APLICACIÓN Y UTILIDAD DEL ANALISIS DE PUESTOS

Internationalisation is a priority in Norwegian educa- tion policy. The Quality Reform in higher education in Norway, launched in 2003, emphasised the need for increased internationalisation among Norwegian higher education institutions (St.meld. nr. 27 (2000- 2001)). A Government White Paper on internation- alisation followed in 2009 (St.meld. nr. 14 (2008- 2009)) and specifically defined internationalisation of higher education as a means to increase rele- vance and quality. An internationally oriented edu- cation, with high quality and relevance, would pro- mote Norway as a knowledge-based economy and an attractive collaboration partner. The White Paper on internationalisation emphasised globalisation and competition as motivating factors, but also high- lighted softer values including diversity, broader perspectives, and cultural inputs.

As result of internationalisation, competition and quasi-market mechanisms has been introduced in the public education sector in Norway, both in rela- tion to the management of the sector in general, the resource allocation and financing of the sector, as well as in terms of stimulating quality in both re- search and education (Trondal og Stensaker 2001). For example, the financing of higher education insti- tutions rewards student exchange.

50 EVALUATION OF THE QUOTA SCHEME 2001-2012 | DAMVAD.COM

The Ministry of Education and Research summa- rizes official priorities for higher education along the following dimensions:20

 Increase internationalisation in Norway by inte- grating the international perspective at every level in Norwegian universities and university colleges

 Stimulate development of joint degrees and joint programmes with institutions in other coun- tries at master’s and PhD level

 Stimulate mobility of students and researchers, both from and to Norway

 Facilitate international students and employees at Norwegian institutions

In addition, there is a particular rationale for promot- ing internationalisation specifically targeting devel- oping and emerging economies. The Government policy on internationalisation has also specifically highlighted the value of collaboration with develop- ing and emerging economies, including the BRICS countries, as a means to promote cultural under- standing and solidarity through increased knowledge and experience and through language skills. Producing “globally aware graduates” could entail expanding the international view beyond Eu- rope and the US. To higher education institutions and their faculty, there are stronger incentives in place to collaborate with institutions in developed countries, especially globally renowned universities where joint and meriting publications.

These are objectives at different levels, some easier to monitor and measure than others. The Ministry and the higher education sector as a whole have a number of programmes and activities to underpin these four overall objectives.

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http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/kd/tema/internasjonalt_samar- beid_om_utdanning_og/artikler/kunnskapsdepartementets-internas- jonale-s.html?id=628280

The alignment of the Quota Scheme with the stated priority areas would be strongest and most direct for the objective of facilitating international students and employees at Norwegian institutions. It is obvi- ous that the Quota Scheme does facilitate interna- tional students, although the Scheme is not relevant in facilitating international employees.

The Quota Scheme is also possibly relevant to other dimensions of internationalisation dimensions, dis- cussed in the below.

Integrating new perspectives

In principle, quota students can bring new perspec- tives into education programmes. When these con- tributions are limited to inputs from individual stu- dents, a critical mass of students is likely necessary for them to influence perspectives among fellows students and faculty. The Ministry has specified that courses offered to quota students must also be open to other students, which makes sense in view of objectives to promote integration and diversity. Yet most courses have only very few quota stu- dents. Given that the number of quota students per course – and institution - is relatively low, it is, how- ever, reason to suppose that each student only will achieve limited impact when it comes to relevance and quality.

At the same time, there may be reason to believe that this will vary from institution to institution and from subject to subject. From interviews with faculty on an institute level, there are two factors that may enable quota students to contribute new perspec- tives and add relevance and quality to courses and institutions.

EVALUATION OF THE QUOTA SCHEME 2001-2012 | DAMVAD.COM 51 The first is in development-oriented studies, where

the Norwegian institute has clear advantage of stu- dents from a developing country. These include in- ternational public health, international peace stud- ies, and a number of agriculture and animal breed- ing programmes specialising in developing con- texts. Norwegian institutions report that quota stu- dents typically bring valuable context and experi- ence to these studies. In many cases, because of the development focus these institutions often also have extensive partnerships with universities in de- veloping countries.

The second category is from highly qualified stu- dents that have a high prior academic level, and that are able to publish and do research at their host in- stitutions. From the bibliometric analysis, it is clear that the nationality with the strongest publishing per- formance are the Chinese students.

Stimulate joint degrees

Unlike other similar programmes internationally, the Quota Scheme does not require the development of specific new courses, sandwich programmes or joint degrees. Joint degrees and sandwich pro- grammes are encouraged but not required. This as- pect is further discussed in sections 3.1.7, 3.2.3 and 4.2.

Stimulate mobility of students and researchers The Quota Scheme does promote mobility, but pri- marily only in terms of international students coming in. This could be seen as a contribution to balancing the student exchange since Norwegian higher edu- cation institutions typically export more students than they import.

3.2.3 Relevance to institutions’ own interna-