Student Welfare Organisation ( no, Studentsamskipnad) is a

legal entity In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

responsible for the

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s of

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

s, scientific universities and other colleges in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. 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 A student fee or student activity fee is a fee charged to students at a school, college, university or other place of learning that is in addition to any matriculation and/or tuition fees. It may be charged to support student organizations and stud ...

, direct subsidies from 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 ...

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 Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

compromising a majority and chairman elected from and by the students as well as representatives from the employees and the educational institutions. The board choose which services to provide to the students as well as setting the student fee, which typically is about

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

400 per semester. The organisations must report to the Ministry as well as the

Office of the Auditor General of Norway The Office of the Auditor General of Norway ( no, Riksrevisjonen) is the state auditor of the Government of Norway and directly subordinate of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for auditing, monitoring and advising all state economic ...

. Among the responsibilities of the organisations are operations of

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

book store A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arra ...

s and

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

s, of which the organisations have a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

to operate on campus. Other services include certain health services, advisory services,

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

s and

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

List of student welfare organisations in Norway

*Nord studentsamskipnad (Studentinord) *Norges arktiske studentsamskipnad *Studentsamskipnaden i Agder (SiA) *Studentsamskipnaden i Gjøvik, Ålesund og Trondheim (Sit) *Studentsamskipnaden i Innlandet (SINN) *Studentsamskipnaden i Indre Finnmark (SSO) *Studentsamskipnaden i Molde (SiMolde) *Studentsamskipnaden i Oslo og Akershus (SiO) *Studentsamskipnaden i Stavanger (SiS) *Studentsamskipnaden i Sørøst-Norge (SSN) *Studentsamskipnaden i Volda (SiVolda) *Studentsamskipnaden i Østfold (SiØ) *Studentsamskipnaden i Ås (SiÅs) *Studentsamskipnaden på Vestlandet (Sammen) {{Norwegian type of company Types of companies of Norway Education in Norway