Key figures
37.8 %
of 19-24-year-olds were in higher education in 2019
2010 | 2019 | 2020 | |
---|---|---|---|
Corrected 8 April 2021. | |||
Students in higher education | |||
Total | 241 302 | 296 182 | 306 367 |
Males | 95 974 | 119 186 | 122 485 |
Females | 145 328 | 176 996 | 183 882 |
Proportion 19-24 years in higher education | |||
Total | 31.2 | 35.8 | 37.8 |
Males | 25.2 | 28.5 | 29.9 |
Females | 37.6 | 43.5 | 46.4 |
Proportion 25-29 years in higher education | |||
Total | 14.9 | 15.9 | 16.7 |
Males | 13.1 | 13.9 | 14.6 |
Females | 16.8 | 17.9 | 18.9 |
See selected tables from this statistics
Table 1
Resident students in Norway by immigration category
2020 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Immigrants | Norwegian-born to immigrant parents | Other population | |||||
Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
Corrected 8 April 2021. | ||||||||
Total, 19-34 years | 100 612 | 140 129 | 10 330 | 14 048 | 5 586 | 6 923 | 84 696 | 119 158 |
19 years | 5 330 | 9 289 | 507 | 797 | 600 | 862 | 4 223 | 7 630 |
20 years | 9 395 | 15 614 | 700 | 1 160 | 814 | 1 120 | 7 881 | 13 334 |
21 years | 12 223 | 18 638 | 832 | 1 257 | 774 | 1 081 | 10 617 | 16 300 |
22 years | 12 554 | 17 605 | 922 | 1 206 | 710 | 837 | 10 922 | 15 562 |
23 years | 12 057 | 15 689 | 923 | 1 193 | 612 | 749 | 10 522 | 13 747 |
24 years | 10 530 | 12 999 | 893 | 1 112 | 519 | 580 | 9 118 | 11 307 |
25 years | 8 383 | 9 830 | 782 | 927 | 405 | 434 | 7 196 | 8 469 |
26 years | 6 463 | 7 740 | 684 | 841 | 329 | 324 | 5 450 | 6 575 |
27 years | 4 969 | 6 192 | 659 | 809 | 214 | 238 | 4 096 | 5 145 |
28 years | 4 194 | 5 342 | 602 | 780 | 181 | 190 | 3 411 | 4 372 |
29 years | 3 422 | 4 523 | 570 | 695 | 124 | 143 | 2 728 | 3 685 |
30-34 years | 11 092 | 16 668 | 2 256 | 3 271 | 304 | 365 | 8 532 | 13 032 |
Proportion registered in higher education | ||||||||
Total, 19-34 years | 17.1 | 25.1 | 9.5 | 13.4 | 27.9 | 37.1 | 18.4 | 27.4 |
19 years | 16.3 | 30.1 | 13.6 | 26.0 | 31.3 | 49.3 | 15.6 | 29.3 |
20 years | 27.3 | 48.7 | 17.1 | 35.1 | 43.2 | 61.5 | 27.7 | 49.5 |
21 years | 35.1 | 58.2 | 18.7 | 37.0 | 44.6 | 67.5 | 37.1 | 60.3 |
22 years | 36.7 | 54.9 | 20.9 | 31.9 | 45.3 | 59.2 | 38.7 | 58.0 |
23 years | 34.2 | 47.9 | 20.2 | 30.0 | 42.3 | 53.5 | 36.0 | 50.2 |
24 years | 29.1 | 38.2 | 18.1 | 24.0 | 35.4 | 42.1 | 30.6 | 40.4 |
25 years | 23.0 | 28.8 | 14.3 | 18.7 | 27.5 | 32.5 | 24.4 | 30.4 |
26 years | 17.6 | 22.3 | 11.8 | 14.9 | 23.8 | 26.6 | 18.5 | 23.6 |
27 years | 13.4 | 17.5 | 9.9 | 12.7 | 17.3 | 20.6 | 14.0 | 18.4 |
28 years | 10.9 | 14.7 | 8.2 | 10.6 | 15.6 | 18.2 | 11.4 | 15.7 |
29 years | 8.8 | 12.1 | 7.3 | 8.8 | 12.0 | 14.0 | 9.0 | 12.9 |
30-34 years | 5.7 | 8.9 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 8.1 | 10.3 | 6.1 | 9.8 |
Table 2
Students by educational institution
Students | |||
---|---|---|---|
2020 | |||
Both sexes | Males | Females | |
Corrected 8 April 2021. | |||
Educational institutions, total | 306 367 | 122 485 | 183 882 |
Nord university | 11 141 | 4 083 | 7 058 |
Norwegian University of Life Sciences | 6 064 | 2 288 | 3 776 |
Norwegian University of Science and Technology | 41 923 | 20 397 | 21 526 |
Oslo Metropolitan University | 21 302 | 6 749 | 14 553 |
UiT - The Arctic University of Norway | 16 799 | 6 957 | 9 842 |
University of Agder | 13 463 | 5 631 | 7 832 |
University of Bergen | 18 905 | 7 616 | 11 289 |
University of Oslo | 26 543 | 10 429 | 16 114 |
University of Stavanger | 12 473 | 5 230 | 7 243 |
University of South-Eastern Norway | 17 810 | 6 798 | 11 012 |
The Oslo School of Architecture and Design | 798 | 331 | 467 |
BI Norwegian Business School | 21 031 | 10 475 | 10 556 |
Molde University College - Specialised University of Logistics | 2 858 | 1 276 | 1 582 |
Oslo National Academy of the Arts | 568 | 197 | 371 |
MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society | 1 212 | 473 | 739 |
Norwegian School of Economics | 3 530 | 2 160 | 1 370 |
Norwegian School of Sport Sciences | 1 106 | 556 | 550 |
Norwegian Academy of Music | 762 | 383 | 379 |
VID Specialised University | 5 201 | 804 | 4 397 |
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences | 15 513 | 5 228 | 10 285 |
Østfold University College | 6 981 | 2 496 | 4 485 |
Volda University College | 4 415 | 1 346 | 3 069 |
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences | 15 738 | 5 557 | 10 181 |
Sámi University of Applied Sciences | 114 | 26 | 88 |
Bjørknes University College | 2 257 | 473 | 1 784 |
Queen Maud University College | 1 439 | 244 | 1 195 |
Kristiania University College | 12 824 | 4 599 | 8 225 |
NLA University College | 2 556 | 882 | 1 674 |
Norwegian Police University College | 2 216 | 1 160 | 1 056 |
Military University Colleges | 887 | 710 | 177 |
Other University Colleges | 4 405 | 1 694 | 2 711 |
Abroad | 13 533 | 5 237 | 8 296 |
Table 3
Field of education for students in Norway and abroad
Numbers | Per cent | Per cent | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Males | Females | |||||||
2010 | 2019 | 2020 | 2010 | 2019 | 2020 | 2010 | 2019 | 2020 | |
1Includes preparatory courses for university or university college education. Includes not preparatory course for engineering education as of 2014. | |||||||||
2Students who take a whole degree abroad. | |||||||||
Corrected 8 April 2021. | |||||||||
Fields of Education | |||||||||
Students in Norway | 227 747 | 281 702 | 292 834 | 39.8 | 40.2 | 40.0 | 60.2 | 59.8 | 60.0 |
General programmes1 | 1 734 | 371 | 694 | 82.4 | 68.5 | 75.5 | 17.6 | 31.5 | 24.5 |
Humanities and arts | 26 339 | 28 491 | 28 569 | 37.8 | 39.7 | 40.1 | 62.7 | 60.3 | 59.9 |
Education | 33 342 | 48 266 | 49 275 | 24.1 | 27.6 | 27.6 | 75.8 | 72.4 | 72.4 |
Social sciences and law | 31 150 | 36 467 | 37 983 | 37.8 | 35.6 | 35.3 | 62.7 | 64.4 | 64.7 |
Business and administration | 42 000 | 52 383 | 57 872 | 46.0 | 47.2 | 46.3 | 53.7 | 52.8 | 53.7 |
Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects | 37 712 | 49 764 | 50 757 | 68.4 | 65.4 | 65.8 | 32.1 | 34.6 | 34.2 |
Health, welfare and sport | 48 648 | 55 543 | 57 378 | 20.9 | 22.7 | 21.4 | 77.6 | 77.3 | 78.6 |
Primary industries | 1 178 | 1 562 | 1 656 | 55.1 | 47.9 | 43.0 | 46.2 | 52.1 | 57.0 |
Transport and communications, safety and security and other services | 4 055 | 6 971 | 7 001 | 69.0 | 62.1 | 64.1 | 31.9 | 37.9 | 35.9 |
Unspecified field of study | 1 589 | 1 884 | 1 649 | 38.9 | 40.3 | 37.9 | 61.1 | 59.7 | 62.1 |
Norwegian students abroad2 | 13 555 | 14 480 | 13 533 | 40.0 | 38.1 | 38.7 | 60.0 | 61.9 | 61.3 |
General programmes1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Humanities and arts | 2 028 | 1 768 | 1 606 | 30.6 | 31.7 | 33.1 | 69.4 | 68.3 | 66.9 |
Education | 190 | 91 | 88 | 30.5 | 28.6 | 21.6 | 69.5 | 71.4 | 78.4 |
Social sciences and law | 2 479 | 2 845 | 2 662 | 30.6 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 69.4 | 75.0 | 75.0 |
Business and administration | 2 726 | 2 827 | 2 605 | 51.0 | 51.4 | 54.5 | 49.0 | 48.6 | 45.5 |
Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects | 1 416 | 2 086 | 1 969 | 53.0 | 53.3 | 53.1 | 47.0 | 46.7 | 46.9 |
Health, welfare and sport | 4 513 | 4 598 | 4 517 | 39.1 | 34.9 | 33.9 | 60.9 | 65.1 | 66.1 |
Primary industries | 33 | 43 | 49 | 9.1 | 14.0 | 12.2 | 90.9 | 86.0 | 87.8 |
Transport and communications, safety and security and other services | 169 | 20 | 18 | 46.2 | 75.0 | 72.2 | 53.8 | 25.0 | 27.8 |
Unspecified field of study | 1 | 202 | 19 | 0.0 | 16.8 | 21.1 | 100.0 | 83.2 | 78.9 |
Table 4
Country of study for students abroad
Total | Males | Females | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 2019 | 2020 | 2010 | 2019 | 2020 | 2010 | 2019 | 2020 | |
1Students who take a whole degree abroad. | |||||||||
Corrected 8 April 2021. | |||||||||
Countries of destination | |||||||||
Total | 13 555 | 14 480 | 13 533 | 5 424 | 5 523 | 5 237 | 8 131 | 8 957 | 8 296 |
Denmark | 2 423 | 2 258 | 2 166 | 779 | 785 | 766 | 1 644 | 1 473 | 1 400 |
Sweden | 709 | 529 | 460 | 265 | 213 | 167 | 444 | 316 | 293 |
France | 214 | 174 | 187 | 80 | 79 | 84 | 134 | 95 | 103 |
Ireland | 131 | 64 | 58 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 109 | 41 | 36 |
Italy | 55 | 104 | 109 | 20 | 46 | 45 | 35 | 58 | 64 |
Netherlands | 357 | 591 | 632 | 157 | 259 | 271 | 200 | 332 | 361 |
Poland | 1 364 | 1 590 | 1 548 | 609 | 615 | 566 | 755 | 975 | 982 |
Spain | 98 | 346 | 381 | 32 | 118 | 129 | 66 | 228 | 252 |
United Kingdom | 3 417 | 3 728 | 3 509 | 1 299 | 1 293 | 1 278 | 2 118 | 2 435 | 2 231 |
Switzerland | 50 | 71 | 66 | 23 | 37 | 34 | 27 | 34 | 32 |
Germany | 183 | 292 | 280 | 66 | 139 | 128 | 117 | 153 | 152 |
Hungary | 735 | 761 | 718 | 273 | 226 | 198 | 462 | 535 | 520 |
Czech Republic | 253 | 211 | 200 | 132 | 90 | 85 | 121 | 121 | 115 |
Slovak Republic | 303 | 506 | 500 | 128 | 176 | 178 | 175 | 330 | 322 |
Rest of Europe | 273 | 567 | 643 | 127 | 259 | 290 | 146 | 308 | 353 |
Africa | 68 | 23 | 14 | 32 | 8 | 7 | 36 | 15 | 7 |
Asia | 121 | 304 | 197 | 76 | 121 | 82 | 45 | 183 | 115 |
Canada | 151 | 132 | 106 | 77 | 58 | 49 | 74 | 74 | 57 |
USA | 1 176 | 1 610 | 1 326 | 598 | 797 | 712 | 578 | 813 | 614 |
Rest of North- and Central America | 9 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
South America | 23 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 8 | 5 |
Australia | 1 384 | 557 | 391 | 596 | 170 | 131 | 788 | 387 | 260 |
Rest of Oceania | 56 | 41 | 30 | 20 | 6 | 9 | 36 | 35 | 21 |
Unknown | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Table 5
Students in selected programmes by immigration category
2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Numbers | Per cent | |||
Total | Immigrants | Norwegian-born to immigrant parents | Other population | |
Corrected 8 April 2021. | ||||
Men | ||||
3 year degree, bachelor | 56 140 | 11.7 | 5.7 | 82.7 |
Of which | ||||
Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education | 1 545 | 13.5 | 5.0 | 81.6 |
Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme | 774 | 6.7 | 3.0 | 90.3 |
Engineering, foundation programme | 9 073 | 14.1 | 5.9 | 80.0 |
Nursing, foundation programme | 2 233 | 23.8 | 2.8 | 73.4 |
Business and Administration subjects | 15 066 | 10.2 | 6.9 | 82.9 |
4 year degree, bachelor | 495 | 4.2 | 1.6 | 94.1 |
Of which | ||||
General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education | 128 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 94.5 |
5 year degree, master | 32 632 | 11.2 | 3.9 | 84.9 |
Of which | ||||
Master of Law | 1 865 | 2.7 | 5.1 | 92.1 |
Master of Pharmacy | 136 | 41.9 | 19.1 | 39.0 |
Master of Odontology | 188 | 26.6 | 14.4 | 59.0 |
Master of Science in Business and Economics | 1 664 | 8.4 | 6.4 | 85.2 |
Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree | 7 118 | 11.9 | 5.1 | 83.0 |
Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education | 3 222 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 93.5 |
Master degree, teacher training | 2 135 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 91.6 |
6 year degree | 1 878 | 8.9 | 6.0 | 85.0 |
Of which | ||||
Cand.med. (Medicine) | 1 221 | 10.6 | 7.9 | 81.5 |
Cand.theol. | 110 | 8.2 | 0.9 | 90.9 |
Cand.psychol. | 484 | 5.2 | 3.1 | 91.7 |
Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science) | 63 | 7.9 | 0.0 | 92.1 |
Women | ||||
3 year degree, bachelor | 75 594 | 12.2 | 4.9 | 82.9 |
Of which | ||||
Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education | 7 107 | 12.8 | 4.1 | 83.1 |
Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme | 740 | 10.9 | 3.4 | 85.7 |
Engineering, foundation programme | 2 271 | 18.1 | 7.0 | 74.9 |
Nursing, foundation programme | 13 242 | 11.7 | 3.0 | 85.3 |
Business and Administration subjects | 14 155 | 11.9 | 5.4 | 82.7 |
4 year degree, bachelor | 638 | 7.4 | 2.8 | 89.8 |
Of which | ||||
General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education | 357 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 90.8 |
5 year degree, master | 44 747 | 10.8 | 3.5 | 85.7 |
Of which | ||||
Master of Law | 3 556 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 90.0 |
Master of Pharmacy | 433 | 33.7 | 21.9 | 44.3 |
Master of Odontology | 569 | 20.4 | 15.3 | 64.3 |
Master of Science in Business and Economics | 1 050 | 10.1 | 5.7 | 84.2 |
Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree | 3 392 | 10.9 | 4.9 | 84.2 |
Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education | 7 220 | 3.7 | 2.9 | 93.4 |
Master degree, teacher training | 3 123 | 5.8 | 4.8 | 89.4 |
6 year degree | 5 057 | 6.9 | 5.6 | 87.5 |
Of which | ||||
Cand.med. (Medicine) | 2 969 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 84.9 |
Cand.theol. | 98 | 11.2 | 1.0 | 87.8 |
Cand.psychol. | 1 623 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 91.4 |
Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science) | 367 | 7.9 | 0.5 | 91.6 |
Table 6
Parents’ level of education for resident students in Norway
2005 | 2015 | 2020 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All residents | Propotion which was registered in higher education | All residents | Propotion which was registered in higher education | All residents | Propotion which was registered in higher education | |
Corrected 8 April 2021. | ||||||
19-24 years | ||||||
Males | 168 033 | 25.3 | 210 958 | 27.9 | 207 662 | 29.9 |
Mother or father has long higher education | 16 582 | 55.3 | 23 472 | 54.9 | 29 141 | 55.0 |
Mother or father has short higher education | 43 356 | 37.8 | 65 164 | 38.3 | 70 814 | 37.7 |
Mother or father has upper secondary education | 79 728 | 18.0 | 86 772 | 19.7 | 76 367 | 20.3 |
Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education | 21 034 | 8.9 | 20 067 | 12.2 | 17 122 | 15.3 |
Not stated | 7 333 | 10.1 | 15 483 | 9.4 | 14 218 | 8.5 |
Females | 162 041 | 36.8 | 198 049 | 42.3 | 193 789 | 46.4 |
Mother or father has long higher education | 15 289 | 63.7 | 22 081 | 65.2 | 27 277 | 65.9 |
Mother or father has short higher education | 41 435 | 51.6 | 61 377 | 54.1 | 67 454 | 55.4 |
Mother or father has upper secondary education | 75 376 | 31.5 | 81 253 | 36.8 | 71 841 | 39.4 |
Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education | 19 991 | 16.6 | 18 949 | 22.2 | 16 088 | 27.9 |
Not stated | 9 950 | 13.7 | 14 389 | 15.1 | 11 129 | 15.3 |
25-29 years | ||||||
Males | 143 476 | 14.8 | 183 761 | 13.7 | 187 733 | 14.6 |
Mother or father has long higher education | 11 983 | 33.5 | 15 975 | 29.9 | 18 844 | 29.5 |
Mother or father has short higher education | 31 140 | 23.0 | 44 817 | 21.3 | 53 155 | 20.6 |
Mother or father has upper secondary education | 71 441 | 11.1 | 70 384 | 10.4 | 72 152 | 10.4 |
Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education | 16 772 | 6.2 | 18 240 | 6.5 | 16 775 | 8.1 |
Not stated | 12 140 | 9.3 | 34 345 | 6.9 | 26 807 | 7.8 |
Females | 141 841 | 17.8 | 177 551 | 17.6 | 178 001 | 18.9 |
Mother or father has long higher education | 11 398 | 35.4 | 15 141 | 31.7 | 17 729 | 31.7 |
Mother or father has short higher education | 29 183 | 26.8 | 42 404 | 25.8 | 49 810 | 25.0 |
Mother or father has upper secondary education | 68 331 | 14.8 | 66 620 | 15.8 | 67 564 | 16.2 |
Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education | 16 127 | 9.2 | 17 187 | 11.0 | 15 671 | 12.6 |
Not stated | 16 802 | 10.8 | 36 199 | 8.4 | 27 227 | 9.6 |
About the statistics
The statistics cover all students registered in higher education as of October 1. Persons enrolled in doctoral programs (PhD) are not included. It includes students taking entire study programs abroad, excluding exchange students. Statistics covering new students in higher education is updated in June.
Definitions
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Enrolled students: Students registered at an approved institution for higher education in Norway and students from Norway registered abroad in higher education, excluding exchange students.
Type of school: According to the Standard Industrial Classification of 2007. The schools are classified as Universities, Specialized University Institutions, and University Colleges, where University Colleges are again divided into three main groups: State University Colleges, Military Colleges and “other university colleges.”
Educational activity: According to the Norwegian Standard Classification of Education (NUS2000). Programmes are classified according to their level and field of study
School county/school municipality: The county/municipality where the institution is located.
County of residence at 16 years: County where the student resided at the age 16.
Highest educational attainment of parents: Parental educational attainment is divided into four categories: (1) Primary and lower secondary education, (2) Upper secondary education, (3) Higher education, short (at least two years, but also 4 years or less), and (4) Higher education, long (more than four years). Parental educational attainment is defined by that of the parents with the highest level of education. For example, if the parental educational attainment of a student is “(3) Higher education, short,” it implies that at least one of the parents has education at this level. Cases where there is no information on the level of education of any of the parents falls into the “Unspecified” group. See also the definitions of educational level.
Immigrants: Persons born abroad of two foreign-born parents and four foreign-born grandparents.
Norwegian-born to immigrant parents: Persons who are born in Norway of two parents born abroad, and in addition have four grandparents born abroad.
Teacher training and pedagogy programmes include: Teacher training programme; Various bachelor’s programmes in pre-school/kindergarten teacher education, specific subject/vocational teacher education and within pedagogy; General teacher/primary and lower secondary teacher programme and specific subject/vocational teacher education; Master’s programmes in teacher training and pedagogy; Postgraduate programmes for teachers.
Age: Estimated as of December 31.
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Educational activities are grouped by the Norwegian Standard Classification of Education which was established in 1970 by Statistics Norway and later revised in 1973, 1989 and 2000. Educational institutions are classified as being higher education by the Standard Industrial Classification.
For international purposes, the ISCED 2011 is used (International Standard Classification of Education).
Administrative information
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Name: Students in higher education
Topic: Education
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Division for Education and Culture Statistics
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Figures are presented at national level, at municipal level and by educational institution. Data on enrolment in higher education includes information that makes it possible to provide figures at other regional levels.
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Final figures are published annually in March/April and refer to enrolment in higher education as of October 1 the year before.
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Data on enrolment is delivered to OECD, UNESCO and Eurostat (U-O-E).
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Statistics Norway stores all data in a proper, standardised manner in consultation with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority.
Statistics Norway can deliver supplementary data and tables related to these statistics. To order supplementary data and tables, please contact Statistics Norway: oppdragutdanning@ssb.no. The price will depend on the size of the order.
Background
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There is a high demand for the collection of official statistics on education. Official education statistics are individually based and document all educational activities for current students at universities and colleges in Norway and abroad.
Norway’s education statistics went through a structural readjustment in the beginning of the 1970’s. All statistics on higher education were previously available through a census. The data is now individually based, where all educational activities are attached to each individual’s personal ID-number. The data is contained in the National Education Database (NUDB), in a format that allows the production of different kinds of education statistics and alignment with other types of individually based statistics where necessary (e.g. income, social-welfare).
The purpose of the statistics is to present individually based statistics of students in higher education in Norway and abroad.
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Important users of the education statistics are the Ministry of Education and Research, public administration, researchers, special interest organisations, international organisations (Eurostat, OECD and UNESCO), media, business and industry. In addition, data is used internally in Statistics Norway in publications and in assignments.
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No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8:00 AM. Prior to this, a minimum of three months’ advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
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Data from higher education is combined with data from lower- and upper secondary education when revision processes are complete. Data is then stored as single annual files in the National Education Database (NUDB). Statistics Norway uses a similar system for all individually based statistics, making it easy to combine education statistics with other statistics. Labour market statistics, health statistics, living conditions statistics and income and wage statistics are examples of other individually based statistics compiled by Statistics Norway.
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Act of 21 June 2019 No. 32 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway § 10.
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Commission Regulation (EU) No 88/2011 of 2 February 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards statistics on education and training systems.
Production
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The statistics cover all students of educational institutions that are classified as universities, specialised universities or university colleges in the Standard Industrial Classification per 1 October each year.
Universities: Nord University, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University (formerly known as Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Agder, University of Bergen, University of Oslo, University of South-Eastern Norway, University of Stavanger, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Specialised University Institutions: BI – Norwegian Business School, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Molde University College – Specialized University in Logistics, NHH – Norwegian School of Economics, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and VID Specialized University.
University Colleges are grouped into: State University Colleges, Military University Colleges and “other university colleges.” State University College is a term derived from the reform of 1994 in colleges in Norway, which resulted in the consolidation of 98 smaller state colleges into 26 larger units.
In recent years, a number of institutions in higher education has been merged into larger units, see changes in educational institutions (in Norwegian).
As some University Colleges were merged in 2016 into larger units, there was a decrease in the number of students in University Colleges, as well as a corresponding increase in the number of students in Universities and in Specialized University Institutions.
There are several criteria for how a student’s educational activity is recorded. Each student can be registered as active in only one educational activity, although he/she may be registered for several educational activities or educational institutions at the same time. If a student is registered for several activities or several institutions at the same time, education at the highest level is maintained above others, educational activity at a Specialised University Institution is chosen over education at other types of school, and full-time activity is chosen over part-time activities. If a student is enrolled in several part-time educational activities, the one with highest level is chosen. Persons in doctoral programmes (PhD) are not included.
Information on students abroad only includes students who take a whole degree abroad, excluding exchange students.
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Pursuant to the Statistical Act, Statistics Norway collects student data from Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) and the administrative systems of various higher education institutions.
Information on students abroad is provided by the State Education Loan Fund.
Surveys are not employed to collect education statistics. All data is obtained from university and college databases.
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Data collection: Pursuant to the Statistical Act (June 1989, No.54), Statistics Norway collects student data from Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH), the administrative systems of various higher education institutions, and the State Education Loan Fund.
Editing: Editing includes both control and revision and is performed on all educational data collected. It encompasses deletion of duplicate records, a control for correct and valid values for each variable, comparisons with last year’s data and checks for missing information. Several variables are re-coded to comply with control programs run by Statistics Norway. Personal ID-numbers are referenced against Statistics Norway’s population database to check for errors. At last, duplicate students are deleted, which implies that a student can only be counted once although the student may be registered for several educational activities or educational institutions at the same time.
Estimation: No estimation is performed. The statistics are based data obtained from university and college databases.
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Not relevant
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Data is not released where there are less than three units within a single cell in a table if there is a risk of identification, i.e. the data can be traced back to an identifiable person.
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Individually based data on students has been published annually since it was first collected in 1974. Most variables are comparable, but some have changed. The Norwegian Standard Classification of Education (NUS2000) has been revised to secure comparability over time. While educational variables are reasonably comparable over time, other variables, e.g. various institution types, cannot be re-coded and thus not comparable over time.
Accuracy and reliability
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Statistical investigations may encounter various sources of error. The errors can occur either during data collection (in this case, registration of student information) or during data processing (control and revision processes performed by Statistics Norway).
It is difficult to estimate the extent of error in student registers. A person may be wrongly registered as being a student, especially for individual institutions that use a different enumeration date than Statistics Norway (October 1). There could be an overestimation of enrolled students since student registration occur with payment of registration fees rather than enrolment in courses. In addition, some students could remain as enrolled students in the system even after graduating. There is also the possibility of students reporting inaccurate information about themselves in registration. Personal responsible for reporting student data at institutions could also make errors during data processing.
Information on students abroad is provided by the State Education Loan Fund. However, Norwegian students abroad who are not registered in the State Education Loan Fund’s system are missed out in the statistics.
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See general principles for revisions in Statistics Norway.
Analyses, articles and publications
Facts about education in Norway 2020
Published 7 January 2020Where in the country do most children go to kindergarten, and what line of study is most popular at the moment? The Facts about education publication includes most of the figures on education in Norway – from kindergarten to university.
Read this publicationMore students want to become teachers
Published 28 March 2019The number of students in teacher training and pedagogy programmes continues to increase. From 2017 to 2018, there was a particularly high increase in the number of students in primary and lower secondary teacher education.
Read this articleThe largest study locations in Norway
Published 23 March 2018The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has most students, but a number of new higher education institutions have been included in the top ten as a result of mergers in recent years.
Read this articleWhich students are most satisfied with the quality of teaching?
Published 26 February 2018Sixty-five per cent of students in Norway are satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of teaching, but differences are huge. Students are most satisfied at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås and at the Norwegian School of Economics.
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Geir Nygård
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Maj-Lisa Lervåg