National Centre for STEM Recruitment (NCSR)

Background and expierence

The National Center for Science Recruitment (NSR) was established by the Ministry of Science and Technology to coordinate and lead recruitment for science and technology in Norway. The center is affiliated to NTNU as a separate section under the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. NCSR employs 6 persons.

Objective:

The Centre’s primary objective is to increase recruitment to STEM education and professions in Norway. It is particularly important to increase the proportion of women in STEM. The main target group is young people who will make their educational choices. Secondary target groups are those who influence the primary group – parents and guardians, teachers and advisers, organizations and authorities. 

Strategy:

There is currently no STEM strategy in Norway, the PISA results are poor, and to few students choose advanced math in high school qualifying them for higher education in STEM. There are also significant gender differences in educational choices, and at the same time here is a great need for expertise in STEM, and three are savings in the education sector. 

Best practice and objectives

The ENT3R program is free homework help in mathematics/science ENT3R is run by students from various studies within science and technology and is financed by NCSR. ENT3R involves showing up at fixed times each week at various universities and colleges around the country. If you live far away from an ENT3R location, you can sign up for ENT3R digital. 

•    Reach: The target group are students in the 10th grade and at secondary school, there are 3000 participating students yearly. ENT3R is present on 15 campuses and has 300 STEM-student mentors.

•    Impact: Participating students report on better grades in mathematics (and other subjects!), better knowledge about possibilities and diversity in STEM education and working life and increased motivation to choose a STEM education and career. 

•    Budget and funding model: The budget is approximately 1 million Euro. Funded by NCSR, but we are now looking at opportunities for partial funding with the help of the university sector and possible sponsorship collaborations with working life and how to include as part of our STEM partner program.