Ministry of Education and Research is responsible for primary and secondary school, upper secondary and tertiary vocational education and higher education sectors, kindergartens, cultural schools, vocational education and training and adult learning. The Ministry is also responsible for research and integration.

Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training is responsible for the development of kindergarten and primary and secondary education. The Directorate is the executive agency for the Ministry of Education and Research.

UHR is the most important cooperative body for Norwegian universities and colleges.

NOKUT is a professionally independent government agency that contributes towards quality assurance and enhancement in higher education and tertiary vocational education. NOKUT’s tasks include as well as recognition of foreign higher education qualifications.

Diku - the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education is a Norwegian public sector agency that promotes development and innovation in education, encourage international cooperation and digital learning methods.

Information on the Norwegian education system.

Ministry of Education and Research

Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service (NUCAS) coordinates the admission to regular undergraduate studies at all the universities, university colleges, state colleges, and some private colleges in Norway.
Programmes for international students are presented at www.studyinnorway.no. Individual institutions provide information considering the admission to their postgraduate degrees.

Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) is the controlling authority for educational activity at all Norwegian universities, special field universities, university colleges and institutions with single accredited higher education programmes; as well as for all tertiary vocational education.
NOKUT evaluates as well the institutions’ internal quality assurance systems.

The newest report on the state of higher education in Norway Tilstandsrapport for høyere utdanning 2018 has been already published online by the Ministry of Education and Research.

Tematical pages on the website of the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.

Tertiary vocational education (TVE) is provided by 'fagskoler', which are considered as tertiary vocational education institutions. TVE is based on upper secondary education and training or equivalent competence.

The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) is the controlling authority for all tertiary vocational education. All provisions must be accredited by NOKUT.

Database with the accredited higher education institutions in Norway. An accredited higher education institution is granted the right to offer educational provision, without having to apply to NOKUT for specific (programme) accreditation, in accordance with the powers that its institutional category implies.

University colleges that are not accredited institutions must apply to NOKUT for accreditation of their study programmes at all levels, see the list in the link under.

Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) is a governmental agency which among other tasks evaluates foreign higher education. This assessment leads to general recognition decision that shows how a foreign education is comparable to Norwegian higher education. 

New recognition scheme provided by NOKUT evaluates foreign vocational education and training (VET). The recognition decision here shows that a foreign qualification is comparable with a Norwegian craft or journeyman’s certificate. NOKUT began with this recognition scheme in 2016 and will gradually expand the scheme for more countries and qualifications. 

NOKUT is also the national information centre on the Norwegian authorisation and recognition systems; as well as the national contact point for recognition of professional qualifications for professions that are regulated by the Directive 2005/36/EC.

In accordance with the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (the Lisbon Recognition Convention), section VII, the Norwegian ENIC-NARIC office, NOKUT, has developed a procedure for formal recognition of higher education qualifications for persons without verifiable documentation.

This procedure is intended for refugees with insufficient documentation and individuals in a refugee-like situation who are unable to fulfill the documentation requirements for NOKUTs regular procedure for General Recognition. It is called the Recognition Procedure for Persons without Verifiable Documentation (the UVD-procedure).

The UVD-procedure is administrated by NOKUTs Section for Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications.

NOKUT has recently carried out a successful pilot project with the intention of testing the new method for evaluation of refugees’ qualifications: 

NOKUT’s Qualifications Passport for Refugees. The method corresponds to the proposal made by NOKUT and UK NARIC for a European Qualifications Passport for Refugees  (presented to the European Commission and other international organizations in September 2015).