The Academy of Music in the Parliament

The parties believe that funding for higher education in the arts must be better secured in the state budgets.

Small, specialized colleges in the arts field have seen their future growth opportunities disappear over the past six months. This applies to AHO, KHiO, and NMH.

The proposal for the 2024 state budget, presented on October 6, continues the changes in the funding system introduced in the "Utsynsmeldinga" delivered by the Ministry of Education and Research in the spring of 2023.

"It's not this year's budget that is influenced by the funding system," says Principal Astrid Kvalbein, "but rather future study positions when the needs in society change."

NMH believes that the budget can be lived with but that the constraints will continue in 2024 for the Norwegian Academy of Music employees.

The leadership at NMH will also focus on other important issues for the sector with the Government's budget proposal.

"One of the most serious aspects of the 2024 State Budget proposal for the field of music is that the authorities plan to shut down the program for Artistic Research (PKU) under the HK-dir.," says Principal Astrid Kvalbein.

The Universities and Colleges Council (UHR) and several others will work against this change to PKU, so the art education institutions are not alone in this.

It's reassuring that the majority in the Storting is focused on the unique position of art education and how we can't easily shift funds between more or less "cost-intensive" studies as the big universities can. For example, read what the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) stated after the interpellation (see the press release on their website).

In a letter to the Parliament's education and research committee, the rectors of the University of Bergen, the Oslo Academy of Arts and the Oslo Academy of Music express their wish to allow the PKU scheme to remain as it is today. They believe the program "has contributed to Norway's leading role internationally in the understanding and development of artistic research."

Furthermore, they write:

"We find it very regrettable that the program is proposed to be closed without any form of evaluation, impact assessment or obtaining views from the institutions concerned. Although the proposal for the state budget 2024 means that the funds are preserved by distributing them to the institutions, closing the program for artistic research will mean that the only competitive arena for R&D funds for artistic research will disappear.

"Our colleagues in Bergen have been promised new facilities, and we don't understand how the authorities can now withdraw this financial support," says Kvalbein. "For music education institutions nationally, it's crucial that Bergen can operate adequately in suitable facilities. We all have limited space, with cost-intensive studies, but the situation at UiB is particularly critical."

"The scheme for Centers for Excellence in Education (SFU), managed by the HK-dir., is also being worked on at the national level," says Kvalbein.

Several others also express concern about SFU cuts, including the Universities and Colleges Council (UHR) leader, Sunniva Whittaker.

"The SFU scheme is essential to us. UHR is focused on the quality of education and on having a framework that allows us to develop quality. This, in turn, will lead to more students completing their studies, so everything is connected," says Whittaker to Khrono.