This summer, the government appointed the inquiry A high-quality educational offering that is relevant to the needs of the labor market and society.
An investigation into the resource allocation system was announced in 2024 in the state budget for 2025. SFS has long advocated that the resource allocation system needs to be reviewed and has both provided input and held meetings with the government about which problems we believe the investigation needs to be based on.
In summary, we have highlighted that:
- Student demand needs to be the most important factor influencing the supply of education.
- The resource allocation system needs to be designed so that it helps ensure the quality of education.
- The compensation amounts per full-time student (HST) need to be increased.
- The performance-based part (HPR) needs to be given less weight, or removed altogether.
- The productivity deduction for higher education needs to be abolished.
- Higher education institutions need to have increased flexibility in the distribution between funding for education and research through a combined grant.
- State governance should not increase.
The directives state that the inquiry will review how the educational offering can be controlled and dimensioned according to the labor market's and society's needs for future competence. The inquiry will also review the follow-up and control of the higher education institutions' government capital.
We can conclude that the government has not listened to the problems that we have repeatedly raised, and the investigation unfortunately does not have the broad approach required for the resource allocation system to be reviewed in a satisfactory manner.
There is much that is problematic from a student perspective. Higher education should provide education and knowledge that will last a lifetime and equip students to face a changing world, not be used as a labor market policy tool. The educational offerings at universities and colleges are currently dimensioned based on student demand and the needs of the labor market. However, student demand is conspicuous by its absence in the investigation.
SFS will be in contact with the investigator and ensure that the student perspective is included.
For more information about SFS's opinions: