The Norwegian government announced this week that it will be building or rehabilitating another 3,050 student housing units near colleges and universities in Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger, Bergen and Ås. The new units come in addition to roughly 5,000 already under construction.
Sigrun Aasland, the government minister in charge of research and higher education, said support was now targeted at Norway’s large cities, “where the need for student housing is also largest.” That can help take pressure off already high rental rates.
Trondheim, which has an especially large student population tied to NTNU, will get the most student housing, with 629 new units and rehabilitation of 51 older units. Next comes Ås, just south of Oslo and home to Norway’s large agricultural and science university NMBU, with 457 new units, followed by Stavanger with 350, Oslo with 331 and Bergen with 246 new units.
“This is a great victory for the students and an important step towards a better and more predictable housing offer nationwide,” said Rita Hirsum Lystad of the student housing council Samskipnadsrådet. It was also a victory for the Socialist Left party (SV), which had put pressure on the Labour government.
NewsinEnglish.no staff