2009-10 School Requirements for Norwegian Students

From AFSWiki

Taken from a letter from AFS-Norway:

As you may know, most of our stus work to have their AFS year validated by the Norwegian school when they return home.

In order to achieve this, all our stus will need a school certificate as proof that they have completed their school year. They do not need a diploma or even grades, but an attendance letter listing subjects and hours per week. The document has to be on school letterhead with signature and stamp. It is stus' responsibility to make sure they have all the papers they need before leaving, but schools might be more understanding and helpful if they know about this in advance.

A validated school year is necessary to apply for a scholarship from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund. It works like this; the stus get a pre-approval from their school listing the conditions for validating the school year abroad. The stus are then responsible for following this up. All stus are told by AFS NOR that we cannot guarantee specific courses, and if the host school does not offer the required subjects or sufficient hours, they will have to take extra courses or exams after returning to NOR. Some stus also bring their NOR school books with them and are expected to turn in assignments during the year.

AFS NOR (board and staff) is working hard to change the policy re this so that stus can apply for the scholarship without validating their school year abroad. This will help stus focus on the intercultural learning process and the host school. But for now, the scholarship is of course a big financial help for stus and nats and most stus will thus work to have their AFS year validated.