The Quality Reform was a

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

initialized by the

Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research The Royal Ministry of Education and Research ( no, Det kongelige kunnskapsdepartement; short name ''Kunnskapsdepartementet'') is a Norwegian government ministry responsible for education, research, kindergartens and integration. The ministry was ...

after recommendation from the '' Mjøs committee'' (1998–2000). It was introduced in 2002–03 and changed the entire system of

higher education in Norway Higher education in Norway is offered by a range of eight universities, nine specialised universities (focused on a specific program area), 24 university colleges as well as a range of private university colleges. The national higher education sys ...

to comply with the Bologna process. This process is intended to take place throughout Europe to better integrate the higher educations systems, and Norway is among the first to implement this process. The Norwegian approach was a quick and brutal removal of the old system and replacement to the new instantly. The main changes included a switch from the old system of Latin degrees to the international

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

and Philosophiae Doctor degrees. This replaced the former system of three and a half or four year

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of stud ...

degrees followed by one and a half or two year ''hovedfag'' degrees. The system abolished many old master-level degree titles, including

cand.scient. Candidatus scientiarum (male), or candidata scientiarum (female), abbreviated as cand.scient., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark and formerly awarded in Norway. In Denmark, cand.scient. is a higher-level degree awarded as a ''Kand ...

(sciences),

cand.polit. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5– ...

(social sciences), cand.philol. (humanities),

cand.oecon. Candidatus oeconomices (male) or Candidata oeconomices (female), often abbreviated cand.oecon. is an academic degree in economics at Education in Denmark, Danish, Háskóli Íslands, Icelandic and Higher education in Norway, Norwegian universities ...

(economics), cand.agro. (agronomy), cand.jur. (law), cand.theol. (theology), ''

sivilingeniør Sivilingeniør (shortened siv.ing), not to be confused with civil engineer, is a legally protected engineering title awarded by technical universities in Norway. To qualify for the title, a student must follow a structured study programme in tec ...

'' (engineering) and ''

siviløkonom Siviløkonom (literally "civil economist") 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 (with ...

'' (management). The length varied, and depended on the area of study, ranging from four to six years. The cand.psychol. (clinical psychology),

cand.med. Candidate of Medicine ( la, candidatus medicinae (male), ''candidata medicinae'' (female), abbreviated cand. med.) is an academic degree awarded in Denmark, Iceland, and Norway following a six-year medical school education. Medical students in ...

(medicine) and

cand.med.vet. Cand.med.vet ( (male/female) ) or "candidate of veterinary medicine" is an academic degree awarded in Scandinavian countries following a 5,5 to 6 year veterinary medical school education. It is equivalent with the same kind of degrees given in ot ...

titles have been retained as six-year studies in clinical psychology,

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

. All master-level titles are now awarded as

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

Master of Technology A Master of Engineering (abbreviated MEng, M.E. or M.Eng.) is either an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering. International variations Australia In Australia, the Master of Engineering degree is a research de ...

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

, all taking five years. Other changed included replacing the former number scale (from 1.0 to 4.0) grades to A to F letter scale, reducing the number of passing grades from 41 to five. It also changed the former system credits of ''vekttall'' (with nominal 10 ''vekttall'' per semester) to the

European Credit Transfer System The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a standard means for comparing academic credits, i.e., the "volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload" for higher education across the ...

(ECTS) with nominal 30 credits per semester. The reform set new requirements to the follow-up on students, forcing universities and colleges to spend more resources per credit, specially on demands related to assignments.

Degree List

(arts) *

(sciences) *

cand.real. Candidatus realium or candidata realium (abbreviated cand. real.) is a former academic degree used in Norway, and conferred in mathematics and natural sciences. It was abolished in 1985. There was originally no set duration for the completion of th ...

(mathematics) *

(social sciences) * cand.philol. (humanities) *

(economics) * cand.jur. (law) * cand.theol. (theology) * cand.psychol. (clinical psychology) *

(medicine) *

(medicine veterinary) * cand.agro. (agronomy) * siv.ing. (engineering) * siv.ek. (management)

References

{{Reflist Education in Norway

Degree List

See also

References