of the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance (SAIH) organisation, told the Khrono news outlet that when the government announced that universities and the university colleges could decide fees themselves, this was understood to be something that would come into effect immediately or, at least, quickly.

She said Norwegian higher education institutions were suffering severe losses of international students and were feeling “cheated” by the government’s actions. The SAIH has appealed to the government to reintroduce the principle of free tuition for everyone.

This position was also articulated by chair and vice-chair of the Young Academy of Norway Guro Nore Fløgstad and Bjørn Hallstein Holte, who took issue with an editorial in Aftenposten published on 6 August which recommended that the government retain the full-cost model for tuition fees.

“Instead of reintroducing full-cost tuition fees for international students on dubious grounds, the government should, after the Autumn election, remove the tuition fees for all students and reverse the cut in budgets to the institutions,” they argued.

“Then the institutions can recruit students based on qualifications rather than nationality and economic capacity. This will give a greater supply of potential research talents to Norwegian higher institutions, which also will benefit the students,” the explained.

Head of the national student union (NSO) Sigve Næss Røtvold agreed, telling University World News: “We are still thinking that removing the tuition fees for international students is the only way to lift the future competence deficit in Norway.

“Even if NSO is positive about the government allowing the institutions themselves to decide the level of the tuition fees, we are critical of the fact that students from outside the EU/EEA now are coming in a state of limbo, and it is not crystal clear when the legislation proposal will come and when the institutions can start the changes.”

Breach of values

Ole Petter Ottersen, professor emeritus of Oslo University and a former rector of both Oslo University and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm who has been a spokesperson on research and higher education collaboration with the Global South, told University World News the introduction of tuition fees for students from outside the EU/EEA was not just a “statistical issue” but represented “a serious breach of fundamental academic values”.

Ottersen said: “Higher education is built on principles of openness, knowledge sharing, and international mobility. When education becomes a privilege for the few, we undermine universities’ role as global knowledge hubs.

“Knowledge is a global public good, and Norway has both the resources and the moral responsibility to contribute to global justice. Many of the major societal challenges – climate change, pandemics, social inequality – require solutions grounded in diverse perspectives.

“By imposing hurdles for students from the Global South, we lose insights and competencies that are crucial for sustainable development. Norwegian academia becomes more homogeneous, something SAIH and the Young Academy of Norway have strongly warned against,” he said.

Ottersen argued that from a global justice perspective, tuition fees deepened existing inequalities. “Students from low-income countries already face structural barriers to accessing higher education. Charging full-cost fees in one of the world’s wealthiest nations reinforces a system where privilege determines access to knowledge.”

He said this contradicts Norway’s commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education.

“Education should not be treated as a commodity but as a shared responsibility for global progress,” Ottersen said.

Institutional internationalisation strategy

Asked what advice she could offer institutions grappling with the prospect of setting their own tuition fees for third country students, Associate Professor Dian Liu at the Department of Media and Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger, who has published research on international student tuition fees in Norway, said the recent proposals from government represent an important opportunity for Norwegian higher education institutions to rethink their internationalisation strategies.

She said institutions should focus on their value proposition and consider tuition as part of a broader positioning strategy.

“Tuition fees are not only about covering costs. They are also a signal of value, reflecting both academic quality and perceived international reputation.

“This goes beyond the degree itself and includes aspects such as strong teaching and research qualifications, close ties to industry and high graduate employability, comprehensive student support (financial aid, scholarships, housing assistance, career guidance, integration programmes), and unique Norwegian experiences that contribute to students’ overall learning and wellbeing,” she said.

Liu said it was also important for institutions to differentiate tuition fees by programme and institution.

“Norwegian higher education institutions differ in their strategic priorities for international student recruitment (orientated towards volume and diversity or orientated towards prestige and global talent attraction). Likewise, not all programmes share the same cost structure or market appeal.

“To reflect this diversity, tuition strategies should move beyond a uniform approach and adopt a tiered pricing model at programme level,” she told University World News, adding that premium programmes, or flagship offerings such as lab-based sciences and engineering, characterised by high international demand, significant operational costs, and strong graduate outcomes, should be priced at the higher end.

“For market-rate programmes operating in fields with strong international competition (such as business, economics, and social sciences), tuition should be benchmarked against comparable universities in other European countries to remain competitive and attractive.

“Finally, strategic programmes that are central to an institution’s identity or regional mission but have lower external demand may justify a subsidised, lower tuition fee to support long-term development,” she noted.

Liu said institutions should collaborate nationally with transparency and data.

“Norway’s higher education sector benefits from coordination rather than competition. The national task established by peak universities body Universities Norway (UHR) is a positive step towards developing a standardised methodology for calculating costs.

“Institutions should adopt transparent, data-driven cost models that justify tuition levels and enable fair benchmarking across programmes. Sharing cost methodologies, market data, and good practices through national platforms will strengthen trust and ensure that Norway presents a coherent and competitive profile as a study destination.

“Ultimately, setting tuition fees should be viewed as part of a long-term internationalisation strategy, which balances institutional autonomy, social responsibility, and Norway’s appeal as a destination for high-quality, inclusive, and research-informed education,” Liu stated.

Institutional responses to fees

University World News reached out to Nord University, the University of Southern Norway, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Stavangar, and asked them how they intended to set their fees for the 2026 and 2027 academic years.

Pro-rector for education at NTNU Geir Egil Dahle Øien said: “In the government budget proposal for next year that was presented on 15 October, it is proposed that the ministry will work out a legalisation proposition to remove the demand for full cost fees. Since the law proposal is sent out for comments now during the autumn term we adhere to the current regulations when determining tuition fees.”

Similar responses were given by the Nord University and the University of Southern Norway.

At the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), a meeting of the education committee on 14 October also proposed to keep the full cost tuition fees from the previous year in six categories and adjust the fees for inflation. This would set the lowest fee at NOK87,799 (US$8,700) per year for the international bachelor’s degrees and the highest fee at NOK284,057 per year in veterinary sciences.

In a note to the committee seen by University World News, the director of studies said NMBU compares their tuition fees “with comparable institutions in the Nordic countries and with partner universities in Europe such as Wageningen University and Research (WUR) in the Netherlands and The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences”.

The note also said that of the NOK8.5 million taken in in tuition fees in 2023 and 2024, NMBU has allocated NOK3.3 million to a project focused on recruitment of international students.

Taking a different path, Director of Education at the University of Stavanger Bjarte Hoem told University World News the university has announced it will lower tuition fees for 2026 and 2027 when the admission application opens on 16 November 2025.

The new pricing model includes two rates per year: NOK60,000 for humanities, social sciences, and economics/administrative subjects; and NOK 85,000 for natural sciences, technology, health, social work and sports, teacher education, and performing arts and media studies.

The university website notes that while previously, universities were required to charge fees equivalent to full cost coverage, including all direct and indirect costs associated with the study programme over time, it became clear that “very few students from the affected countries” paid those amounts.

“In 2025, only 13 out of 79 students from countries outside the EEA paid tuition fees at UiS. The others had scholarships or met the criteria for exemption,” it stated.

National internationalisation strategy

Professor Bjørn Stensaker at the Department of Education at the University of Oslo, who was vice-rector for education from 2021 to 2025, told University World News the current challenge was the lack of a coherent national strategy for internationalisation.

“The government introduced tuition fees a couple of years ago as part of a generic cost-cutting in the sector. However, internationalisation is far more than an expenditure on the national budget.

“For a small country such as Norway, internationalisation is crucial for quality, for diversity, for our national labour market, and for having the opportunity to create a dynamic learning environment for the domestic students.

“At the moment, the economic dimensions of internationalisation are so dominant that the academic dimensions are not discussed at all. Given the current geopolitical situation, we need to rethink our national ambitions regarding internationalisation. This is job number one,” he stated.