Recognition of Foreign Higher Education and Qualifications

Academic recognition falls into two categories; general recognition and specific recognition. Depending on the substance and level, parts of the education or even a complete degree may be recognised in Norway. Recognised foreign degrees may be considered equivalent to Norwegian degrees and if so, give the holder of the foreign degree the right to use the title of the Norwegian degree.

General recognition
The foreign education is considered to be at a level and of a volume, scope and duration corresponding to those of Norwegian universities and university colleges. Applications for general recognition are handled by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) (see below).

Specific recognition
The foreign education is compared with the Norwegian education at a given institution for the purpose of continuing the education at the Norwegian institution and /or obtain a Norwegian degree. Specific requirements as to breadth and depth and composition of subjects/disciplines must be fulfilled.

Application for specific recognition should be addressed directly to one of the institutions which offer the courses/degrees in question, or via NOKUT. If the applicant plans to take up studies in Norway, the application must be submitted to the institution where the applicant intends to continue studying.

In the case of considerable disciplinary overlap, the applicant may be granted extemption from repeating the overlapping units. Credits from studies at a Norwegian institution which overlap studies already taken externally, will lead to a reduction in the number of credits to avoid double merit for the same academic content in the Norwegian degree.

The applicant should observe that certain academic (pre)requisites must be met before one is allowed to sit for exams in specific subjects or before a diploma can be awarded. Vice versa, extemption may be granted if the requirements are considered sufficiently met in the applicant’s previous educational.

The International Recognition Unit at the NOKUT provides detailed information on the subject of recognition; the legal basis for recognition, general, specific and professional recognition, how to apply/application form, sample of recognition document, etc.

Pre-recognition/post-recognition
This section only applies to students who are admitted as full degree students.

Degree students applying for a study exchange period abroad will need a pre-recognition from their faculty/department, either a general recognition of the planned study units or a specific recognition, specifying the academic level and content of the planned study units based on sufficient documentation (curriculum, syllabus, information about nominal study time and study volume). After the exchange period, the student has to apply to the faculty/department for a final recognition of the study units and exams taken abroad.

 
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