How do the higher education policies of the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Center Party and the Green Party differ from the government's? Last week, four parliamentary parties submitted their budget proposals for 2024. These "shadow budgets" are a response to the autumn budget bill that the government, together with the Sweden Democrats, presented at the end of September. SFS has previously commented government budget proposal. Now is the time to review the opposition's higher education policy. We have focused on expenditure area 15 Student Support and expenditure area 16 Education.
The Social Democrats
The Social Democrats are the only opposition party that accepts the government's cuts to education funding totaling 420 million kronor. However, they want to restore the support for development research that the government has withdrawn this year, which corresponds to 180 million kronor. They want to allocate 20 million kronor more than the government so that CSN can handle more cases. They also propose a smaller investment in teacher training, totaling 5 million kronor to Teach for Sweden, an educational initiative for unqualified teachers to study for qualifications while they work.
The Social Democrats also clearly distance themselves from the government's plans to reduce support for student influence through student unions from 2026.
Vänsterpartiet
The Left Party wants to allocate 325 million kronor for education at the basic and advanced levels. The stated aim is to strengthen quality, but the sum does not cover the government's cuts of 420 million kronor. At the same time, the Left Party proposes an additional 500 million kronor for research and education at the doctoral level, which is a real increase compared to the government's proposal.
The Left Party proposes to strengthen funding for student unions by 30 million kronor as early as 2024, which is requested by many student unions. They also propose to lower the interest rate on student loans.
Center Party
The Centre Party rejects the government's proposal for a saving of 0,5% in the entire state administration, and wants to allocate 150 million kronor to enable more people with other professional backgrounds to study for teaching qualifications. Overall, this means 310 million kronor more for education at the basic and advanced levels, and 95 million kronor for research. The sum does not cover the government's total cuts in the form of savings and efficiency requirements compared to 2023.
The Center Party also wants to increase the financing of the transition support by SEK 1 billion. The Center Party wants to phase out the free amount, which is expected to cost SEK 10 million in 2024 and increase thereafter.
Since the shadow budget only refers to 2024, it is not clear what the Center Party thinks about the government's proposal to reduce funding for student influence from 2026.
The Green Party
The Green Party also rejects the government's proposal for a 0,5% saving in the entire state administration. This would mean that the appropriations increase by SEK 243 million compared to the government's proposal. This money is divided between research and higher education, of which SEK 160 million relates to education at the basic and advanced levels. The Green Party also wants to allocate SEK 50 million for efforts in teacher training and SEK 10 million for pedagogical training for the cultural school. The Green Party also wants to allocate SEK 20 million for medical education at Örebro University. Nor is the Green Party's contribution enough to cover the government's total cuts in the form of savings and efficiency requirements compared to 2023.
The Green Party wants to increase the grant portion of the student grant by SEK 300 per month.
As in the Center Party's shadow budget, it is not clear what the Green Party thinks about the government's proposal to reduce funding for student influence from 2026. This is because the shadow budget only refers to 2024.
Conclusion
Three of the four opposition parties, the Left Party, the Centre Party and the Green Party, are proposing higher allocations to higher education and research than the government did in its budget. However, it is notable that no opposition party wants to strengthen funding for higher education compared to what it currently is, given the great need for quality improvements.
All opposition parties thus appear to fully or partially accept the government's proposals for savings and/or efficiency requirements. The Left Party is the only party that proposes an increase in total funding for universities and colleges, but this is mainly due to an additional SEK 500 million for research and education at the doctoral level.
It is also worth noting that several opposition parties criticized the government's decision to withdraw funds for development research in the middle of 2023, but that despite this, only the Social Democrats want to restore the funds.
As a student organization representing student unions, SFS is of course pleased that two opposition parties, S and V, are protesting against the government's proposal to reduce funding for student influence from 2026. We hope that the Center Party and the Green Party will also take a clearer position.