The Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service, NUCAS (Samordna opptak) coordinates the admission to regular undergraduate studies at all the universities, university colleges, state colleges, and some private colleges in Norway.
The NUCAS admission system is primarily for Norwegian citizens and others with a permanent or renewable residence permit. In order to be eligible for admission, applicants must document their proficiency in Norwegian. For information on programmes for international students, see studyinnorway. For admission to postgraduate degrees, see the information on the web sites of the individual institutions.
The admission process
Applicants with a foreign secondary education, holding a permanent or renewable residence permit for Norway, must apply for admission through NUCAS. All applicants must use the online application form called nettsøknad which is available from 2 February on www.samordnaopptak.no. The deadline is 1 March for applicants with foreign education. It is possible to list up to 10 different programmes, in order of priority. A full list of courses and programmes available can be found here.
When your application is registered, you will receive a form called omslagsark (application file) in the post. You must fill in information about your educational background and return it with copies of relevant documents. Applicants must document their education with officially certified copies of certificates, diplomas, transcripts etc. in the original language and authorised translations to Norwegian or English if the original documents are not in English or a Scandinavian language. Both upper secondary and higher education must be documented. Applicants must fulfil all requirements before 1 July. It is possible to submit results from examinations taken in the spring in the year you apply before 1 July.
Applicants with foreign secondary education will be assessed individually and the institutions you have applied to will decide who will be offered a place. The assessment is based on the grade point average/grades from upper secondary school/high school, the grade or points in the examination in Norwegian amongst other things.
The offers are published on 20 July and the applicant has to answer whether he/she accepts the offer by the given deadline. Please note that admission to some programmes is highly competitive.
If based on these answers, an institution decides that the number of entry offers for a programme has not filled the number of places available, applicants may be recruited from waiting lists.
Entrance requirements
Applicants must meet the minimum requirements for Higher Education Entrance Qualification in Norway (generell studiekompetanse) and fulfil the language requirements in Norwegian and English. For admission to some programmes of study you need specific subjects or courses from upper secondary school or relevant work experience in addition to the general entrance requirements. Some courses have entrance tests, see list of all specific entrance requirements (spesielle opptakskrav).
Applicants from most European countries are eligible for admission upon completion of the secondary school leaving certificate that provides the basis for admission to university studies in their home country. Entrance requirements for applicants from non-European countries may include one or two years of university studies in addition to secondary school.
Applicants who do not fulfil the entrance requirements can take supplementary examinations in the Norwegian upper secondary school.
To find out if you meet the Higher Education Entrance Qualifications in Norway, you can contact NUCAS (Samordna opptak) or one of the universities or university colleges. For further information, read about foreign education.
Norwegian language requirements
Most teaching in higher education in Norway is in Norwegian and many of the text-books are in Norwegian so it is necessary to have a good working knowledge of written and spoken Norwegian. All applicants must satisfy the Norwegian language requirement with one of the following:
- Norwegian (as a second language) in upper secondary school, 3rd year with the mark 2 or better/Norsk som andrespråk i videregående skole 3. klasse
- The Norwegian Language Test – Advanced Level with a score of minimum 450 points/ Test i norsk, høyere nivå (Bergenstesten) med minimum 450 poeng
- Level 3 in the Introductory Programme for Foreign Students at the Universities/Trinn 3 i norsk for utenlandske studenter ved universitetene
- One Year Programme in Norwegian Language and Civilization for Foreign Students/ 1-årig høgskolestudium i norsk språk og samfunnskunnskap for utenlandske studenter
English language requirements
All applicants must also satisfy specified English language requirements. This means that applicants from some countries will have an adequate command of English and satisfy this requirement with the English they have taken at secondary school in their home country, see the GSU-list. Applicants who do not satisfy this requirement must pass one of the following examinations/tests:
- English basic course from upper secondary school in Norway with mark 2 or better
- TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) with a minimum score of 500 points on the paper-based test or 60 points on the Internet-based test
- IELTS (International English Language Testing System) with a minimum score of 5.0