Page 51 - Annual Report 2014-2015

REPORT OF THE NORWEGIAN FEANI NATIONAL COMMITTEE
REPORTS FROM NATIONAL MEMBERS 51
Norwegian National Committee for FEANI
Year of Adhesion : 1965
Declared engineers: 134 000
Number of EUR INGs: 194
Member associations: The two Norwegian Engineering organizations, TEKNA and Norges Ingeniororganisasjon, NITO (The Norwegian Society of Engineers) are both recognized by the national authorities. This means that both organizations are represented in various of cial bodies, among them the Council for Engineering Education, and other of cial bodies concerned with engineering matters.
PO Box 2312 Solli - NO-0201 OSLO
Tel: +47 22 94 75 00 - Fax: +47 22 94 75 01
epost@nito.no - rmapost@nito.no
www.tekna.no
www.nito.no
Falling Oil Prices - Consequences
The Norwegian economy has been hit hard by the collapse of oil prices, which has fallen from approximately $110 to $35 a barrel the last 19 months. The decline has led to reduced activity, cuts in maintenance and production budgets, as well as reductions in modernization investments. As a result, plunging oil prices has increased unemployment along the south and west coast of Norway.
Engineers and technologists are the workers hit hardest by the decline in employment. In Rogaland alone, unemployment among NITO and Tekna members increased vefold over the past year. There is no sign suggesting that oil prices will increase signi cantly in the near future – which means things are unlikely to pick up anytime soon. The organizations therefore believe unemployment among engineers and technologists will continue to rise through 2016. However, if the economic growth is slightly higher next year, we are con dent we will see a stronger demand for engineering skills.
Quality in engineering education
The Norwegian government has initiated comprehensive changes to both structure and content of the higher education sector. The major reason for these changes is to increase quality in Norwegian research and higher education through stronger academic programs and a reasonable degree of ef ciency.
NITOs concern is regarding the importance of improving the quality in engineering and technological education. These educations are expensive, due to need of laboratory equipment, close supervision of students and strong collaboration between the industry and research. In Norway, the majority of higher education institutions is public and therefore receives public funds. To ensure the quality of the institutions, the steady and continuing nance is of the utmost importance. NITO has repeatedly brought up the issue regarding the lack of funding for educational institutions in Norway.