Student Welfare Organisation (Norwegian : Studentsamskipnad) is a legal entity responsible for the welfare of students of universities, university colleges, scientific universities and other colleges in Norway. The 14 organisations are regulated by the Student Welfare Organisation Act from 1996 and based on compulsory membership of all students attending the associated institutions.
Welfare offers are financed through a student fee, direct subsidies from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research as well as from the educational institutions through free or cheap facilities or real estate. The profit from the organisations commercial activities is channeled back to operation and investments in welfare activities. All organisations are led by a board compromising a majority and chairman elected from and by the students as well as representatives from the employees and the educational institutions. The board chooses which services to provide to the students as well as setting the student fee, which typically is around NOK 650 per semester, as of 2024. A voluntary contribution of up to NOK 40 to a student-based international aid organisation is collected alongside the fee. The student welfare organisations must report to the Ministry as well as the Office of the Auditor General of Norway.
Among the responsibilities of the organisations are operations of campus book stores and cafés, of which the organisations have a monopoly to operate on campus. Other services include certain health services, advisory services, kindergartens and housing.
Volda is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Volda. Other villages in the municipality include Dravlaus, Fyrde, Straumshamn, Leira, Bjørke, and Grodås. The municipality is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of the town of Ålesund.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is a public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim, with regional campuses in Gjøvik and Ålesund.
Kristiansund Airport is an international airport serving Kristiansund, Norway. It is situated at Kvernberget on the island of Nordlandet and is the sole scheduled airport serving Nordmøre. The airport features a 2,390-meter (7,840 ft) runway aligned 07/25. In addition to scheduled services operated by Scandinavian Airlines and Widerøe, it serves offshore helicopter traffic to the Norwegian Sea operated by CHC Helikopter Service. Kvernberget handled 314,084 passengers in 2018.
A students' union or student union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizational activities, representation, and academic support of the membership.
The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located at Ås in Viken, near Oslo, and at Adamstuen in Oslo and has around 5,200 students.
Sandane Airport is a regional airport serving the village of Sandane in Vestland county, Norway. It perpendicularly straddles the Anda peninsula in Gloppen Municipality between the Nordfjorden and Gloppefjorden. The airport has an asphalt runway measuring 970 by 30 meters and aligned 08/26. Services are provided by Widerøe on public service obligation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The airport is owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor and served 37,272 passengers in 2013.
The University Centre in Svalbard is a Norwegian state-owned limited company that is involved in research and provides some higher education in Arctic studies. The company is wholly owned by the Ministry of Education and Research, and the universities of Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø, NTNU and NMBU appoint the board of directors. It is led by a director appointed by the board for a four-year term. The centre is the world’s northernmost research and higher education institution, in Longyearbyen at 78° N latitude. The courses offered fall into five main science disciplines: Arctic biology, Arctic geology, Arctic geophysics, Arctic technology and Arctic safety.
Ørsta–Volda Airport is a regional airport situated at Hovden (Hovdebygda), in Ørsta, Norway, midway between the towns of Ørsta and Volda. The airport features a 1,070-metre (3,510 ft) asphalt runway aligned 06/24. Services are provided by Widerøe using their de Havilland Canada Dash 8 as a public service obligation. Owned and operated by the state-owned Avinor, the airport handled 121,021 passengers in 2014.
Sogn Studentby is a residential area for students, located in the district of Nordre Aker, Oslo.
Siviløkonom is an academic degree issued within the field of business administration. It consists of a 3 year bachelor's degree followed by a two years masters degree and is also a professional title in Norway, obtained after the total of 5 years of studies. The title is protected and can only be used by persons having met certain qualifications as directed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. It is mainly offered by nine institutions after the completion of a Master of Science in Business Administration.
The Government agencies of Norway are state controlled organizations that act independently to carry out the policies of the Government of Norway. The Government Ministries are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, allowed to control agencies by policy decisions but not by direct orders. A Minister is explicitly prohibited from interfering with the day-to-day operation in an agency or the outcome in individual cases. While no minister is allowed to give orders to agencies personally, they are subject to decisions made by the Government. Also, the Minister is normally the instance of appeals of agencies decisions.
The Royal Ministry of Education and Research is a Norwegian government ministry responsible for education, research, kindergartens and integration. The ministry was established in 1814 as the Royal Ministry of Church and Education Affairs.
The Student Welfare Organisation in Bergen or SiB was a Norwegian student welfare organisation in Bergen, Norway and was responsible for the welfare of about 30,000 students in 2015. It covered the following institutions:
Central Norway Regional Health Authority is a state-owned regional health authority responsible for operating the hospitals in the counties of Nord-Trøndelag, Sør-Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal in Norway. Based in Stjørdal, the authority operates five health trusts that operate nine hospitals. It is led by chairman Kolbjørn Almlid and CEO Stig Arild Slørdahl.
Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of ten universities, nine specialised universities, 24 university colleges as well as a range of private university colleges. The national higher education system is in accordance with the Bologna process, with bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and doctoral degrees. Acceptance is offered after finishing upper secondary school and meeting general university admissions certification.
The Student Welfare Organisation in Trondheim or SiT is the student welfare organisation in Trondheim, Norway and is responsible for the welfare of about 25,000 students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and Queen Maud's College of Early Childhood Education (DMMH).
VIA University College is a university college organisation in Central Denmark Region, Denmark, established in January 2008. It is present in the region with a total of eight campuses.
The Nordic Women's University is a Nordic research organisation, hosted by Nord University and incorporated as a foundation in Norway. It is involved in "research, teaching and information on and for women, grounded in feminist values and feminist pedagogics and with particular emphasis on Nordic and international perspectives." Established in 2011 on the initiative of former MP Berit Ås and others, the NWU is entirely funded by the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion and hosted by one of the 24 Norwegian state university colleges. It received 1 million NOK in initial funding from the two ministries and as of 2012 further 2 million NOK from the Ministry of Education and Research, and receives funding over the State budget of Norway. Its establishment was supported by Tora Aasland, the Minister of Research and Higher Education, and law professor Henning Jakhelln and lawyer and Labour politician Ingjald Ørbeck Sørheim were also involved in the effort.
The University of South-Eastern Norway, commonly known as USN, is a Norwegian state university. It has campuses in Bø in Telemark, Porsgrunn, Notodden, Rauland, Drammen, Hønefoss, Kongsberg and Horten. USN is a continuation of the three former university colleges, Telemark University College, Buskerud University College and Vestfold University College, which merged between 2014 and 2016 to form the University College of South-Eastern Norway. The institution was granted the status of a full university by the King-in-Council on 4 May 2018.
Sandra Konstance Nygård Borch is a Norwegian politician currently serving as the minister of research and higher education since 2023, and previously minister of agriculture and food from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Centre Party, she served as the leader of the Centre Youth from 2011 to 2013, while simultaneously serving as a deputy MP from her home constituency of Troms from 2009 to 2013. She was elected a permanent representative in 2017.