In the Government’s draft national budget for 2027, UiA is allocated NOK 2.05 billion. After adjusting for inflation, this represents a reduction in the budget of around 0.6 per cent compared with 2026. The sector as a whole will see real growth of 0.6 per cent.
"This is a tight budget for UiA. We are faring worse than the sector as a whole, and we are not being allocated any new student places,” says rector Sunniva Whittaker.
On UiA’s wish list for 2027 were, amongst other things, funding for the university nursing home initiative in Grimstad, more student places in psychology and an initiative to provide maths support for students.
UiA is facing cuts of 19.7 million kroner to cover other priorities within the sector. The university is also seeing a reduction of 2.7 million kroner linked to performance-based funding. This is mainly due to the fact that slightly fewer doctoral degrees were awarded in 2025 than in the peak year of 2024.
Funding for engineering programmes
On the bright side, UiA is to receive 10.5 million kroner to invest in quality and recruitment for its engineering programmes.
“When it comes to engineering programmes, these are important courses for UiA and for society, and we are already working on both quality and recruitment. In that sense, this funding is very welcome, and we are starting work to see how we can best utilise these funds,” says Whittaker.
New Skills Budget
The funding for engineering programmes should be viewed in the context of the introduction of the Government’s new Skills Budget. The Government describes it as a management and prioritisation tool designed to ensure that the educational provision at universities, university colleges and vocational colleges meets the needs of society and the labour market.
The Government identifies health sciences, natural sciences and technology as the key priorities, alongside maritime subjects and skills relating to defence and emergency preparedness.
“UiA makes a significant contribution in several of these areas, so there may be opportunities for the university in the future,” says Whittaker.
At the same time, the government is asking institutions to consider reducing capacity in economics and administration, social sciences and law, and to collaborate more on small and vulnerable subject areas.
“These are valuable and robust areas of education at our university, which also provide significant added value across the university. When we look at the expertise budget as it is described, UiA appears to be well balanced,” says Whittaker.
“At the same time, in the proposed development agreement between UiA and the Ministry of Education and Research for the next four years, we are also proposing that we should seek collaboration with others where it makes sense. We are already engaged in such collaborations,” says Whittaker.