In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, a university college (Swedish: högskola; Norwegian: høyskole, høgskole or høgskule; Danish: professionshøjskole; literally meaning "high school" and "professional high school") is an independent institution that provides tertiary education (bachelor's and master's degrees) and quaternary education (PhD).
Most of these institutions traditionally had an emphasis on less academic and more vocational programmes such as teacher or nursing education as well as shorter technical education; historically, these institutions were somewhat similar to a Fachhochschule in Germany and to a Polytechnic in the United Kingdom.
[1] However, the exact situation of Swedish university colleges varies in that respect, i.e. many them may are engaged in research and grant doctoral degrees in a number of fields.
The practical distinction between universities and university colleges has been gradually reduced through legislative reforms in 1995 and 2005, and the two types of institutions are now governed by the same law, have the same basic structure and in principle the same obligation to provide research-based education.
Specific to university college programmes is that curricula always include internships and placements.
A full university in Sweden requires extensive own research, a breadth of academic disciplines and a licence to award doctor's degrees in all fields it teaches.
In Norway, university status may be conferred to an institution offering at least four PhD programmes.