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Education agencies reorganised into mega-directorate
The ministry is merging smaller governmental units on 1 July to create a large directorate for higher education as part of an ongoing process of reforms in the educational system in Norway from kindergarten to lifelong learning, the ministry has announced.
Following the announcement on 4 February, the following units are being merged:
• DIKU, the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education, with 130 full-time staff and headquarters in Bergen.
• Skills Norway, the present Directorate for Lifelong Learning, with 170 staff members and offices in Tromsø, Bergen and Oslo.
• Parts of UNIT, the Directorate for ICT and Joint Services in Higher Education and Research, which has 200 employees and headquarters in Trondheim and an office in Oslo.
HE has a role in stemming rural depopulation, deprivation
The concentration of universities in cities is contributing to depopulation and deprivation of rural areas in Norway and government should respond by legislating to decentralise higher education provision, according to a government report.
Universities and university colleges should be required by legislation to develop education opportunities in the rural districts for people living there, rather than encouraging people to move to the cities to study. The hope is that this would both encourage more people to stay and work in these areas and encourage more people from urban areas to study and build their lives in rural areas.