Norway Likely to Stay Tuition-Free for Everyone

Norway's new conservative government appears to have been defeated in its attempt to impose tuition on those from outside the European Union who enroll at universities in the country. Norway's EU obligations prevent it from charging Europeans tuition, but it could charge those from outside Europe, as Denmark and Sweden have recently done and as the new government proposed. News in English Norway reported that advocates for tuition say that those outside the country and region are not contributing to Norway's tax base, and their tuition payments could improve the quality of education. Many deans, however, fear that tuition would scare off many foreign students, as happened when Sweden started charging non-Europeans. The two small coalition partners in the new government killed the proposal last week when they voted against it.