- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Completed
Background
The government wants to open up the education system for even more adults to have the opportunity to get an education, regardless of their place of living or life situation.
Measures such as, a new district programme, fully digital education offers, and a new application-based scheme for study centres are among the measures in the new strategy for decentralised and flexible education at vocational schools, university colleges and universities.
Objectives
The most important measures of the strategy aim at:
- establishing a new district programme that will mobilise the demand side to develop the educational offers they need in collaboration with vocational schools, university colleges or universities;
- creating an application-based scheme where bodies such as study centres can apply for funding for projects and activities together with vocational schools, university colleges and universities;
- establishing fully digital educational offers;
- emphasising flexible and decentralised offers when the government provides financing to increase the capacity of universities and university colleges;
- continuing to make the schemes in the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund more flexible, to adapt them better to people in different life situations who are going to get an education.
Description
The strategy is intended to increase access to flexible and decentralised services throughout the country for vocational schools, colleges and universities.
This is intended to be done through:
- strengthening cooperation between the actors in education and work through strengthening connections between supply and demand;
- working to ensure that flexible offers are of high quality and are adapted to the needs of the individual and working life.
The Ministry of Education and Research is responsible for the strategy. Different parts of the strategy are to be implemented by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund, the county councils, and the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), in cooperation with the institutions and social partners. The strategy will be valid until a new government is in place. The new government decides whether they want to continue working with the same priorities.
The strategy intends to give students, institutions and, ultimately, working life greater opportunities through better framework conditions and through establishing fully digital educational offers.
The strategy was published on 17 June 2021 by the Ministry of Education and Research.
A report on a decentralised and flexible education strategy, published by the education ministry in August 2022, indicated great potential for people's education and skills development in and outside working life in the districts. Study centres contribute to education in the districts, they do not have a formal role in the Norwegian education system, but they are local actors who coordinate and facilitate education provision in the districts. The report concluded that these local educational environments play an important role in developing the society at local level, but lack of stable funding and low administrative capacity hinder their development. The report recommended setting up a more predictable framework for the study centres in the future.
One of the measures in the strategy is increased access to decentralised and flexible study opportunities in the whole country. This has been done through new district educational offers, by creating a temporary application-based scheme, fully digital education offers and more flexible funding for students. Numbers from a report for higher vocational education show that the share of students studying 100% online or online in combination with face-to-face both increased by 4% just from 2022 to 2023. These numbers show a movement in the direction of the goals in the strategy.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Research (KD)
Target groups
Learners
- Adult learners
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other stakeholders
- Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the integration of VET into economic, industrial, innovation, social and employment strategies, including those linked to recovery, green and digital transitions, and where VET is seen as a driver for innovation and growth. It includes national, regional, sectoral strategic documents or initiatives that make VET an integral part of broader policies, or applying a mix of policies to address an issue VET is part of, e.g. in addressing youth unemployment measures through VET, social and active labour market policies that are implemented in combination. National skill strategies aiming at quality and inclusive lifelong learning also fall into this sub-category.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to initiatives that promote VET and lifelong learning implemented at any level and by any stakeholder. It also covers measures to ensure and broaden access to information about VET to various target groups, including targeted information and promotional campaigns (e.g. for parents, adult learners, vulnerable groups). Among others, it includes national skill competitions and fairs organised to attract learners to VET.
This thematic sub-category refers to providing the possibility for individuals who are already in the labour market/in employment to reskill and/or acquire higher levels of skills, and to ensuring targeted information resources on the benefits of CVET and lifelong learning. It also covers the availability of CVET programmes adaptable to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and reskilling needs. The sub-category includes working with respective stakeholders to develop digital learning solutions supporting access to CVET opportunities and awarding CVET credentials and certificates.
European priorities in VET
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Strategy for decentralised and flexible education at vocational schools, university colleges and universities: Norway. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/41608