Students in higher education

Updated: 31 March 2023

Next update: 5 April 2024

Proportion of 19-24 year-olds enrolled in higher education
Proportion of 19-24 year-olds enrolled in higher education
2022
37.4
%
Students in higher education in Norway and abroad
Students in higher education in Norway and abroad
201220212022
Students
Total261 164318 105310 934
Males104 459126 784123 830
Females156 705191 321187 104
Student proportion among 19-24 year olds
Total32.438.437.4
Males26.130.229.4
Females39.147.245.9
Student proportion among 25-29 year olds
Total15.117.016.6
Males13.214.614.2
Females17.219.519.0
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Resident students in Norway by immigration category
    Resident students in Norway by immigration category
    2022
    TotalImmigrantsNorwegian-born to immigrant parentsOther population
    MalesFemalesMalesFemalesMalesFemalesMalesFemales
    Total, 19-34 years97 509138 95910 19914 4286 1477 93781 163116 594
    19 years4 6548 2185268396089763 5206 403
    20 years8 40614 4857721 2158511 2106 78312 060
    21 years11 91618 5799051 4129001 20310 11115 964
    22 years12 81717 9939301 3948531 08411 03415 515
    23 years11 85615 8698881 24270687110 26213 756
    24 years10 20513 0848361 0355516168 81811 433
    25 years8 20010 2207739583894917 0388 771
    26 years6 3747 9457298743413675 3046 704
    27 years4 9146 1776277712622684 0255 138
    28 years3 9125 1055427172172343 1534 154
    29 years3 3154 4005657101401542 6103 536
    30-34 years10 94016 8842 1063 2613294638 50513 160
    Proportion registered in higher education
    Total, 19-34 years16.524.79.914.726.636.817.426.3
    19 years14.226.214.625.727.646.613.124.7
    20 years26.146.821.436.341.961.625.547.0
    21 years35.959.122.541.846.868.937.160.7
    22 years36.655.020.737.745.259.938.557.0
    23 years33.548.318.732.140.854.435.550.2
    24 years29.039.616.523.735.343.930.941.9
    25 years22.629.914.720.226.835.123.831.3
    26 years17.122.412.916.023.326.717.523.4
    27 years13.017.310.013.017.820.113.418.1
    28 years10.314.18.110.915.819.310.614.7
    29 years8.612.07.59.811.413.38.812.5
    30-34 years5.58.84.67.16.810.35.79.3
    Explanation of symbols
  • Students by educational institution
    Students by educational institution
    Students
    2022
    Both sexesMalesFemales
    Educational institutions, total310 934123 830187 104
    Nord university11 0503 9717 079
    Norwegian University of Life Sciences6 1572 4243 733
    Norwegian University of Science and Technology42 96020 69422 266
    Oslo Metropolitan University21 6786 72614 952
    UiT - The Arctic University of Norway17 2527 11410 138
    University of Agder14 0255 8548 171
    University of Bergen19 2527 55111 701
    University of Oslo25 72710 18815 539
    University of Stavanger12 6025 3177 285
    University of South-Eastern Norway16 9266 32110 605
    The Oslo School of Architecture and Design829326503
    BI Norwegian Business School20 36010 4409 920
    Molde University College - Specialised University of Logistics3 2871 3711 916
    Oslo National Academy of the Arts609190419
    MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society1 039420619
    Norwegian School of Economics4 0652 3741 691
    Norwegian School of Sport Sciences1 481754727
    Norwegian Academy of Music801422379
    VID Specialised University5 7409504 790
    Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences14 6254 8199 806
    Østfold University College6 8712 4164 455
    Volda University College4 0671 2372 830
    Western Norway University of Applied Sciences16 5115 92110 590
    Sámi University of Applied Sciences17642134
    Oslo New University College2 4365411 895
    Queen Maud University College1 3442131 131
    Kristiania University College15 3355 6429 693
    NLA University College2 7529671 785
    Norwegian Police University College2 7991 4191 380
    Military University Colleges541411130
    Other University Colleges4 4781 7472 731
    Abroad13 1595 0488 111
    Explanation of symbols
  • Field of education for students in Norway and abroad
    Field of education for students in Norway and abroad
    NumbersPer cent
    TotalMalesFemales
    201220212022201220212022201220212022
    Fields of Education
    Students in Norway245 572304 885297 77540.139.939.960.060.160.1
    General programmes1 1 89473365677.974.873.322.125.226.7
    Humanities and arts27 30928 88727 45238.239.239.362.360.860.7
    Education35 72550 86747 64424.227.427.275.772.672.8
    Social sciences and law32 20338 77438 33037.634.235.063.365.865.0
    Business and administration46 94861 26558 68245.146.646.754.853.453.3
    Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects41 36753 54053 70868.865.065.031.835.035.0
    Health, welfare and sport51 15658 89159 60720.921.721.077.578.379.0
    Primary industries1 2061 9211 87251.442.342.449.757.757.6
    Transport and communications, safety and security and other services6 2158 1737 78768.762.560.732.637.539.3
    Unspecified field of study1 5491 8342 03737.638.239.462.261.860.6
    Norwegian students abroad2 15 59213 22013 15938.538.138.461.561.961.6
    General programmes1 000......
    Humanities and arts2 1171 5161 46430.832.531.169.267.568.9
    Education198919340.920.920.459.179.179.6
    Social sciences and law3 1282 6262 52828.124.823.671.975.276.4
    Business and administration3 2892 5872 64147.454.555.952.645.544.1
    Natural sciences, vocational and technical subjects1 5691 8601 82851.752.252.748.347.847.3
    Health, welfare and sport4 9804 4514 37938.533.133.661.566.966.4
    Primary industries45424020.023.827.580.076.272.5
    Transport and communications, safety and security and other services26312138.80.076.261.2100.023.8
    Unspecified field of study346165100.08.722.40.091.377.6
    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 symbols
  • Country of study for students abroad
    Country of study for students abroad1
    TotalMalesFemales
    201220212022201220212022201220212022
    Countries of destination
    Total15 59213 22013 1596 0105 0345 0489 5828 1868 111
    Denmark2 6931 9701 9958556656881 8381 3051 307
    Sweden733436435273164154460272281
    France227197211789390149104121
    Ireland896358151515744843
    Italy851221462737405885106
    Netherlands379706687182313300197393387
    Poland1 5051 5331 5566505425488559911 008
    Spain1314174705113416480283306
    United Kingdom4 5103 2022 7841 5851 1231 0042 9252 0791 780
    Switzerland366980164051202929
    Germany20430830889145143115163165
    Hungary805717676275189183530528493
    Czech Republic312183162146766816610794
    Slovak Republic413503451187173163226330288
    Rest of Europe371672738161305322210367416
    Africa53121421663268
    Asia152214282928410460130178
    Canada12812195755648536547
    USA1 5571 5091 552748799812809710740
    Rest of North- and Central America322010312
    South America1711105341286
    Australia1 11923243545066138669166297
    Rest of Oceania642112285336169
    Unknown600100500
    1Students who take a whole degree abroad.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Students in selected programmes by immigration category
    Students in selected programmes by immigration category
    2022
    NumbersPer cent
    TotalImmigrantsNorwegian-born to immigrant parentsOther population
    Men
    3 year degree, bachelor54 86312.86.480.8
    Of which
    Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education1 36216.45.777.9
    Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme5778.12.889.1
    Engineering, foundation programme8 56015.86.877.5
    Nursing, foundation programme2 21127.53.668.9
    Business and Administration subjects15 40310.26.683.1
    4 year degree, bachelor3744.80.894.4
    Of which
    General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education687.40.092.6
    5 year degree, master32 87410.14.485.5
    Of which
    Master of Law1 6123.75.490.9
    Master of Pharmacy17050.618.830.6
    Master of Odontology18129.318.252.5
    Master of Science in Business and Economics1 5987.24.888.0
    Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree8 4089.95.484.7
    Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education3 4873.54.492.1
    Master degree, teacher training2 0845.64.789.7
    6 year degree1 9989.86.483.9
    Of which
    Cand.med. (Medicine)1 28912.48.778.9
    Cand.theol.1013.04.093.1
    Cand.psychol.5495.12.092.9
    Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science)596.80.093.2
    Women
    3 year degree, bachelor75 26413.75.580.8
    Of which
    Pre-school-/kindergarten teacher education6 27516.24.879.0
    Specific subject and vocational teacher, foundation programme6029.02.788.4
    Engineering, foundation programme2 14518.67.773.7
    Nursing, foundation programme13 24414.53.582.1
    Business and Administration subjects14 67612.95.881.3
    4 year degree, bachelor3606.91.991.1
    Of which
    General-/Primary and lower secondary teacher education953.21.195.8
    5 year degree, master47 21810.14.085.8
    Of which
    Master of Law3 4225.15.489.5
    Master of Pharmacy44639.223.537.2
    Master of Odontology59220.315.564.2
    Master of Science in Business and Economics99210.75.883.5
    Master of Technology, Graduate engineering degree4 2849.05.285.8
    Master degree, primary and lower secondary teacher education8 2914.13.692.3
    Master degree, teacher training3 1055.46.488.2
    6 year degree5 2997.96.585.6
    Of which
    Cand.med. (Medicine)3 1758.88.382.9
    Cand.theol.9412.83.284.0
    Cand.psychol.1 6336.74.389.0
    Cand.med.vet. (Veterinary Science)3974.81.094.2
    Explanation of symbols
  • Parents’ level of education for resident students in Norway
    Parents’ level of education for resident students in Norway
    200720172022
    All residentsPropotion which was registered in higher educationAll residentsPropotion which was registered in higher educationAll residentsPropotion which was registered in higher education
    19-24 years
    Males175 52723.7210 45328.4203 73329.4
    Mother or father has long higher education17 25052.425 45854.531 86851.6
    Mother or father has short higher education46 65135.267 57837.971 86935.9
    Mother or father has upper secondary education79 97516.383 08420.270 55519.8
    Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education21 4058.918 79313.416 59815.6
    Not stated10 24612.015 5406.712 8438.0
    Females168 07236.2196 37842.9192 29845.9
    Mother or father has long higher education16 15362.823 78964.429 95063.0
    Mother or father has short higher education44 32349.863 78953.569 02354.0
    Mother or father has upper secondary education75 89030.778 42536.966 68339.0
    Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education20 13817.417 56324.115 69930.0
    Not stated11 56815.512 81212.310 94312.5
    25-29 years
    Males147 44913.2189 39614.0187 52014.2
    Mother or father has long higher education12 48130.417 21830.620 54028.0
    Mother or father has short higher education32 53320.549 31820.955 53319.4
    Mother or father has upper secondary education68 9689.673 23910.570 28110.1
    Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education16 7595.917 9766.916 0848.2
    Not stated16 7087.731 6456.125 0827.1
    Females144 61116.8181 45517.9178 13019.0
    Mother or father has long higher education11 77931.516 16032.619 26429.7
    Mother or father has short higher education30 95824.846 33525.152 38024.7
    Mother or father has upper secondary education65 39914.368 78115.966 12316.7
    Mother or father has primary and lower secondary education16 1209.317 11511.614 83613.0
    Not stated20 35510.233 0648.125 5278.6
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

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.

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

5 April 2024

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.

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