Courses for Exchange Students

The University of Bergen (UiB) offers two different categories of courses to international exchange students:

Please note: 

• You can take courses at more than one faculty, provided that you meet the required/recommended previous knowledge.
• The relevant faculty/department will consider whether you can be accepted to restricted courses during the application process, or if you can be granted admission later.

You apply for restricted courses in Søknadsweb by the application deadline 25 April.

We advise you to read carefully the required and recommended previous knowledge for each restricted course you wish to apply for. Contact the relevant department, if necessary (available in the course descriptions).

If you are planning to take open courses, restricted courses at bachelor level at the Faculty of Law or Norwegian language courses you do not choose these courses in your application. You apply/register for these courses after we have given you access to UIB's online registration system (Studentweb) in mid-June/mid-December.

Changes in in your study plan: you can add and remove courses (if necessary) from your study plan during the following periods:

Autumn semester: mid-June to 1 September.

Spring semester: mid-Desember and 1 February

Please note that all courses in the following subject areas have capacity limitation, and students nominated through an exchange agreement in the specific subject areas listed will be prioritised:

• Earth Sciences (GEOV)
• Biological Sciences (BIO)

Only students nominated through an exchange agreement in the specific subject areas listed below, will be considered for admission in these study fields: 

• Medicine
• Dentistry
• Music - Performance and Composition
• Fine Art
• Design

The University of Bergen offers Norwegian Language courses at different levels to admitted international students. 

When to sign up

You can sign up for Norwegian language courses at Studentweb during the semester registration period.

You can apply for courses at beginner's level NOR-INTRO, NOR-U1and NOR-U1/2 from 23 June (the same time as you sign up for your other courses). The application deadline will be announced later. The result will be given in Studentweb the week after the deadline.  

Registration for the intermediate and higher level courses NOR-U2, NOR-U3, NOR-U4 and NOR-NYN will be updated later. Applicants who have acquired knowledge of Norwegian outside of UiB, have to sign up for a placement test in advance. 

For more information check information about Norwegian Language courses. or contact studynorwegian@uib.no.

Fine Art, Music and Design:

The majority of the courses in Fine Art, Music and Design are not included in the course list as these courses have restricted access and limited capacity. Admission to these courses is limited to students nominated on an exchange agreement within these areas.

For more information about the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design check here or contact the exchange coordinator at exchange-kmd@uib.no

Courses taught in Norwegian:

Applicants that are proficient in one of the Scandinavian languages (Norwegian, Swedish or Danish) can apply for courses taught in Norwegian. To document your proficiency, please upload one of the following documents to Søknadsweb:

• Transcript of records (from high school or university level) which shows that you fulfill the language requirements.
• Your passport (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)
• To add the course to your application, send us an email to incoming@uib.no with the course name and code.

Other alternative study options:

If you are not planning to register for regular courses at UiB, you can indicate this by selecting one of the following alternatives from the course list at Søknadsweb:

• Clinical rotation: Choose this option if you are applying for clinical training through an agreement with the Faculty of Medicine.
• UNIS Svalbard: Choose this option if you are applying to UNIS next semester.  Apply to both UiB and UNIS by 15 April/15 October.
• Project/ study plans: Choose this option if you have organised to take part in other academic activities which will not be awarded with ECTS from UiB (thesis research or lab work). Email the name of your contact person at UiB to incoming@uib.no when you have completed your online application.

Key content in the course descriptions:

• ECTS credits: Tells you how many ECTS credits you are awarded for each course. A full work load for one semester is 30 ECTS credits in total.
• Teaching semester: Tells you whether the course is taught in autumn and/or spring.
• Course code:
  • 100-level: Bachelor's level courses.
  • 200-level: Can be included at both bachelor's and master's level.
  • 300-level: Master's level courses.
• Number of semesters: Tells you if a course runs over 1 or 2 semesters.
• Language: Tells you which language the course is taught in.
• Resources:
  • Schedule: Tells you when there are lectures and seminars/workshops. The schedules are released on 1 June for the autumn semester, and 1 December for the spring semester.
  • Reading list: Lists the course literature for the current semester.
• Select semester: To make sure you get the most recent information, you can choose autumn 2022/ spring 2023 in the menu on the right.

Normal workload per semester:

A full semester workload in Norway is equivalent to 30 ECTS credits. We recommend students to plan for approximately this number of credits per semester, unless you have agreed on another number with your home university. You do not have to ask UIB for permission if you wish take more than 30 ECTS.

Requirements from home university:

Students should discuss with their home university, the number of credits to be completed at UIB in order to get them approved as part of their degree in home institution.

The official grading system in Norway is based on the ECTS grading scale. "A-E are passing grades" and "F is Fail". 

Some courses will also be graded in the "Pass/Fail" scale  with only two results. The scale is not connected to the letter grades, and the exam result (pass/fail), will not be converted in connection with recognition.

Detailed information about the the Norwegian Education system and grading scale is available here. 

The University of Bergen will not convert students credits and grades in connection with recognition in home institution.

All transcripts will include a full description of the criteria for each grade.

For more information about how to get around the diffent campus see Arrival and directions page.

Third cycle students may take courses at master level or have individual research or training components if you have found a supervisor at UiB before our application deadline.

To indicate that you have arranged an individual study plan with UiB staff in your application, choose Other study plans instead of courses. Please email us the name of your UiB supervisor when you have completed your application.