Higher education in Norway
Acceptance is offered after finishing upper secondary school and meeting general university admissions certification.
Public education is free for citizens from any country that is part of EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, but everyone else needs to pay a tuition fee to the university.
[1] The higher education in Norway is divided into an academic year with two semesters, from August to December and from January to June.
Acceptance to higher education requires either fulfilled three years of upper secondary school with general university admissions certification.
To be accepted as certain lines (for instance engineering) advanced courses in mathematics, physics and chemistry must be passed.
Points are awarded based on average grades from upper secondary school, but additional points are awarded students with secondary two-year course specialization, science specialization, age and fulfilled one year of higher education, military service or folk high school.
Most students that fulfill the requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway are accepted to three-year Bachelor programs.
Entrance to the two-year master programs are based upon the academic qualifications (grades) from the bachelor level.
There are six public and three private specialised universities in Norway, each functioning as a national competence centre for the field they represent.
However some provide specialised courses not found in the public institutions such as Noroff University College in Kristiansand.
Students are also given the opportunity to apply for financial support (a part loan/part grant) from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund.
Landscape architecture and area planning is offered at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences at Ås.
Most business administrators are educated at the regional colleges throughout the country, with Bachelor programs offered in Alta, Tromsø, Narvik, Bodø, Steinkjer, Trondheim, Molde, Ålesund, Sogndal, Bergen, Haugesund, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Kongsberg, Oslo, Ås, Halden, Lillehammer, Gjøvik and Hamar.
In addition NHH in Bergen is the specialised college offering the highest level of education within the field.
Eight institutions offer a Master of Science in Business Administration, also granting the right to use the protected title siviløkonom.
In general, three-year bachelor's degrees in engineering are offered throughout the country at the regional colleges, most dominantly within the fields of construction, chemistry, electronics and informatics, though many others also exist.
The traditional five year long integrated Master of Laws (LLM) education is offered at the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø.
In contrast to other countries, Norway requires a six year long professional degree in order to earn the title of psychologist.
In 2023, The University of Agder's request to do so was denied by NOKUT (The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education).
Thus, upon graduation from the master's programme the students can apply for accreditation from NOKUT (The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education) and if they meet the requirements, become licensed psychologists in Norway.
For primary and lower secondary levels a four-year general teacher education is offered at most regional colleges in the country.
For upper secondary school taking a degree at a university within the appropriate subject is the preferred course of line.
After taking a degree, either at Bachelor or Master level, a one-year course in pedagogy is required before teacher certification is granted.
Virtually all education within the sciences are offered at the five major universities, in Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, Tromsø and Stavanger, though some regional colleges have one-years or perhaps Bachelor programs in certain fields.
