Day care
In the last few years, substantial efforts have been made to increase day care facilities in Norway. Closing date for applications to the main intake is the 1st of March. For supplemental intake one can apply throughout the entire year. It is advisable to plan for day care services well ahead of time and to check out private facilities that often operate under more flexible conditions. The municipality can provide an overview and councelling with regard to public and private day care options available in your neighborhood. In Ås, the webpage Information about kindergarten in English provides detailed information. We also have a day care centre on Campus Ås - Åkebakke barnehage. Please contact them for further information.
- Day care centers in Ås (as.kommune.no)
- Day care centers in Ski (ski.kommune.no)
- Day care centers in Vestby (vestby.kommune.no)
- Day care centers in Oslo (oslo.kommune.no)
Day time and evening babysitters may be sought through Oslo Barnevaktformidling AS (barnevaktformidling.no) (Norwegian), phone +47 22 60 20 22, a reputed private agency with 20 years of experience in the field of procuring day care services in the Oslo area.
School
Children living in Norway for more than 3 months, have the right and obligation to go to school. Children above the age of 6 must be enrolled in school and must attend compulsory education for 10 years. Parents must contact the nearest school or the local municipality to register children at school.
The first 7 years children attend primary school (barneskolen), followed by 3 years of lower secondary school (ungdomskolen). Youth are entitled to, but not obliged to attend an additional 3 years of upper secondary school (videregående skole). Public schools are free of charge, and girls and boys share classes. Tuition is in Norwegian only. Alternatively, one can explore opportunities at private schools. These usually charge school fees.
In state schools, children who speak Norwegian are placed in regular Norwegian school classes. Children who don’t speak the language and belong to the first year or beginning of the second year, are also placed in regular Norwegian school classes. Older children who don’t speak Norwegian are placed in reception classes. Not all schools have reception classes, which means the child in question may have to attend a school relatively far from home the first year. The local school can be contacted for registration.
Read more about the Norwegian school system (nyinorge.no)
The upper secondary school in Ås, Ås videregående skole, offers IB Diploma.
There are also some international schools in Oslo:
English
- Oslo International School - from kindergarten to IB Diploma
- Bjørnholt skole (public school) - lower secondary school and IB Diploma
- Blindern videregående skole (public school) - IB Diploma
- Northern Lights International School (nlis.no) - primary school
French
German
- Deutsche Schule Oslo – Max Tau from kindergarten to upper secondary school
Recognition of qualifications
General recognition
The general recognition of foreign higher education qualifications in Norway means that:
- The qualifications are considered wholly or partially equivalent to Norwegian higher education
- An assessment is also made of the extent to which it is equivalent, in terms of years of study and ECTS credits, to a Norwegian qualification
- General recognition may also result in recognition of foreign higher education as equivalent to a Norwegian Bachelor’s or Master’s degree
The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (nokut.no) processes applications for general recognition of foreign higher education.
Read more about general recognition (nokut.no)
Dual career advice
NMBU does not provide formal career counseling for partners and spouses accompanying international researchers. We can offer your partner the following advice:
Career counseling
NAV, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, is engaged in a cooperation within the European Economic Area (EEA) - EURES (EURopean Employment Services). For counseling on job opportunities in Norway, you should ask for an appointment with an adviser from the NAV EURES office (nav.no).
Job vacancies
- www.nav.no with postings of vacancies in English
- www.finn.no (Norwegian)
- Vacant positions at NMBU
- Most newspapers carry a ‘vacant positions’ column. Try Aftenposten (aftenposten.no) which has national distribution, or a local paper like Østlandet blad (oblad.no)
- To make direct enquiries with employment agencies or with potential employers, you can search the Norwegian yellow pages (gulesider.no) in Norwegian and English.
Recommended reading
- EURAXESS Norway (euraxess.no) gives a useful overview of job opportunities and working conditions for international researchers and accompanying spouses in Norway.
- EURES Europe provides a well of up to-date country-specific information of interest to job seekers as well as a job database.
- Goinglobal Norway (career guide, download at a fee, but a useful exerpts are available on the web for free)
- www.careernorway.com offers comprehensiv information to job seekers in Norway
Recommended networking
Networking and personal recommendations lead to many jobs for Norwegians, which can make it difficult for foreigners with few connections to penetrate the job market. This seeming disadvantage can be overcome through the use of online resources and networking organizations. In particular, we can recommend the following:
- Professional Women's Network Norway, a non-profit networking organization that unites, supports and promotes the interests of international professional and business women in Norway.
- Norway International Network (ninside.org), a young, vibrant organization for foreigners studying, working and living in Norway, and for Norwegians interested in meeting people from different cultures.
