Norway

Norway in a nutshell

(largely sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway)

Norway (Norwegian: Norge (bokmål) or Noreg (nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is bordered by Sweden, Finland, and Russia, while the United Kingdom and the Faroe Islands lie to its west across the North Sea.

Norway annexed Jan Mayen and was given the sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard (under the Svalbard Treaty). The polar territories of Bouvet Island, Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land are external dependencies of the Kingdom of Norway, but not parts of Norway. None of these regions are covered in our analysis in this page.

Norway is now amongst the wealthiest countries in the world. It is the world's third largest oil exporter after Russia and Saudi Arabia and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of GDP. Norway has also rich resources of gas fields, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is a large exporter of seafood. Other main industries include food processing, shipbuilding, metals, chemicals, mining, fishing and pulp and paper products.

The population of Norway is just over 4.5 million, making it similar in population to many smaller European countries and regions (e.g. Scotland). Norway has a Scandinavian welfare system and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation.

Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2006, and came second in 2007 (to fellow Nordic country Iceland).

Norway is a member of the European Economic Area but not of the EU.

Norway's education policy

Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged 6-16.

Ultimate responsibility for the education lies with the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. There is a useful web site for the Ministry - in English - at http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kd.html?id=586

Norway's education system

(largely sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Norway)

Schools

The school year in Norway runs from late August to mid June the following year. The Christmas holiday divides the Norwegian school year into two terms.

The Norwegian school system can be divided into three parts:

1. Elementary school (Barneskole, age 6-13)
2. Lower secondary school (Ungdomsskole, age 13-16)
3. Upper secondary school (Videregående skole, age 16-19).

Elementary and lower secondary school are mandatory for all children aged 6-16. (Before 1997, mandatory education in Norway started at the age of 7.) Students almost always have to change school when they enter lower secondary school and upper secondary school, as most schools only offer one of the levels.

Elementary school (Barneskole, grades 1-7, age 6-13)

In the first year of elementary school, the students are mostly playing educational games and learning social behaviour. In grades 2 through 7, they are introduced to mathematics, English, Norwegian, science, religion, and gymnastics, complimented by geography, history, and social studies in the fifth grade. No grades (marks) are given at this level.

Lower secondary school (Ungdomsskole, grades 8-10, age 13-16)

When the students enter lower secondary school, at age 12 or 13, they begin getting grades (marks) for their work. The grades they get will determine whether they get accepted at their high school of choice or not. From the eighth grade, the students can choose one elective (valgfag). Typical subjects the students are offered are the languages German, French and Spanish as well as additional English or Norwegian studies. Before the educational reform starting August 2006, students could choose a practical elective instead of the languages.

Upper secondary school (Videregående skole, grades VG1-VG3, age 16-19)

Upper secondary school (akin to high school) is 3 years of optional schooling, although recent changes to society (few jobs available for the age group) and law (government required by law of 1994 to offer secondary schooling in one form or another to everyone between 16 and 18 who submit the application form) has made it largely unavoidable in practice.

Secondary education in Norway is primarily based on public schools, and is attended by 96% of the students. Until 2005, Norwegian law held private secondary schools to be illegal unless they offered a "religious or pedagogic alternative", meaning that the only private schools in existence were religious (Christian), Steiner/Waldorf and Montessori schools. The first "standard" private upper secondary schools opened in the fall of 2005.

Since the introduction of the reform "Kunnskapsløftet" (knowledge promotion) in autumn 2006, a student will apply for a general education (studiespesialisering) or a vocational studies (yrkesfag) path. Inside these main paths there are many sub-paths to follow. The new reform makes mandatory the incorporation of IT into the schooling, indeed many counties (who are responsible for the public high schools) offer laptops to general studies students for free or for a small fee. Kunnskapsløftet also makes it harder to switch between electives that students take in the second and third year in the general studies path.

Students graduating general studies are called "Russ" in Norwegian.

For Higher Education see next.

Higher education

(again sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Norway)

Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of seven universities, five specialised colleges, 25 university colleges as well as a range of private colleges. Education now follows the Bologna process model involving Bachelors (3 years), Masters (2 years) and Doctoral (4 years) degrees. Acceptance is offered after finishing upper secondary school with general study competence.

Public education is free, with an academic year with two semesters, from August to December and from January to June.

Higher education is defined in Norway as anything beyond upper secondary school. It normally lasts 3 years or more. To be accepted to most higher education institutions, students must have attained a general studies diploma (generell studiekompetanse). This can be achieved by taking general studies while in upper secondary school or through a law where a person must be above 23 years of age, have 5 years of combined schooling and work experience and have passed exams in Norwegian, mathematics, natural sciences, English and social studies. Some degrees also require special electives in second and third grade of high school (e.g. mathematics and physics for an engineering studies programme.)

Higher education is broadly divided into:

• Universities, which concentrate on theoretical subjects (arts, humanities, natural science). They provide degrees of bachelors (3 years in total), masters (5 years in total) and PhD (8 years in total). Universities also run a number of professional studies programmes, including law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and psychology, but these are generally separate departments that have little to do with the rest of the university institution.
• University colleges (høyskole), which supply a wide range of educational choices, including university bachelor degrees, engineering degrees and professional vocations like teacher and nurse. The grade system is the same as it is for universities.
• Private schools, which tend to specialize in popular subjects where there is limited capacity in public univrersities or university colleges: such as business studies, marketing or fine arts. Private providers do not loom large on the horizon, although the fraction of students attending private providers is now 10% in higher education, compared to 4% in secondary and 1.5% in primary education.

Higher education reform

The recent higher education reforms in Norway were caused largely by the requirements of Bologna and synchronised with that, so are discussed below.

The Bologna Process

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education_in_Norway)

Old system

Prior to 2002 the higher education in Norway had a significantly different system of education with roots dating back to the start of higher education in the country. It was based on a 3.5 or 4 year "cand.mag." degree supplemented with a Masters (hovedfag) lasting 1.5 or 2 years. Total study time was five years for science programmes while it was six years within social studies and humanities. Masters degrees were named based on the line of study, for instance "cand.scient." within science, "cand.polit." in political studies or "cand.oecon." wihtin economics. Certain professional studies, such as medicine, law, and some engineering and business administration courses had professional studies that offered full-length degrees (without issuing cand.mag. titles). The titles awarded were "cand.jur." (law, 6 years), "cand.med." (medical doctor, 6 years), "cand.psychol." (clinical psychology, 6 years), "siviløkonom" (business administration, 4 years) or sivilingeniør (engineering, 4.5 years). NHH had a monopoly educating siviløkonoms while NTH had a monopoly educating sivilingeniørs. Doctoral studies were offered as follow-on to the masters.

Grading was performed on a 1.0 to 4.0 system, with 1.0 as the best grade and 4.0 the worst grade (to pass). A total of 41 different grades could be awarded with the system. Credits (then called vekttall) were issued based on a nominal study of 20 credits per year (or 10 per semester).

New system

In 2003 a national reform, called the "Quality reform", was implemented throughout the entire national higher eduaction system. Norway was one of the first countries in Europe to implement the Bologna convention, thus creating a 3+2+3 year system in accordance with the Bologna Process.

A further step was taken in 2005 when the Act Relating to Universities and University Colleges and the Private Higher Education Institutions Act were merged into one common Act, the Act relating to universities and university colleges. The common act ensures greater equality between the public and private higher education institutions, thus focusing more on the quality in higher education than ownership. The evaluation of Quality Assurance Systems at and accreditation of both public and private institutions are handled by a national agency for quality assurance, NOKUT.

First Cycle

Most students that fulfil the requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway are accepted to three-year Bachelor programs.

Second Cycle

Entrance to the two-year Master programs are based upon the academic qualifications (grades) from the bachelor level.

Some programs (including architecture, business management at NHH, engineering at NTNU), Master of Dentistry and Master of Laws are five-year programs (one-tier degrees).

Three types of Master's degrees are offered: Master of Science (science and business), Master of Philosophy (humanities and social studies) and Master of Technology (engineering).

Professional Degrees

Some professional programmes have been granted an exemption from the Bologna system. Physicians (cand.med.), veterinarians (cand.med.vet), psychologist (cand.pshychol) and theologians (cand.theol.) are therefore still awarded degrees for six years of study.

Third Cycle

Doctor Philosophae degrees (PhD) are awarded after three years of research-oriented education. Most programmes also include one year of compulsory teaching as part of the education, making the total length of the programme four years.

System of Grading

According to the ECTS system the gradings are given according to scale of six grades, ranging from an A to F, with A being the best and E the worst passing grade. F is a fail.

A normal study progression awards 60 credits (stp) per year (30 per semester); most institutions either use a 7.5 or a 10 credit block system.

Examinations are usually held every semester, in December and June, although exceptions occur.

Norway's HEIs in the information society

Information society strategy

NKI Distance Education calls itself the leading distance education institution in Norway and the largest distance education institution in Northern Europe.

References

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