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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
National reforms related to transversal skills and employability

Norway

14.Ongoing reforms and policy developments

14.5National reforms related to transversal skills and employability

Last update: 27 November 2023
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2023

In the Perspective Paper (“Utsynsmeldingen”), the Norwegian Government sets out the direction for future skills policy, with a focus on what kinds of expertise Norway will need in the coming years. The main challenges are to ensure that Norway has the necessary expertise to meet the challenges of the future, and to reach as many people as possible with education and knowledge, regardless of place of residence, background and finances.

To meet these challenges, the Government will among others:

  • develop a skills reform in collaboration with the social partners in working life
  • invest in skills to get more people into work by developing a closer cooperation between the counties and the labour market authorities
  • make it easier to get student loans for short courses, and continue the investment in a flexible and decentralized education offer and in study centres.
  • prioritize the skills that are needed in the sectors of IT, health and green transition

2022

There have been no reforms to date in this area.

2021

The Norwegian skills reform Learning throughout Life (“Lære hele livet”), which started in 2020 and is still being implemented, has two goals:

  • All Norwegian employees should have up-to-date skills.
  • The Norwegian working life should have a supply of the skills it needs. 

Making access to educational loans more available to adult students, a public, free online career service, and legal regulation of the counties’ duty to offer career guidance and are among the measures in the reform. To improve the system of further education and training for working life and make it more flexible, the Government has allocated funding for sectorial programs and flexible further education for employees. 

To cope with the Covid 19 situation, the Norwegian Government has made it possible for unemployed and persons who are dismissed to participate in formal education. The Government has allocated funding to already existing education programs:

  • Sectorial programmes (“Bransjeprogrammene”)
  • Web-based further education at all further education levels
  • Apprenticeship Certificate at work (“Fagbrev på jobb”)
  • Extension of the part of the SkillsPlus program that offers upper secondary provision combined with basic skills for employees (“KompetansePluss fagopplæring”)
  • Modularized adult upper secondary education (“Modulisert fag- og yrkesopplæring”)