Educational opportunities
You can apply for admission to either a university or university college. This is termed higher education and is offered both at state-owned and private educational institutions. The Norwegian universities and university colleges offer programmes of study at bachelor’s and master’s degree level, as well as doctoral level.
Higher education normally builds upon final examinations on the completion of three-year upper secondary education in the programme for general studies (studieforberedende opplæring) which confers higher education entrance qualifications (generell studiekompetanse).
You can also start a course of upper secondary education and training (videregående opplæring) or apply to a vocational school (fagskole) for vocational education and training. Upper secondary education and training leads to vocational qualifications or theoretical knowledge at a lower level. In order to begin studying at a vocational school, you must have completed upper secondary education and training or have equivalent prior experiential learning (realkompetanse).
Read more about admission here: I want to apply for admission
Residence permit
If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA and wish to study for more than three months in Norway, you must apply for a student residence permit. There are other set of rules for citizens of EU/EEA countries.
On the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration’s (UDI) website, you will find information about how to apply for a student residence permit, or to register as a student in Norway.
Citizen of a country outside the EU/EEA?
Read more on UDI’s website
Citizen of the EU/EEA?
Read more on UDI’s website
Officially accredited higher education institutions in Norway
Official accreditation means that an (approved) higher education institution or educational programme satisfies Norwegian national quality standards. Approval of universities and university colleges is termed ”accreditation”. There are in addition some accredited vocational school educational and training courses. In Norway, NOKUT (Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education) is responsible for supervising and inspecting the quality of education both at universities and university colleges and at vocational schools.
You will find a list of accredited institutions on NOKUT’s website:
Accredited institutions ‒ NOKUT
A list of vocational schools with NOKUT-accredited vocational education and training can be found here (only available in Norwegian):
Accredited vocational school offerings ‒ NOKUT