Velgriktig ('Choice of Education')
QUICK: programme-initiative
Velgriktig ('Choice of Education')
Country:
Norway
Education level:
Secondary Education
Year start:
2009
Status:
Ongoing
Short summary:
‘Choice of Education’ (Velgriktig) is a national website launched in 2009 that aims to inform young people, their parents and teachers about STEM education and careers. It specifically provides information about the pre-requisites of different (STEM) programmes in various colleges and universities and related career opportunities. The website was developed after research showed that young people were not sufficiently informed and attracts over 150.000 users in its target group each year (> 50% of the total number of 15-19 year olds). The project directly contributes to the objectives of the Norwegian National STEM strategy ('Close to STEM').
Description and objectives:
‘Choice of Education’ (Velgriktig) is a national website launched in 2009 that aims to inform young people, their parents and teachers about STEM education and careers. The website was developed following focus group research carried out by the National Centre for Science Recruitment (NCR) that showed that young people in Norway are insufficiently informed about the prerequisites (in terms of high school topics) of STEM higher education and pathways to STEM careers. The ‘Choice of Education’ website makes this information available for teachers and students in a clear and concise way.
The main objective of the ‘Choice of Education’ project is to provide information about which STEM-courses (secondary education) are required to enter various college and university programmes as well as to show students the opportunities that STEM degrees offer, inspiring them to choose STEM subjects and careers. ‘Choice of Education’ directly contributes to the objectives of ‘Close to STEM’ (the Norwegian national STEM strategy) of the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (see background documents).
Reach:
The number and behaviour of users of the website is monitored continuously. ‘Choice of Education’ aims to reach 150.000 users each year that spend at least three minutes (the total population of 15-19 year olds in Norway is around 300.000).
In 2019 the website reached 170.000 users in its target group with an average viewing time around 4 minutes.
Impact:
It is not possible to accurately measure the impact of the programme in isolation from other actions and activities - both from the National Centre for Science Recruitment (NCR) and from other stakeholders.
NCR carries out a complete assessment of all activities and programmes each year. The results of these review are used to decide which activities are continued, changed or upscaled. The assessments are evaluated in the context of national trends in STEM uptake measured in e.g. the yearly STEM-barometer (see data pages)
Budget and funding model:
The programme is funded (fixed lump-sum budget) by the Ministry of Education and the National Centre for Science Recruitment (NCR). In addition, campaigns in partnership are developed in cooperation with different companies and universities that contribute to increasing STEM uptake in Norway. An example of such a campaign are videos highlighting the link between STEM and sustainability-related career paths to enthuse students to choose STEM careers (see video tab).
September 3, 2020
Study by the Norwegian National Directorate for Education and Training focused on grade differences between different types of exams and their underlying causes.
July 1, 2019
This infographic shows the gender-distribution of students in different STEM topics in Norwegian secondary education. Biology shows the highest proportion of girls while the lowest...
January 1, 2015
'Close to STEM' is the Norwegian national STEM strategy covering the period 2015-2019. It touches upon a wide range of topics ranging from the energy / green transition and climate to...
Baerekraft (example video 'Choice of Education...
Wednesday, 18 March 2020
This is an example video, showing a campaign focused on enthusing Norwegian young people to choose STEM careers by showing the relation between STEM and societal challenges like climate chan...
Fremtidsjobbene (example video 'Choice of Educatio...
Thursday, 23 August 2018
This is an example video, showing a campaign focused on enthusing Norwegian young people to choose STEM careers by showing them a variety of career paths ('future jobs').