If you want to study in a university or college, you need to satisfy the general admission requirements. Here are some things that may be good to know in the planning stage!

l University/college studies l Admission and application deadlines l Study loan l

On www.nav.no (the national employment agency website), you can find links to more information on education and professions.

The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) has a short description of the Norwegian higher education system on its homepage, and links to institutions of higher education throughout Norway.

To study, you must satisfy the general admission requirements.
Read more about them here.
Proficiency in Norwegian and English is also required - click here for more information.

University/college studies
From 2004 the Norwegian higher education system was renewed both in name, content and length. The model for the new degree structure is Bachelor's degree (3 years) + Master's degree (2 years) + PhD (3 years).

Universities offer all 3 degree levels. All colleges offer Bachelor's degrees, most of them also Master's degrees in a number of subjects, only a few offer doctoral studies.

The main difference between university and college studies are that colleges offer professional courses (such as engineering, nursing, social work, physiotherapy, journalism etc), while the Bachelor's degree courses in a university leads to an academic degree.

Some professions can be studied only at university level: medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, psychology, theology and law.

A list of institutions in and in the vicinity of Oslo can be found at the end of this page!

Studies are measured in studiepoeng, or credit points. 60 studiepoeng equals one year of full-time study. The credit points are equal to the ECTS credits (European Credit Transfer System)

All Norwegian universities are state institutions, whereas the colleges are both state schools and private schools. At state colleges there is no tuition fee; students pay for books and material only. Private colleges charge a tuition fee.

Most private colleges offer courses that are recognised as higher education courses, which means that they carry credit and may be included in a university or state college degree. However, some courses do not give credit points, for instance short ICT courses. Make sure you make the right choice! The school in question will give you necessary information.

Admission and application deadlines
the academic year runs from mid-August to mid-June. The application deadline is usually 1 March for applicants with a foreign education background, 15 April if you have completed Norwegian upper secondary school. Application to undergraduate courses at most higher education institutions are processed by UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, Samordna Opptak in Norwegian.

When you apply for a first degree course (Bachelor level), you send one form to UCAS, listing the courses in order of priority. If you want to read more about the application process, click here. Applications for Master's degree studies are sent directly to the institution in question. Information about application and deadlines can be found in the instiutuions' own webistes.

Study loan
If you need a loan from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund (Statens Lånekasse) to finance your studies, you can read more here.

In Oslo (and in Akershus, the county surrounding the city) there are a number of schools to choose from. Below are links to some of them. Click on the English name to get information in English.

Last modified June 4. 2009