FAQ

Can I apply?
If you apply to our undergraduate studies (Bachelor’s degrees) you’ll need to have completed secondary education at an advanced level, equivalent to passing the exam at the end of Norwegian upper secondary school. The Norwegian Upper Secondary School Leaving Certificate is based on 13 years of schooling. For students from some countries at least one year of completed studies at the university level is also required.

Please check the GSU-list - compiled by The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, NOKUT - for detailed information regarding additional requirements for your country.

For admission to our Master programmes you’ll need a relevant Bachelor’s degree. For more specific requirements see the programme’s curriculum.

What is a curriculum?
The curriculum is the official document describing all aspects of the study programme. It contains provisions regarding structure, entry requirements, forms of evaluation and exams, etc.

Do I need to know Norwegian?
For most programmes, yes you do. Applicants outside of the Nordic countries must meet one of the following requirements:

• Successfully passed 'Norwegian as a second language' from upper secondary school.
• Successfully passed Level 3 in Norwegian at a university.
• Successfully passed one-year study in Norwegian language and society for foreign students from a university college.
• Successfully passed test in Norwegian at advanced level, 'Bergenstesten', with a minimum score of 450.

The Acting, Directing and Teacher programmes have particularly strict requirements of proficiency in the Norwegian languages.

What is the tuition fee?
Oslo National Academy of the Arts is a public institution and therefore free. The cost of materials and books must be covered by the student. You must also pay a fee every semester to the student welfare organisation The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo, at the time being 440 NOK.

What grades do I need to get accepted?
Applicants are not ranked according to their grades, but by the artistic qualifications they display during the entrance examinations.

What are entrance examinations?
During the entrance examinations you will be given specific exercises and your performance will be appraised by a committee. The specifics of the entrance examinations will of course be dependent of the programme of study. You may have to submit photo/video documentation of your works, there might be practical tests at the Academy and the committee might interview you. All this means that you must be present in Oslo at the designated date.

When can I apply?
See the relevant programme for the exact closing date for application. The application must be postmarked or delivered to the Academy by the deadline. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Not all programmes of study admits new students every year.

How many get accepted, and how many applies?
Each year there are approximately 2000 applicants to the Academy, and roughly 200 new students are accepted. For more specific information see the relevant programme.

How do I fill in the application form?
There are individual application forms for each programme of study. You must read the included instructions carefully. Some programmes have particularly strict language requirements, and because of this the application forms and information are only available in Norwegian. All of your education must be documented. All documents must be certified. Do not send original documents! Applications with insufficient information will not be processed.

When will I be notified of admission?
You will be notified by mail as soon as the results of the entrance examinations are available. You should be notified by July 1^st at the very latest. If you are on a waiting list, we might contact you as late as September if a place becomes available.

When do I begin?
The Acting and Directing programmes at The Faculty of Performing Arts usually starts at the beginning of August. The rest of the programmes at this faculty starts in the middle of the month. The Faculty of Design and The Faculty of Visual Arts usually starts at the end of August. You will be notified well ahead of the actual date.

What credit and grading system is used?
Courses are measured in “studiepoeng” according to the ECTS standard (European Credit Transfer System). The full-time workload for one academic year is 60 “studiepoeng”/ECTS credits.

Grades for undergraduate and postgraduate examinations are awarded according to a graded scale from A (highest) to F (lowest), with E as the minimum pass grade. A pass/fail mark is given for some examinations.

Do I need to apply for visa?
You may have to apply for a residence permit for study purposes. Norway The Official Site will help you find your local Norwegian embassy.

Can I postpone my studies?
Shorter leaves of absence are usually not granted. Students accepted to a programme but unable to start because of long term illness, birth/adoption, compulsory Norwegian military service or other weighty reasons, might apply for postponement to the next intake.

When are the exams?
All scheduled classes are compulsory and only a few subjects have a finishing exam. The academic year begins in August and ends in June, with only short breaks for Christmas and Easter.

What’s up with all those strange letters?
The Norwegian alphabet contains three additional letters compared to the English one.

• Æ/æ pronounced like the first vowel in "animal".
• Ø/ø pronounced like the vowel in "sir".
• Å/å pronounced like the vowel in "all".

Now you can try to pronounce the Norwegian name of The Oslo National Academy of the Arts: “Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo”. Still not successful? Don’t worry, you’ll be an expert by the time you get your degree!