NTNU wants to be allocated 200 temporary student places for Ukrainian refugees from this autumn onward.
If the demand is high, NTNU is prepared to increase its capacity to 250 places, according to an overview that the university has recently sent to the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HKdir). This means that Norway’s largest university can accept up to 25 per cent of the 1000 extra student places that the government has said it will fund.
Capacity for 1,000 – 1,500 refugees
In practice, the number of refugees who can be admitted to Trondheim, Gjøvik and Ålesund may be significantly higher. NTNU’s management predicts that many of the refugees will primarily want to study part-time. A quota of 200 full-time student places may therefore allow capacity for offering 1000 – 1500 refugees an opportunity to study if the need dictates this.
Part-time studies are the most relevant
The letter to HKdir, which you can read in full here (in Norwegian), points out that a majority of the refugees who are eligible for higher education will be women, and many of them have caregiving responsibilities. Some of them will probably also want to continue as remote students studying online at Ukrainian universities, which they can supplement by taking individual courses in Norway. NTNU believes that many of the refugees have just as great a need for access to an active student environment and reading room places as they do for traditional degree programmes.
These factors suggest that many of the refugees will not want to become full-time students. Therefore NTNU wants great flexibility in the allocation of student places and will arrange for a variety of hybrid solutions. The most important aspect will be to provide opportunities to study tailored to the refugees’ diverse needs and life situations.
Has mapped courses and programmes taught in English
NTNU’s management has mapped the courses and programmes that may be suitable for offering refugees from the war in Ukraine:
- Introductory course (short course) in Norwegian as well as intermediate and advanced Norwegian language training levels 1 – 4.
- 275 bachelor’s degree courses that are taught in English. Such courses are offered in all three NTNU cities.
- 63 international English-speaking master’s programmes.
- Specific recognition of previous education for admission to English-speaking master’s programmes that started in autumn 2021.
- Bridging programmes for nurses with professional qualifications from outside the EU/EEA (part-time over 1.5 years). This depends on the Norwegian Directorate of Health allowing exemptions for this group from the requirement for language proficiency in Norwegian.
Opportunity to apply in June
Management at the faculties has been given until 23 May to go through their courses and programmes within these areas in detail and estimate how many refugees they can admit to various courses at bachelor’s and master’s levels, as well as to the international master’s degree programmes starting in autumn 2022.
The Ministry of Education and Research has announced that it will publish the allocation of student places at the beginning of June. At this time, the national rules for the admission of refugees are also expected to be finalized. At the same time, local regulations for admission must be developed for NTNU.
Only then can NTNU start admitting students with refugee status. The courses and programmes offered, with application forms, will then be presented on NTNU’s Ukraine website. The plan is to arrange continuous admissions during the summer and up to the start of studies in the autumn.