Russian student boom in Norway
The number of Russian students at universities in Norway exploded last year and they now constitute the largest group of foreign students in Norway. The highest rise has been at universities and university colleges in Northern Norway.
The number of Russian students in Norway increased 33 percent from 2009 to 2010. There are now 1035 Russian students in Norway – the largest group of international students in the country, newspaper Universitas reports. Swedes come on second place with 814 students and Germans on third with 777 students.
In spite of high living costs, studying in Norway is relatively cheap compared to other countries.
The largest increase has been in Northern Norway, especially at the Bodø University College, which has been cooperating with educational institutions in Russia since 1991.
State Secretary Kyrre Lekve in the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research is surprised that Russians constitute the largest group of foreign students in Norway, but not that the increase has teken place in Northern Norway:
- We have congruent research agendas with the Russians in the north. We have many exchange programs and a high level of cooperation. – We hope a strong Norwegian-Russian research community in the north will ramify southwards in time, Lekve says.
He adds that it is a large challenge to get Norwegians to study in Russia. In 2009 only 75 Norwegians participated in exchange programs in Russia.
