The figures from 2024 were corrected on 3 April 2025. Students on leave were included in the update on 27 March 2025 but are now excluded from the figures.
Statistikk innhold
Statistics about
Students in higher education
The statistics include all students registered in higher education as of October 1. Persons enrolled in doctoral programs (PhD) are not included. Students taking an entire study program abroad are included, whereas exchange students are excluded. Statistics on new students in higher education are updated in June.
Selected figures from this statistics
- Students in higher education in Norway and abroadDownload table as ...Students in higher education in Norway and abroad
2014 2023 2024 Students Total 272 504 311 765 314 277 Males 109 768 122 827 123 171 Females 162 736 188 938 191 106 Student proportion among 19-24 year olds Total 34.0 36.7 37.2 Males 27.1 28.8 29.0 Females 41.3 45.1 45.9 Student proportion among 25-29 year olds Total 15.2 17.0 17.7 Males 13.5 14.6 14.9 Females 17.0 19.6 20.8 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Resident students in Norway by immigration category and ageDownload table as ...Resident students in Norway by immigration category and age
2024 Total Immigrants Norwegian-born to immigrant parents Other population Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Total, 19-34 years 98 216 142 179 11 527 16 663 6 953 8 999 79 736 116 517 19 years 4 047 7 102 543 854 635 867 2 869 5 381 20 years 8 246 14 524 958 1 438 868 1 308 6 420 11 778 21 years 12 162 18 828 1 099 1 642 1 040 1 429 10 023 15 757 22 years 12 132 17 801 1 074 1 654 951 1 223 10 107 14 924 23 years 11 821 16 281 1 013 1 526 815 971 9 993 13 784 24 years 10 661 14 174 989 1 417 652 872 9 020 11 885 25 years 8 362 11 149 891 1 222 465 571 7 006 9 356 26 years 6 560 8 499 816 1 015 349 408 5 395 7 076 27 years 5 167 6 775 712 941 281 322 4 174 5 512 28 years 4 286 5 627 681 856 233 248 3 372 4 523 29 years 3 463 4 604 555 771 198 218 2 710 3 615 30-34 years 11 309 16 815 2 196 3 327 466 562 8 647 12 926 Proportion registered in higher education Total, 19-34 years 16.4 25.0 9.5 14.1 26.5 36.9 17.7 27.3 19 years 11.8 22.1 10.8 19.7 26.1 39.0 10.7 21.0 20 years 24.2 45.0 19.5 32.2 38.3 59.3 23.8 46.0 21 years 36.2 58.5 23.0 34.7 46.7 68.3 37.6 62.1 22 years 36.7 55.8 21.9 33.5 46.8 62.2 38.6 59.7 23 years 34.4 50.1 18.0 29.7 42.3 55.8 37.3 53.7 24 years 29.4 41.7 15.5 24.8 34.6 48.3 32.2 45.0 25 years 22.7 32.3 13.0 19.4 26.9 35.8 24.9 35.1 26 years 17.9 24.3 11.1 14.2 22.2 29.3 19.4 26.7 27 years 13.6 18.8 9.3 12.3 19.4 23.2 14.5 20.4 28 years 11.0 15.2 8.4 10.4 15.9 18.1 11.5 16.4 29 years 8.9 12.4 6.5 9.0 13.5 16.5 9.3 13.2 30-34 years 5.6 8.7 4.3 6.6 8.1 10.7 5.9 9.4 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Students by educational institutionDownload table as ...Students by educational institution
Students 2024 Both sexes Males Females Educational institutions, total 314 277 123 171 191 106 Nord university 11 004 3 751 7 253 Norwegian University of Life Sciences 8 103 3 116 4 987 Norwegian University of Science and Technology 42 608 20 198 22 410 Oslo Metropolitan University 22 698 7 075 15 623 UiT - The Arctic University of Norway 16 072 6 564 9 508 University of Agder 13 924 5 697 8 227 University of Bergen 19 607 7 308 12 299 University of Oslo 26 077 9 970 16 107 University of Stavanger 13 170 5 361 7 809 University of South-Eastern Norway 17 294 6 502 10 792 The Oslo School of Architecture and Design 887 326 561 BI Norwegian Business School 21 161 10 627 10 534 Molde University College - Specialised University of Logistics 3 531 1 494 2 037 Oslo National Academy of the Arts 608 189 419 MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society 944 321 623 Norwegian School of Economics 4 260 2 445 1 815 Norwegian School of Sport Sciences 2 040 964 1 076 Norwegian Academy of Music 841 400 441 VID Specialised University 5 758 966 4 792 Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences 14 276 4 545 9 731 Østfold University College 6 812 2 411 4 401 Volda University College 3 998 1 259 2 739 Western Norway University of Applied Sciences 16 474 5 758 10 716 Sámi University of Applied Sciences 188 34 154 Oslo New University College 3 449 775 2 674 Queen Maud University College 966 156 810 Kristiania University of Applied Sciences 13 862 5 043 8 819 NLA University College 2 876 1 150 1 726 Norwegian Police University College 3 021 1 487 1 534 Military University Colleges 783 626 157 Other University Colleges 4 587 1 862 2 725 Abroad 12 398 4 791 7 607 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Field of education for students in Norway and abroadDownload table as ...Field of education for students in Norway and abroad
Numbers Per cent Total Males Females 2014 2023 2024 2014 2023 2024 2014 2023 2024 Fields of Education Students in Norway 255 588 299 062 301 879 40.5 39.4 39.2 59.7 60.6 60.8 General programmes1 319 631 242 65.5 71.0 63.6 34.5 29.0 36.4 Humanities and arts 25 892 27 264 26 505 39.1 38.1 38.8 61.7 61.9 61.2 Education 38 227 45 850 43 654 25.0 26.9 26.9 75.0 73.1 73.1 Social sciences and law 32 851 38 351 39 633 36.9 33.6 32.8 64.1 66.4 67.2 Business and administration 46 946 58 183 60 347 45.6 46.6 46.4 54.4 53.4 53.6 Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects 46 354 53 630 53 932 67.8 63.6 62.6 32.8 36.4 37.4 Health, welfare and sport 52 372 60 204 61 564 21.1 21.7 20.8 77.4 78.3 79.2 Primary industries 1 263 1 885 1 850 52.7 43.1 44.4 48.3 56.9 55.6 Transport and communications, safety and security and other services 8 389 8 861 9 779 68.7 59.7 61.4 31.3 40.3 38.6 Unspecified field of study 2 975 4 203 4 373 40.5 39.5 40.4 61.4 60.5 59.6 Norwegian students abroad2 16 916 12 703 12 398 37.1 38.8 38.6 62.9 61.2 61.4 General programmes1 0 0 0 . . . . . . Humanities and arts 2 350 1 376 1 325 29.7 29.8 30.8 70.3 70.2 69.2 Education 88 77 51 14.8 22.1 23.5 85.2 77.9 76.5 Social sciences and law 3 056 2 320 2 093 25.2 26.1 25.6 74.8 73.9 74.4 Business and administration 3 615 2 726 2 873 45.5 54.8 54.4 54.5 45.2 45.6 Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects 1 783 1 754 1 719 51.1 52.1 50.3 48.9 47.9 49.7 Health, welfare and sport 5 037 4 208 4 145 38.3 33.7 32.8 61.7 66.3 67.2 Primary industries 36 36 31 16.7 25.0 22.6 83.3 75.0 77.4 Transport and communications, safety and security and other services 0 26 28 . 65.4 67.9 . 34.6 32.1 Unspecified field of study 951 180 133 32.6 25.0 17.3 67.4 75.0 82.7 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. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Country of study for students abroadDownload table as ...Country of study for students abroad1
Total Males Females 2014 2023 2024 2014 2023 2024 2014 2023 2024 Countries of destination Total 16 916 12 703 12 398 6 283 4 930 4 791 10 633 7 773 7 607 Denmark 2 974 1 880 1 758 1 007 634 592 1 967 1 246 1 166 Sweden 727 478 475 277 175 170 450 303 305 France 213 215 248 79 105 116 134 110 132 Ireland 92 65 74 22 18 23 70 47 51 Italy 76 204 219 24 67 79 52 137 140 Netherlands 370 659 650 144 296 272 226 363 378 Poland 1 571 1 519 1 483 666 546 517 905 973 966 Spain 186 490 561 69 174 198 117 316 363 United Kingdom 5 182 2 476 2 157 1 748 882 779 3 434 1 594 1 378 Switzerland 56 94 116 27 62 70 29 32 46 Germany 212 286 290 85 130 132 127 156 158 Hungary 928 662 629 302 181 169 626 481 460 Czech Republic 355 146 139 152 64 64 203 82 75 Slovak Republic 488 400 385 209 144 129 279 256 256 Rest of Europe 437 820 944 179 337 398 258 483 546 Africa 49 15 18 22 8 10 27 7 8 Asia 181 301 318 95 101 114 86 200 204 Canada 126 79 69 72 36 35 54 43 34 USA 1 837 1 416 1 366 804 798 766 1 033 618 600 Rest of North- and Central America 4 2 4 3 0 1 1 2 3 South America 14 9 7 5 4 4 9 5 3 Australia 771 472 471 261 161 147 510 311 324 Rest of Oceania 67 15 17 31 7 6 36 8 11 Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1Students who take a whole degree abroad. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Students in selected programmes by immigration categoryDownload table as ...Students in selected programmes by immigration category
2024 Numbers Per cent Total Immigrants Norwegian-born to immigrant parents Other population Men 3 year degree, bachelor 56 762 13.4 7.4 79.2 Of which Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education 980 15.6 6.0 78.4 Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme 387 6.2 1.0 92.8 Engineering, foundation programme 8 435 16.2 8.2 75.6 Nursing, foundation programme 2 134 26.8 4.2 69.0 Business and Administration subjects 16 218 10.2 7.5 82.4 4 year degree, bachelor 344 8.7 0.9 90.4 Of which General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education 36 5.6 0.0 94.4 5 year degree, master 33 262 11.4 5.0 83.6 Of which Master of Law 1 475 4.4 5.6 90.0 Master of Pharmacy 212 50.0 23.6 26.4 Master of Odontology 174 32.8 23.0 44.3 Master of Science in Business and Economics 1 923 6.8 4.5 88.7 Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree 8 586 10.9 6.2 82.9 Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education 2 845 4.5 4.5 91.1 Master degree, teacher training 1 722 5.6 5.0 89.4 6 year degree 2 123 9.9 7.5 82.6 Of which Cand.med. (Medicine) 1 386 12.4 10.0 77.6 Cand.theol. 102 4.9 2.0 93.1 Cand.psychol. 566 5.1 2.7 92.2 Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science) 69 7.2 4.3 88.4 Women 3 year degree, bachelor 78 968 14.8 6.4 78.8 Of which Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education 4 733 17.5 4.5 78.0 Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme 300 8.0 2.3 89.7 Engineering, foundation programme 2 355 21.1 8.9 70.0 Nursing, foundation programme 12 747 16.6 4.6 78.8 Business and Administration subjects 16 490 13.4 6.3 80.4 4 year degree, bachelor 310 17.7 2.9 79.4 Of which General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education 42 4.8 2.4 92.9 5 year degree, master 50 534 11.1 4.4 84.5 Of which Master of Law 3 722 5.3 6.0 88.7 Master of Pharmacy 499 44.5 25.9 29.7 Master of Odontology 609 22.5 16.9 60.6 Master of Science in Business and Economics 1 327 8.9 5.1 86.0 Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree 4 663 8.9 5.5 85.6 Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education 6 995 4.3 4.0 91.7 Master degree, teacher training 2 513 7.2 7.2 85.6 6 year degree 5 640 7.6 6.5 85.9 Of which Cand.med. (Medicine) 3 435 8.6 8.6 82.9 Cand.theol. 113 14.2 1.8 84.1 Cand.psychol. 1 655 6.3 3.9 89.8 Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science) 437 3.9 1.1 95.0 Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Parents’ level of education for resident students in NorwayDownload table as ...Parents’ level of education for resident students in Norway
2009 2019 2024 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 19-24 years Males 188 227 24.5 210 338 28.5 205 677 29.0 Mother or father has long higher education 18 490 53.4 27 930 53.5 34 863 51.6 Mother or father has short higher education 51 760 36.3 70 282 36.7 73 533 34.2 Mother or father has upper secondary education 83 292 16.9 79 313 19.6 65 305 18.9 Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education 21 743 9.4 17 731 14.1 16 479 16.3 Not stated 12 942 10.8 15 082 7.9 15 497 9.3 Females 180 523 37.2 195 647 43.5 195 024 45.9 Mother or father has long higher education 17 531 63.7 26 116 62.9 33 129 62.9 Mother or father has short higher education 48 989 51.2 66 488 52.7 70 392 53.7 Mother or father has upper secondary education 78 828 32.0 74 515 37.3 61 858 38.8 Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education 20 658 18.0 16 636 25.6 15 581 30.5 Not stated 14 517 13.4 11 892 14.6 14 064 15.6 25-29 years Males 153 596 13.1 188 750 13.9 189 307 14.9 Mother or father has long higher education 12 904 31.0 18 226 28.8 22 573 29.0 Mother or father has short higher education 33 954 20.8 51 833 20.1 57 491 19.9 Mother or father has upper secondary education 66 472 9.5 73 031 9.9 67 191 10.3 Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education 17 193 6.1 17 185 7.0 15 092 8.7 Not stated 23 073 7.1 28 475 7.5 26 960 7.2 Females 149 123 16.6 180 313 17.9 179 933 20.8 Mother or father has long higher education 11 943 32.0 17 184 31.2 21 012 33.0 Mother or father has short higher education 32 527 24.9 48 870 24.2 54 435 26.4 Mother or father has upper secondary education 62 843 14.2 68 275 15.4 63 115 18.0 Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education 16 315 9.2 16 228 11.7 14 014 15.5 Not stated 25 495 9.3 29 756 9.1 27 357 9.2 The number for all residents and the proportion which was registered in higher education in 2023 was corrected 22 August 2024. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 11 December 2023.
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:
- Primary and lower secondary education
- Upper secondary education
- Higher education, short (at least two years, but also 4 years or less)
- Higher education, long (more than four years)
Parental educational attainment is defined by the one parent with the highest level of education. For example, if the parental educational attainment of a student is “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.
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).
Name: Students in higher education
Topic: Education
Division for Education and Culture Statistics
Figures are presented at national level, at municipal level and by educational institution. Data on enrolment in higher education include information that makes it possible to provide figures at other regional levels.
Figures are published annually in April. As of 2015 data on credit points was merged with data on graduations from universities and colleges. Prior to 2015 data on credit points was published separately.
The data is provided for UNESCO, OECD and Eurostat (U-O-E).
Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.
Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.
There is a high demand for the collection of official statistics on education. Official education statistics are individually based and document the educational activities of all Norwegian residents from completion of lower secondary school to completion of all higher education including doctoral/PhD studies.
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 graduates and attained credit points in higher education in Norway.
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.
No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.
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.
The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 is defined here as checking, examining and amending data. 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.
Not relevant.
Interviewers and everyone who works at Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality. Statistics Norway has its own data protection officer.
Statistics Norway does not publish figures where there is a risk of identifying individual data about persons.
The suppression method is used in these statistics to ensure this.
More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.
Individually based data on completed education has been published annually since it was first collected in the academic year 1973/74. 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.
Statistical investigations may encounter various sources of error. The errors may 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.
A revision is a planned change to figures that have already been published, for example when releasing final figures as a follow-up to published preliminary figures. See also Statistics Norway’s principles for revisions.
Contact
Relatert innhold
Analyses, articles and publications
Article / 28 March 2019More students want to become teachersThe 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.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 2018/01: QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATIONWhich students are most satisfied with the quality of teaching?Sixty-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.
BookletsFacts about education in Norway 2021The Facts about education publication includes most of the figures on education in Norway – from kindergarten to university.