University college (Scandinavia)

Last updated June 22, 2023 • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

In Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, a university college (Swedish: högskola; Norwegian: høyskole, høgskole or høgskule; Danish: professionshøjskole; literally meaning "high school" and "professional high school") is an independent institution that provides tertiary education (bachelor's and master's degrees) and quaternary education (PhD). Most of these institutions traditionally had an emphasis on less academic and more vocational programmes such as teacher or nursing education as well as shorter technical education; historically, these institutions were somewhat similar to a Fachhochschule in Germany and to a Polytechnic in the United Kingdom. The term is also used for some specialized universities.

Situation in Scandinavia

Sweden

The Swedish government is the only entity that can attribute university status.^[1] However, the exact situation of Swedish university colleges varies in that respect, i.e. many them may are engaged in substantial research and grant doctoral degrees in a number of fields. The main difference between an institution with full university status and a university college lies in the larger variety of academic subjects offered at a university, and the traditional right of the university to award doctoral degrees in any field.^[2]

Norway

In Norway three separate categories of university colleges exist:

University-level colleges (vitenskapelig høgskole/høyskole), which hold the same rights as the universities and are sometimes known as specialized universities in English
Institutionally accredited university colleges (høgskole/høyskole)
Educational institutions with accredited programs, which have the right to call themselves university colleges (høgskole/høyskole)

The difference between a university and a university college is that a university has received the status of university from the Norwegian government. Only the government has the authority to grant university status. In the past years, any institution that offered at least four PhD programmes has been allowed to apply for university status, and in recent years several university colleges have received university status, becoming so-called new universities. In 2014 the government announced that no institutions would become new universities in the near future. In 2015 the government announced new and more strict criteria.

The practical distinction between universities and university colleges has been gradually reduced through legislative reforms in 1995 and 2005, and the two types of institutions are now governed by the same law, have the same basic structure and in principle the same obligation to provide research-based education.^[3]

Denmark

In Denmark, university colleges (professionshøjskoler) are similar to universities of applied sciences. Danish university colleges offer profession-specific tertiary education, also known as medium higher education (MVU) and diploma courses, but do not offer university education at the postgraduate level.

The duration of bachelor's programmes is seven semesters and corresponds to 210 ECTS. Specific to university college programmes is that curricula always include internships and placements. This focus on professional practice, as opposed to academics, is what separates a bachelor's degree at university colleges from a bachelor's from a university.

The difference between a university and university college degree is narrowing. Since 2012, university colleges have been awarded the right and governmental funding to carry out applied research.

In addition, several bachelor's degrees are articulated with master's degrees at research universities in Denmark and abroad.

Denmark has 7 university colleges, which all have a school of health and a school of education, pedagogy, and social studies. Some also have a school of technology, a school of business, and a school of design.

In addition to higher educational programmes, university colleges are important suppliers of lifelong education for public and private industries.

Translation

University college is the most widely used official English translation in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, although some such institutions use the term university in English instead (for instance Södertörn University). The terminology may be confusing to foreigners as university colleges are not constituent colleges of another university as some may understand the word literally, but rather institutions in their own right and standing.

The Swedish term högskola and the Norwegian term høyskole, høgskole or høgskule would mean "high school" in a word-by-word translation. This translation is also misleading, as these institutions provide tertiary level education, not secondary education as American high schools do.

Some of these university colleges do aspire a lift to full university status by the Swedish or Norwegian government, and have therefore changed their translated English name to "university", although they are not a university by Swedish and Norwegian law. A full university in Sweden requires extensive own research, a breadth of academic disciplines and a licence to award doctor's degrees in all fields it teaches. In Norway, university status may be conferred to an institution offering at least four PhD programmes.

The term högskola, høyskole, høgskole or høgskule is also used by a number of specialised universities, especially the technical universities. Some subunits of the universities in Sweden also use the term "högskola" to mark their status within the larger university or for traditional reasons. For instance, several engineering faculties call themselves "teknisk högskola" in Swedish, like Lunds Tekniska Högskola and Linköpings Tekniska Högskola, which both were originally established independently of their respective universities.

Related Research Articles

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering vocational education, or a secondary school.

Chalmers University of Technology is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences. The university has approximately 3100 employees and 10,000 students, and offers education in engineering, science, shipping, architecture and other management areas.

The Blekinge Institute of Technology is a public, state funded Swedish institute of technology in Blekinge with 5,900 students and offers about 30 educational programmes in 11 departments at two campuses located in Karlskrona and Karlshamn.

Gymnasium is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term preparatory high school. Before the 20th century, the gymnasium system was a widespread feature of educational systems throughout many European countries.

The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications. The process has created the European Higher Education Area under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the University of Bologna, where the Bologna declaration was signed by education ministers from 29 European countries in 1999. The process was opened to other countries in the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, and government meetings have been held in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005), London (2007), Leuven (2009), Budapest-Vienna (2010), Bucharest (2012), Yerevan (2015), Paris (2018), and Rome (2020).

Education in Denmark is compulsory for children below the age of 15 or 16, even though it is not compulsory to attend Folkeskole. The school years up to the age of fifteen/sixteen are known as Folkeskole, since any education has to match the level offered there. About 82% of young people take further education in addition to this. Government-funded education is usually free of charge and open to all. Denmark has a tradition of private schools and about 15.6% of all children at basic school level attend private schools, which are supported by a voucher system.

An institute of technology is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science, and natural sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwegian University of Life Sciences</span> University

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.

An ammattikorkeakoulu, abbreviated AMK, is a Finnish institution of higher education.

Johannelunds teologiska högskola or Johannelund School of Theology is a university college in Sweden. It is an independent college/theological seminary, founded in 1862 and located in Uppsala, Sweden. In addition to offering a three-year bachelor's degree in theology, the seminary offers a one or two-year master's degree in theology. Today there are circa 200 students at Johannelund, most of whom are preparing for ministry in either the Swedish Evangelical Mission or the Church of Sweden. In addition, there is a Bible school located on campus offering a one-year certificate in theology. In addition, there is an extensive course offering in areas such as Bible, pastoral counselling, leadership and charismatic theology.

A Master of Philosophy is a postgraduate degree. An MPhil may be awarded to postgraduate students after completing taught coursework and one to two years of original research, which may also serve as a provisional enrolment for a PhD programme.

Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged from 6 to 16. Schools are typically divided into two divisions: primary and lower secondary schooling. The majority of schools in Norway are municipal, where local governments fund and manage administration. Primary and lower secondary schools are available and free of charge for all Norwegian citizens as a given right.

Jönköping University (JU), formerly Högskolan i Jönköping, is a non-governmental Swedish university college located in the city Jönköping in Småland, Sweden.

Hochschule is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to universities and colleges in English. The term Universität is reserved for institutions with the right to confer doctorates. In contrast, Hochschule encompasses Universitäten as well as institutions that are not authorized to confer doctorates.

A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic degrees. It should not be confused with vocational schools or technical schools that do not meet the strict standards of higher education nor have the ability to grant officially accredited academic degrees.

The Bologna process for standardisation of European higher education specified an undergraduate degree of at least three years called the "licence" or bachelor's degree, followed by a two-year diploma called the master's degree, then a doctorate, meant to be obtained in at least three years. Because of these indicated schedules, the reform is sometimes (erroneously) referred to as "3-5-8". The system applies to the European Higher Education Area.

The Norwegian Police University College is a public university college located in Oslo, Kongsvinger, Stavern and Bodø, Norway. It offers education for the police force of Norway, including a three-year basic education and four Master's degrees. 552 students were accepted at the Bachelor level in 2019 from 4,063 applicants. The university college also conducts research in relevant areas including law, police science, criminology, psychology and sociology. It is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police.

Candidate is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. In much of Europe, the degree title was phased out through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe.

The VID Specialized University is a Norwegian accredited, private, non-profit specialized university headquartered in Oslo. VID has 6,000 students and nearly 700 employees. It is one of three private specialized universities in Norway, alongside BI and MF.

References

↑ "Universitet och högskolor".
↑ "University and university college – Study in Sweden – SWEDEN.SE". Archived from the original on 2009-04-12.
↑ "Fusjoner er løsningen - Meninger - Debatt - Aftenposten.no". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[sweden-1] "Universitet och högskolor".

[2] "University and university college – Study in Sweden – SWEDEN.SE". Archived from the original on 2009-04-12.

[3] "Fusjoner er løsningen - Meninger - Debatt - Aftenposten.no". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29.

[1]

[2]

[3]