The Quality Reform was a
reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
initialized by the
Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research after recommendation from the ''
Mjøs committee'' (1998–2000). It was introduced in 2002–03 and changed the entire system of
higher education in Norway to comply with the
Bologna process
file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo
file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone
The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...
. 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,
Master and
Philosophiae Doctor degrees. This replaced the former system of three and a half or four year
cand.mag. degrees followed by one and a half or two year ''hovedfag'' degrees. The system abolished many old master-level degree titles, including
cand.scient. (sciences),
cand.polit. (social sciences),
cand.philol. (humanities),
cand.oecon. (economics),
cand.agro. (agronomy),
cand.jur. (law),
cand.theol. (theology), ''
sivilingeniør'' (engineering) and ''
siviløkonom'' (management). The length varied, and depended on the area of study, ranging from four to six years. The
cand.psychol. (clinical psychology),
cand.med. (medicine) and
cand.med.vet. titles have been retained as six-year studies in
clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and
veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...
. All master-level titles are now awarded as
Master of Science
A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...
,
Master of Technology or
Master of Philosophy
A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...
, 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 (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
*
cand.mag. (arts)
*
cand.scient. (sciences)
*
cand.real. (mathematics)
*
cand.polit. (social sciences)
*
cand.philol. (humanities)
*
cand.oecon. (economics)
*
cand.jur. (law)
*
cand.theol. (theology)
*
cand.psychol. (clinical psychology)
*
cand.med. (medicine)
*
cand.med.vet. (medicine veterinary)
*
cand.agro. (agronomy)
*
siv.ing. (engineering)
*
siv.ek. (management)
See also
Bolgna Process
References
{{Reflist
Education in Norway