Tone Horntvedt, Multiculturalism and the ideology of sameness

First I want to thank the European Access Network for giving me the opportunity to speak at this conference. I feel really honoured.

The title of my address is "Multiculturalism and the ideology of sameness- can that co-exist in higher education?"

The address consists of three main issues. First I will define multiculturalism and the ideology of sameness. A brief description of the situation at Oslo University College will follow, and finally I will describe some of the strategies developed at the University College to enhance student retention.

When I elaborate multiculturalism in this context, I will use the concept of ethnic minority students. By ethnic minority students, I mean students who have another language than Norwegian as their mother tongue or have parents that speak another language at home.

Norway has traditionally been regarded as a country where diversity is more or less non-existent; both in political documents and in people’s minds. The whole unique idea of a social democratic system is built on the belief that everybody must have the same rights and duties. That everybody must have the same possibility to achieve his or her goals in life. It is this very conception of sameness I will contest in this address.

At this moment I think it is necessary to explain that "likhetsideologi" - the ideology of sameness- in Norway is both in the academic world as well as in ordinary peoples’ language, a natural way of describing the Norwegian society.

When immigrants and refugees in Norway are asked about Norwegian integration politics, they answer using almost the same words. " Come as you are, but become similar to us".

Hence the ideology of sameness indicates similarity and not equality.

This belief of sameness also characterises the educational system.

From 1889 the educational system has been based on the idea of public schooling and state financing. Wherever children live in Norway, either up in the mountains, in the fjords or in the cities, and independent of their class or ethnic identity, they have the same curriculum and learn the same topics.

This ideology of sameness continues to be visual in all pedagogical thinking in Norway, from primary school up to university level. Certainly we find an ongoing debate about private schools as well. But in peoples minds education is still equal with public schools, public colleges and public universities financed by the state.

Before I go any further, let me give you a more concrete picture of the situation at Oslo University College. There are about 1000 employees and nearly 10.000 students dispersed on more than 25 bachelor programs, 8 master programs and a large number of advanced courses. So in the Norwegian context it is a rather large institution.

About 12 per cent of the students have a non-Norwegian ethnic background. You will find these students primarily in programs for engineering and in some of the healthcare programs (bioengineering, pharmacy, and radiography). Up to 40 per cent of the students in these programs have backgrounds from other parts of the world, mostly from Asia.

In other programs there are only students with Norwegian ethnic background. This is problematic, but I will not linger on it here.

In 1999 the Board at Oslo University College decided to formulate a strategy to become what was named a "multicultural University College". To oblige this strategy money and positions were found and experts were hired. So today The Centre for Multicultural and International studies is as a part of the University College. The Centre was established in 1999 and has been my working place since then. We are today more or less twenty people engaged with different kinds of activities.

The Centre has three main focuses:

1. We offer advanced studies both in the multicultural and the international area.
2. We are a competence centre in the multicultural field in Norway and have a responsibility towards the Norwegian society
3. We are responsible to raise the level of competence in multicultural issues inside the University College, both in the teachers as well as in the students.

In the last couple of years we have experienced changes in the political picture of higher education. These have led to a need for new strategies that would keep students in a so-called normal period of studying.

We noticed the first change in 2001 when a new financial system of higher education was introduced. Earlier the institutions were financed according to the number of students each program was allotted. Now the institutions are paid by the number of credits the students produce.

Oslo University College looses around 6 million crowns (about € 700 000, -) a year on the ethnic minority students alone, because their learning process is either prolonged or they quit the programs.

Last year we also had another major change when The Ministry of Education presented a new reform for higher education in Norway called "The reform of quality". Part of this reform is changing the teaching methods towards a more dialogical pedagogical approach than what is common in Norway today. This is empirically a pedagogical method that excludes some of the ethnic minority students. This refers especially to those students, which come from different learning traditions.

To sum up, Oslo University College is today systematically attempting to meet challenges in the multicultural field. The major challenges are:

• A conversion in ideology, from the ideology of sameness to the ideology of equality.
• A new financial system that favours student credits in stead of student processes.
• A pedagogical reform that put demands on the students. A more individual, independent and active approach to learning. This is a new approach both to students with non-Norwegian ethnic backgrounds and students with Norwegian ethnic backgrounds.

I will now turn to how the Oslo University College and the Centre for Multicultural and International studies meet these challenges.

Since its establishment in 1999 the Centre has tested out different kinds of approaches to obtain the Boards’ aim of becoming a multicultural University College. Some of these attempts have been successes; others have been less successful.

Our first approach was to develop a support and service system to students with ethnic minority backgrounds. This support and service system was built on a direct personal contact with the individual student. The students worked closely with experts on how to study in higher education and how to handle the academic language.

Evaluations on this approach showed that we only reached the clever students, those who already handled the learning situation very well. These students saw the offer as a possibility to become even cleverer. The students we wanted to reach, the students with the difficulties both in language and in professional development never contacted the Centre for support. In interviews that followed, most of them answered that it was problematic enough being a student, so the thought of having one more commitment to take care of scared them away.

In other words, when we started out, the idea was that the students should adjust to the University Colleges’ way of thinking and that the Centre would accommodate them. This idea as you can see is based on the ideology of sameness.

As a result of the empirical data, another approach developed. Here the main responsibility for the students was transferred from the Centre to the programmes and the teachers themselves. The teachers closest to the students should offer service and support directly to his or her student.

To be able to transfer these tasks the employees at the Centre had to co-operate with the teachers at the different programmes. They took and take part in discussions about how to change the curriculum, syllabus, question papers, the methods of teaching, types of exams and so on. The issue is to develop programmes, which are more able to handle diversity.

We know from the law of nature that everything has a reverse side. The reverse side of this co-operation between the Centre and the teachers at programmes turned out to be a tendency for the teachers to withdraw from situations where the multicultural were the issue and leave that to the employees at the Centre. One might say that the Centre employees functioned as a kind of substitute or an alibi when multicultural questions turned up.

What do I imply when I make these reflections about the teachers at the different programmes? Do I accuse them of being against change? No, far from it. At this point I think it is necessary to return to the beginning of this address, where I gave a brief presentation of the history and ideology of the Norwegian way of thinking.

The ideology of sameness is followed by a lack of handling diversity.

A side effect of this is that we in Norway are used to consider anything out of the ordinary as an issue for specialists. So when we meet something that we are not used to, we transfer it to some specialised institution or person, instead of handling it ourselves. And diversity among the students is for many of us that type of an issue, which we feel, needs special competence.

We feel insecure in the situation and therefore feel more competent in transferring the problem or the situation to others. That way we do not ignore the problem or the situation, but deal with it the way we are used to and which suits us best.

Realising how difficult it is to obtain the aim of being a multicultural institution and changing the employees’ way of thinking about the student group, the Board at the Oslo University College decided to use resources to start a major project for competence building in the multicultural field.

This project called "Competence building courses" is developed as an attempt to make diversity and multiculturalism an issue for everyone employed at the University College and not just an issue for those with a special interest in it. This project started in 2003 and will last for three and a half-year. The aim of this project is that all the 1000 employees at Oslo University College shall have some knowledge about the challenges in the multicultural field and how to meet these.

The project is a major attempt to convert the ideology of sameness into an ideology of equality. An attempt to build an institution where there is space for different ways of thinking, different ways of learning, different ways of finding solutions and so on.

The structure for these courses is twofold:

1. A basis module for all employees, also those who never are in touch with students.

2. An advanced module for employees who work in direct contact with students.

The basis module is meant to be a process with gatherings and "in between" discussions.

The employees are divided into groups according to type of work and which programme they are employed at. The gatherings are constituted as a mixture of lectures and discussions.

In the "in between periods" the participants are supposed to work with approaches to the multicultural field. The groups choose these approaches themselves in co-operation with representatives from the Centre. Empirical data illustrates that different groups have different approaches closest to their hearts. The project is based on the idea that a change of attitudes and ways of thinking is easiest if people are interested in the issues they are discussing.

Each group of participants also has a process guide from their own department, who functions both as a guide and a professional resource.

The main items that are explored are the following:

• A multicultural learning community- what is it and how to generate it?
• The leading discourses on multiculturalism in the Oslo University College – what are they and how do they influence the way of thinking and handling diversity?
• Ones own participation in a multicultural learning community- what are my attitudes, values, norms and the consequences of these?
• Handling diversity- how can diversity thinking be integrated in all strategy documents, curriculum, and other texts concerning education?
• Strategies to find hidden resources in the students as well as in the teachers

The advanced module has the same structure and themes as the basis module, but is discussing the questions more thoroughly. Here the main issue is how to obtain coherence between the primary goals of the institution, the actions of each employee, curriculum, how teaching is organised, teaching methods, learning resources and educational products of different types. The objective is to make diversity thinking as natural as gender thinking is today in Norway.

The University College and the Centre hope that it will be possible to cover all departments, programmes and employees during the project period. The objective is that by the end of the project period, the multicultural field and discussions concerning working in a multicultural university college, will become part of all standard programmes for new- employees at the University College.

To sum up this part of the address, the main strategy is to develop and strengthen the competence in handling diversity throughout the whole University College. But we still think that, when it is demanded, special or individual approaches shall be developed and given. So today, the Centre offers all the three above described approaches to the students, departments and the programmes.

Individual students will still find a service and support system at the Centre they can use if they feel the need for that. The Centre is still in continuous discussions with teachers in different programmes on how to make the programmes more adapted to handle diversity. And the competence building courses have started.

Another approach developed at Oslo University College in the process of becoming a multicultural educational institution is the research programmes.

The research programmes consist of one large quantitative and a number of smaller qualitative approaches to the multicultural field.

The largest and most systematically research programme is called "Student data" This programme collected questionnaire data from 2300 ethnic minority and majority students in their first and third year in 2000, 2001 and 2003. The questionnaire consists of around 100 questions and has a section about the multicultural issues. The data is analysed and published in reports, which provides us with a continuous overview of how both the ethnic majority and minority students experience their lives as students at Oslo University College.

Another research approach is internal and external evaluations of the Centre and its activities. Employees and students are essential informants in these evaluations, as well as official representatives from the Ministries and other co-operating institutions.

An independent large external evaluation of how the Centre of Multicultural and International Studies obliges its mandate is taking place next year.

The Oslo University College has also developed a staff career development programme at post-Master level. One of the programmes’ priority fields is projects concerning multicultural issues at the University College.

There are also continuously research projects in the multicultural field by individual employees at the University College.

With the above in mind, one might say that Oslo University College is still is the beginning of the process to obtain its aim as a multicultural educational institution. The thought may have crossed your minds in listening to me: "Is it possible to change the way of thinking in a large institution like Oslo University College over a period of three and a half year?"

I believe, we at the University College have asked the same question a billion times. We know that it is a great challenge, but we do need to start the process. Luckily the institution is not on its own in this work. The Government and the relevant Ministries support our process both economically and morally.

Today we also see a change in Norway. There is a tendency in the community towards a change in the ideology of sameness. It is hopefully moving slowly towards an ideology of equality.

Persons with non-Norwegian ethnic background constitute approximately 6 per cent of the population. They have mainly taken up residence around Oslo and are integrated as a part of everyday life in the capital.

It is not viable to cling to the idea of sameness, when everyday realities demonstrate that this idea is inaccurate. The time has come when we have to change our attitudes towards and understanding of the multicultural field.

With these last phrases, phrases I guess most of you will recognise, I would like to thank you for your attention and look forward to comments.

Thank you.