Brazil, Russia, India, China -the so called BRIC countries are
often dubbed as the next up and coming super powers, at least in
their respective regions. In the recent past, many western nations
have been rushing to strengthen their ties with them to secure
promising trade relationships, abundant capital and political
influence.
In the European higher education sector this was more of an
one-way effort so far. Time and time again China and India placed in the top ranks in
terms of sending students to European universities. Russian students, too, rather opted for
studying abroad given the critical state of its domestic higher
education sector. Brazil, meanwhile, is going through a catching
up process by offering scholarships to 100.000 talented science
students.
Building ties through two-way HE exchange
Norway is now working out plans to foster its relationship with
BRIC countries by sending more Norwegian students to Brazil,
Russia, India and China. From 2012, these should receive additional
funds making the exchange more attractive. Only restriction: the
respective institute students opt for should be in the top 400 of
the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities or in the top
500 of the Times Higher Education Ranking.
"We are working on a model, where the eligibility criteria will
be coupled to the international ranking lists. We know that these
lists have many weaknesses, but we have to try out some selection
instruments," commented Kyrre Lekve, Norwegian Minister of
Education.
The Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA) issued
a statement supporting this initiative. "This proposal from the
parliamentary committee is something ANSA has been working for over
many years." ANSA voiced skepticism regarding the ranking approach,
however. "Such rankings are research-based and not a good
instrument to measure the quality of teaching."