SAIH seeks report writer

In 2019, the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH) will have a campaign about capacity building for higher education internationally, with a specific focus on the need for increased access to higher education globally. As part of this campaign, we want to publish a report on grants and loans schemes for higher education. Writing the report is a paid assignment that should be completed within 20 working days, and completed no later than January 30th 2019.

Assignment: A report consisting of app. 25-35 pages in English. We search for both Norwegian and international report authors. The report will be printed and made available online.

Time: Expected working period: 20 days, or 150 working hours. Starting date: as soon as possible.

Target group: Students and academics in Norway is the main target group. Other relevant target groups are policymakers and politicians, as the report will form the base for further advocacy work. Organizations working on education policy in their advocacy work will also be a relevant group, such as SAIHs partner organizations.

Objective: The report will be used in SAIH’s advocacy work towards Norwegian politicians and international actors, in order to promote the need for increased effort in Norwegian development aid policy on increasing access to higher education. It would be preferable if the report could also be used by civil society organizations, especially in the global south, in their advocacy work for more accessible higher education.

Background: More young people than ever before aspire to have a higher education. At the same time, governments are underfunding the public higher education sector and increased commercialization of higher education has led to an erosion of quality, overcrowded lecture halls, lack of trained professionals, curriculum that strays away from encouraging critical thinking, increased tuition fees and insufficient loan- and scholarship schemes. With the results from the 2018 report “Universities Between the State and the Market”, SAIH mapped out consequences of commercialization and the effects of international aid policy on higher education. For the 2019 campaign, there is a need for further research into the conditions for students and universities, focused on policies to achieve fair and equal access to higher education.

Description: The report will provide an overview of existing models for grants and loans schemes in higher education. The report should also provide a brief description or analysis of the success and sustainability of these and suggest best practices. Moreover, if possible, the report should give an overview of the funding situation for the higher education sector and the accessibility for students.

It will be particularly important to compile a comprehensive overview over the types of schemes that exist, and whether they lead to higher education being accessible for marginalized and/or less privileged students. The report should be based on data and statistics from reliable and relevant sources. The report should also have examples from some of SAIHs partner countries (SAIH works in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Colombia, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Myanmar), but also other countries defined relevant by the report writer in collaboration with SAIH.

Lastly, the report should come with concrete recommendations, both to the Norwegian government and international actors. If possible, the report should contain policy recommendations for national education policy for use by civil society organizations in the global south.

A more detailed description of the content and what type of recommendations the report should give will be discussed with the report writer prior to the assignment.

SAIH seeks applicants who

have good knowledge of higher education policy have access to network or resource personnel who can assist the writer to identify relevant case studies are on schedule, and used to work with deadlines. are skilled in consistent use of references. are experienced in analyzing and contextualizing data. have a bachelor/master’s degree in a relevant field. have strong writing and oral communication skills in English.

Applicants will be favored if they have

experience working in the policy field of higher education experience with writing reports relevant experience as volunteer or professional in similar organizations to SAIH. proficiency in Spanish, as many of SAIHs relevant partner organizations are in Spanish speaking countries.

The task can be solved by one writer/researcher with an overview of the field, a team of writers, a consultant functioning as an editor with external chapter writers or otherwise.

Report specification

SAIH will use the report for advocacy and information activities. It is therefore necessary that the language in the report is clear and easily accessible. Parts of the report will be reused by SAIH in brochures, web articles and other forms of information material. We therefore seek a creative and experienced report writer.

The report should be delivered in an electronic version, in English. The report is expected to be approximately 25-35 full text pages long. SAIH will organize and cover the costs for design and printing the report on a separate budget.

Budget:

The total cost of writing the report should not exceed 80.000 NOK (including VAT).

Submission of bid should contain:

Profile of the writer/researcher (motivational letter and CV) with traceable references and copies of/links to previous writings. A brief layout and a breakdown of how the writer/researcher understands and plans carry out the assignment. A budget.

Inception report A brief inception report is expected as part of the initial phase, for clarification between the writer/researcher and SAIH.

Application deadline is November 22nd 2018.

Please send your application to stilling@saih.no with subject: application report author

For questions regarding the report, please contact Political Vice President Sunniva Folgen Høiskar, Sunniva.hoiskar@saih.no, or Political Advisor Stian Amadeus Antonsen, stian.antonsen@saih.no