By Enoch Sithole
The African Journalism Education Network (Ajen) has joined the chorus of criticism of the recent Norpart funding circle which left several applicants unhappy following a drastic reduction of the budget.
According to the Norwegian higher education newsletter Khrono, “in early October, word came that the government had decided to close the Norprat programme and that only seven projects would be financed. A reduction of 80 percent.”
Ajen president, Professor Franz Kruger, said: “Our proposal was one of those that fell victim to this, and it is interesting to see others were also disappointed by the turn of events.”
The article in Khrono bemoaned that “discontinuing a programme after the application deadline is a betrayal of the researchers who have put in many months of work in each application”.
Norpart has financed 81 projects since 2016 and strengthened research and teaching capacity in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, reads the article.
“International cooperation in higher education and research is absolutely necessary to tackle the major common challenges of our time such as climate change, war, political instability, epidemics and natural disasters,” stated the article.
Norway, it added, “can make an important difference to the sustainability goals through international cooperation for quality in research and education”.
The article called for the continuation of Norpart, “without wavering, and the government (should) create a more predictable and binding plan for financing international educational cooperation”.
This article, Norwegian funding agency criticised for budget cuts was originally published on December 2 2024 by the Ajen Newsletter