Higher Education in Norway

Norway has four universities, six specialized university institutions, 26 university colleges, two national institutes of the arts and 29 private institutions of higher education. In 2002, a total of 179,000 students were registered at institutions of higher education, with 158,300 at state-run institutions and 21,300 at private institutions. The system of higher education comprises all educational programmers at universities and university colleges. Completion of three years of upper secondary education is usually required for entry into institutions of higher learning. With the exception of a few of the private university colleges, all higher education institutions are state-run. However, each  Tag Heuer Replica  institution has considerable academic and administrative autonomy. Universities Norway's four universities are the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Tronrlheim, and the University of Troms0. The University of Oslo is the oldest and largest of these institutions. Specialized university institutions include the Agriculture University of Norway in As, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Ad in Oslo, the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo, the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo and the Oslo School of Architecture. In addition, there are two national institutes of the arts, located in Oslo and Bergen, respectively University Colleges. The state university college sys-tem is designed to decentralize2 and increase the availability of higher education throughout Norway. The 26 university colleges offer a number of more vocationally-oriented programmes not provided at the universities. Study pro-grammes normally have a duration of two to four years. The university colleges also offer sAme undergraduate courses that are interchangeable between the universities and university colleges. Many students combine courses from both types of institutions to complete their degrees. In addition to their teaching activities, all the higher learning institutions, and particularly the universities, are responsible for basic research as well as researcher training. The latter primarily takes place through the graduate and doctorate degree programmes. From the autumn of 2003, the Norwegian degree system will consist of three-year bachelor degree programmes and two-year master degree programmes for most areas of study. At the same time, a three-year international Ph.D programme will be introduced at the doctorate level. Every year, Chinese students go to Norway to pursue studies of many different .subjects. At any given time, there are several hundred Chinese students in universities and colleges all over Norway, from Svalbard in the north to Stavanger in the south.