Higher education (Høyere utdanning)

Higher education consists of degree programmes at universities and colleges. There are five universities, six university-level institutions, two institutes of the arts and 26 State colleges. Additionally, there are 26 private higher-education institutions that together enrol about 10% of all students. Completion of upper secondary education is the usual prerequisite to higher education, though adults aged 25 and over also may qualify on the basis of non-formal learning. Each year, public higher education accommodates some 200,000 students, and private institutions an additional 19,500. For further general information on higher education, contact NOKUT.

Home schooling (Hjemmeundervisning)

Home schooling is on the upswing. Though still at a modest level – some 400 children throughout the country as this book goes to press – current growth amounts to a doubling each year. As elsewhere, religious and ideological convictions differing from the mainstream lie behind the efforts of many families to school their children at home. However, two recent developments have accelerated the trend in Norway. First, the number of schools is declining as schools become more centralised, which means that some children are no longer schooled near home. Second, education is becoming increasingly efficient and consequently more centrally controlled. Nonetheless, the rules and regulations concerning schooling are liberal in that 10 years of education (utdanning) are required, not 10 years of schooling (skolegang). That difference permits education in the home. As in other countries, home schooling, also called home education, is organised chiefly through liaison between families practising and educators promoting it. For further details, contact the information service supported by educators and families, with a website at folk.uio.no/cbeck/OTHhjemmeside.htm.

Independent School Act (Friskoleloven)

Until 2004, schools that are independent of local or central government control were called “private schools”, which is misleading, because most of them are not privately owned. Moreover, official recognition was contingent upon a school either being a church school or being based on an alternative but proven curriculum. Those difficulties have been overcome in the Independent School Act of 2004, the principal provisions of which are:

• Recognition of a school depends on content and quality of teaching, not school affiliation or curriculum pedagogy.
• The regulations now cover all primary and secondary schooling.
• Recognised schools receive State support equivalent to 85% of operating costs on a per-pupil basis, compared to the average for equivalent public schools.
• Fees paid may be no more than 15% of operating costs.
• Surplus income must be used for the benefit of a school and cannot be taken out as dividends.

The Directorate for Primary and Secondary Education (Utdanningsdirektoratet) oversees and regulates independent schools.

Independent schools (Friskoler)

There are more than 200 independent schools in the country. Their roots go back to the 19th century, when congregations outside the Church of Norway started their own schools. In 1926, the first of the Steiner schools opened in Oslo. Through the years, lack of financing constrained most independent schools. Some schools were partly supported by the municipalities in which they were located, but most relied on funding by their founders, such as congregations, or by tuition paid by parents, or by both.

Today’s situation is better, due in part to the efforts of Jens Bjørneboe (1920-1976), an author and Steiner school teacher. In 1955, Bjørneboe published Jonas, a novel about a boy wrongly judged unfit by a rigidly authoritarian school system. Jonas shook the educational establishment to its roots and triggered debate that initiated reforms. Today, State support under the Independent School Act has eased matters for schools and made independent schooling affordable. For further information, contact the private school of your choice listed under skoler in the Yellow Pages.

Institutes of the arts (Kunsthøgskoler)

There are two national colleges of art:

• The Oslo National College of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo) combines the functions of the former college of the theatre, art academy, school of art and design, ballet academy and opera academy, and is located at the edge of the downtown area, Ullevålsveien 5, PO Box 6853 St Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo, Tel: 22995500, Fax: 22995502, www.khio.no, khio@khio.no.
• The Bergen National College of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen) is today’s descendant of the Art Academy of 1772 and offers art studies at the academy level as well as design at the BA and MA levels; Strømgt 1, 5015 Bergen, Tel: 55587300, Fax: 55587310, www.khib.no, khib@khib.no.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

The International Baccalaureate comprises educational programmes and rigorous assessment that encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. The programmes divide into three groups:

• 1Primary Years Programme (PYP) for pupils ages 3 to 12 years
• 2Middle Years Programme (MYP) for pupils ages 11 to 16 years
• 3Diploma Programme (DP) for pupils ages 16 to 19 years.

The three programmes form a continuous sequence, but each may be offered independently. Around the world, 1,454 schools in 117 countries together offer more than 1,700 IB programmes.

In general, the IB programmes are renowned for quality, and experience has shown that DP graduates gain admission to top universities round the world. In Norway, some foreign schools and independent schools offer PYP and MYP studies. As this book goes to press, 15 upper secondary schools offer DP studies, taught mostly in English and leading to the IB diploma:

• Bergen: International School and Katedralskole
• Flekke: Nordic United World College
• Gjøvik: Tranberg
• Haugesund: Vardafjell
• Oslo area: Berg, Lillestrøm, Nesbru and Oslo International
• Sandefjord: Sandefjord Upper Secondary and Skagerak
• Stavamger: International School and St Olav
• Trondheim: Katedral
• Ås: Ås Upper Secondary.

For further information on and the addresses of these schools, visit the international IBO website at www.ibo.org, click on “Services” in the taskbar, then on “IB World Schools” and on “IB world schools directory”, and then enter “Norway” in the dialogue box to bring up a list of the schools. Contact the IBO head office for other information, International Baccalaureate Organization, Route des Morillons 15, Grand-Saconnex, CH-1218, Genève, Switzerland, Tel: +41 227917740, Fax: +41 227910277, www.ibo.org, ibhq@ibo.org.

International Students’ Union

The International Students’ Union is a not-for-profit, secular, apolitical organisation that aims to safeguard the interests of international students studying in Norway. It holds meetings and conferences and provides online guides to the educational institutions of interest to foreign students. It has local branches in Bergen, Naravik, Stavanger, Trondheim, Tromsø and Ås, and its head office is in Oslo, Thorvald Meyersgate 7,0555 Oslo, secretariat Tel: 41242722, www.isu-norway.no.

The International Summer School (ISS)

Since it started in 1947, the International Summer School at the University of Oslo has drawn students from more than 150 countries worldwide. It now accepts some 500 students every summer, from the last week of June to the first week of August, for graduate and undergraduate courses, mostly within the liberal arts and social sciences. For studies completed, the University of Oslo will issue an official transcript, using ECTS credits. A Certificate of Achievement is awarded to those who earn six credits with a minimum grade of C. Fees cover room and board, and some scholarships are available. Each year in November, ISS issues a prospectus for the forthcoming summer, with the details of entry requirements, courses, housing, financial aid and extracurricular activities. The deadline for application is 1 February. For further information, contact the head office at the University of Oslo, PO Box 1082 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Tel: 22856385, Fax: 22854199, www.uio.no/iss.

Marks (Karakter)

Marks indicating proficiency are given in schools, colleges and universities, with the exception of primary school (barneskole), school years 1-7, where teachers confer with parents or guardians twice a year but do not record marks. In lower and upper secondary schools, numerical marks on a scale of 6 (best) down to 1 (poorest) are assigned for academic subjects, and words are used to mark neatness and behaviour: God (G) “average”, Nokså god (NG) “below average” and Lite god (LG) “lacking”.

Colleges and universities have assigned numerical marks, usually on a scale of 6, but the order is the opposite of that used in schools: 1 best and 6 poorest. Older still are descriptive words in Latin, ranging from Laud, the abbreviation for Laudabilis prae ceteris, meaning “praiseworthy above others”, down to Non, the abbreviation for Non contemnendus, meaning “worthy of contempt”. These grading systems are still seen in historical records, but they now have been replaced by the uniform European Credit Transfer System – ECTS grades, which are listed in Table 11 below along with the most recent academic number grade scales.

Montessori schools (Montessoriskolene)

The Montessori schools offer education based on the approaches developed by Maria Montessori (1870–1952), the first woman medical doctor in Italy. In her work in Rome at a free clinic for the children of the working class and the poor, she became convinced that intelligence is not rare and that most newly born children have a human potential that only needs to be developed. Accordingly, she involved principles, practices and teaching methods aimed to elicit that inborn potential. The ideas spread, and there now are Montessori schools and foundations worldwide.

In Norway, there are 38 Montessori kindergartens and schools. Montessori education is partly State supported, so tuition fees are lower than in many countries where the schools have no state support. For further details, contact the nearest Montessoriskole or Montesorribarnekage (kindergarten) listed in the Pink Pages. There is no head office for the schools and kindergartens, but the main Norwegian Montessori Foundation (Norsk Montessoriforbund) acts as a central facility for Montessori activities in the country; PO Box 68, 1321 Stabekk, Tel: 67582400, www.montessorinorge.no.

Music and cultural schools (Musikk- og kulturskoler)

There are music schools in 412 of the country’s 435 municipalities. Almost all the schools are public (kommunale musikkskoler), because the teaching of music is part of general education made available to all children. Music classes differ in three minor respects. They are voluntary, not compulsory as are the classes of primary and lower-secondary schools. They involve minor costs and are not free as is municipal schooling. And they usually are taught in a facility separate from other municipal schools. In Europe, and in fact in the world, only the Netherlands has so comprehensive a programme of music education. Each year, some 5,084 music teachers in music schools throughout the country teach some 80,000 children. Many municipal music schools also teach other performing arts, such as drama and dance, and consequently are known as ”Music and cultural schools” (Musikk- og kulturskoler). Admittance to a music school is by application only; there are no prerequisites, auditions or entrance examinations, and all levels are taught, from beginner on. Together, the State and the municipality cover nearly 75% of the costs of a school, leaving parents to pay only about a quarter of the cost of music teaching. Moreover, municipalities offer music school scholarships, usually based on financial need, so all children can attend, regardless of the wealth of their parents. A result of the widespread availability of music teaching is that talent is recognised early and encouraged. This may be one reason why though small, Norway produces many world-class musicians. For further information, contact the nearest school, listed in the Pink Pages under the name of the municipality, usually as musikkskole. For general information, contact the Norwegian Cultural School Council (Norsk Kulgturskoleråd), Brynesveg 60, 7018 Trondhieim, Tel: 73562000, Fax: 73562001, www.kulturskoleradet.no, post@kulturskoleradet.no.

NIFU STEP

NIFU STEP is a national resource centre for studies of the interactions between expertise and technological development on one hand and cultural, social and economic change on the other. Its name comes from the acronyms of the two organisations that merged to form it in 2004: the Norwegian Institute of Studies in Research and Education (Norsk institutt for studier av forskning og utdanning, NIFU) and the Centre for Innovation Research (Senter for innovasjonsforskning, STEP). NIFU STEP focuses principally on studies of education, research and innovation. For further information, visit the joint website at www.nifustep.no or contact NIFU, Hegdehaugsveien 31, 0352 Oslo, Tel: 22595100, Fax: 22595101, nifu@nifu.no or STEP, Hammersborg torg 3, 0179 Oslo, Tel: 22868010, Fax: 22868049, post@step.no.

NOKUT

If you seek information on or contacts in higher education, NOKUT, the Norwegian acronym for the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (Nasjonalt organ for kvalitet i utdanningen), is your best single source. NOKUT is a small State bureau responsible for safeguarding and developing the quality of higher education through evaluation, accreditation and recognition of quality systems, institutions and curricula. It deals with matters vital for individuals, such as recognition of foreign schooling, and it works within the European Network of Information Centres (ENIC) and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARIC), and thereby is the national information centre on education for the country. For that reason, it’s listed in this chapter as the contact point for all higher education; Kronprinsens gt 9, 0251 Oslo, Tel: 21021800, Fax: 21021801, www.nokut.no, postmottak@nokut.no.

NORDLIKS

NORDLIKS is an acronym for NORDisk Literatur, Kultur og Språk (”Nordic Literature, Culture and Language”) and is a forum for cooperation among universities in Denmark, Finland, the Faeroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and for association with Baltic area Universities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as in St Petersberg, Russia. The principal activities include the exchange of faculty members and students and the arranging of intensive courses and workshops. In Norway, the Nordic studies departments of the Universities of Bergen, Oslo, Tromsø and Trondheim participate. If you are in Norway and interested in Nordic literature, culture and language, you can contact the NORDLIKS programme at one of these four universities. Otherwise, information in Norwegian is available at the NORDLIKS website maintained by the University of Oslo www.hf.uio.no/inl/nl.

PISA

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial survey of lower-secondary school pupils conducted by the OECD (Chapter 20) to provide measures of how well schools prepare their pupils to face future challenges and to continue learning. The first PISA assessment, conducted in 2000, focused on reading literacy and involved 43 countries. The second, conducted in 2003, focused on mathematics literacy and involved 41 countries. The third, to be conducted in 2006, will focus on science literacy and will involve 58 countries. Norway has been involved in PISA since it started and has cooperated with Australia, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands in developing science items for PISA 2006. Results, including rankings of the participating countries, are compiled and released in December of the year following a survey. The results of the 2003 survey, released in December 2004, rank Norwegian pupils below the average for the OECD countries in mathematics, problem solving and science and slightly above the average in reading. The results of the next survey will be published in December 2007. For further details on the whole of PISA, contact the head office, EDU Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France, Tel: +33 145249366, Fax: +33 144306177, www.pisa.oecd.org, els.pisa@oecd.org. The Norwegian PISA project is administered and organised from the Department of Teacher Education and School Development, Faculty of Education, at the University of Oslo, PO Box 1072 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Tel: 22854153, www.pisa.no.