The University of Bergen () is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several scientific institutions that dated as far back as 1825. It is Norway's second-oldest university, and is considered to be one of the nation’s four so-called "established universities." It has faculties and programmes in all the academic fields typical of a classical university, as well as such degree programmes as medicine and law that, traditionally, only the “established universities” are authorized by law to offer. It is also one of Norway's leading universities in many of the natural sciences, including

marine research Marine Research were an indiepop group, based in Oxford/London (UK), formed in 1997 by four of the five members of Heavenly ( Amelia Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff, Cathy Rogers and Rob Pursey), following the death of Heavenly drummer Mathew ...

and

climate research Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

. It has consistently been ranked in the top 200 or top one percent of universities in the world, and as one of the best 10 or best 50 universities worldwide in some fields, such as

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and marine sciences. It is part of the

Coimbra Group The Coimbra Group (CG) is an international association of 40 universities in Europe. It was established in 1985. It works for the benefit of its members by promoting "internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and rese ...

and of the U5 group of Norway's oldest and highest-ranked universities.

History

The university traces its roots to several earlier scientific and scholarly institutions founded in

. Academic activity had taken place in Bergen since the founding of

Bergen Cathedral School Bergen Cathedral School ( Norwegian: ''Bergen Katedralskole'', Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Bergensis'', formerly known as Bergens lærdeskole and Bergen latinskole and colloquially known as Katten) is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. L ...

in 1153, the

Seminarium Fredericianum The Seminarium Fredericianum or Bergen Daycare () is located at Asylplass 2 in Bergen's Bergenhus district and today it houses Norway's oldest preschool. History The Seminarium Fredericianum was established in 1750 by Bishop Erik Pontoppidan a ...

in 1750 and the establishment of the

Royal Norwegian Naval Academy The Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (RNoNA, ''Sjøkrigsskolen'' in Norwegian) is located at Laksevåg in Bergen. It was formally established 27 October 1817 in Frederiksvern. The institution educates officers for the Royal Norwegian Navy. History ...

in 1817. Academia and higher education would also be significantly advanced in the city with the establishment of

Bergen Museum The University Museum of Bergen () is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history. History The University Museum of Bergen was fo ...

, later renamed ''University Museum of Bergen'', in 1825. Founded by Wilhelm Frimann Christie and

Jacob Neumann Jacob Neumann (13 July 1772 – 25 January 1848) was a Norwegian bishop. Personal life He was born in Strømsø as a son of Hans Neumann (1745–1789) and Annechen Johanne Blom (1754–1773), and a grandson of Jakob Hansen Neumann. He was also ...

, the museum became a venue for both research and education specialized on natural science, and featured prominent researcher like

Michael Sars Michael Sars (30 August 1805 – 22 October 1869) was a Norwegian theologian and biologist. Biography Sars was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied natural history and theology at Royal Frederick University from 1823 and completed a cand.theol ...

Daniel Cornelius Danielssen Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (4 July 1815 – 13 July 1894) was a Norwegian physician. He was most noted for his research regarding the causes and treatment of leprosy. Biography Danielssen was from Bergen, Norway. Dating from 1839, he was asso ...

and

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...

. Bergen would eventually become a city with several arenas for higher education and research with the

Geophysical Institute The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducts research into space physics and aeronomy; atmospheric sciences; snow, ice, and permafrost; seismology; volcanology; and tectonics and sedimentation. It was founded in 1946 by a ...

being established in 1917, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in 1930, the

Norwegian School of Economics The Norwegian School of Economics () or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is the leading teaching and research institution in Norway for the fields of management and ...

in 1936 and finally the university in 1946. The University of Bergen was established by an act of parliament in 1946, as Norway's second university.

Rector elections

2021

Organization

The University of Bergen has an elected rector. The current rector is Margareth Hagen, who was elected for a four-year term starting 1 August 2021 after serving as interim rector. The university has 7 faculties, the newest being ''The Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design'' which was established in 2017. The University of Bergen Library and the University Museum of Bergen have a faculty-like status. Most of the university campus and administration is located in the Nygård neighbourhood, which has resulted in the campus area often being referred to as ''Nygårdshøyden'' or simply H''øyden'', meaning "the hill".

International relations

The university is an active member of the

University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...

. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region. The university also participates in UArctic's mobility program north2north. The aim of that program is to enable students of member institutions to study in different parts of the North.

Academics

The University of Bergen has three strategic areas: * Marine research * Climate and

energy transition An energy transition (or energy system transformation) is a major structural change to energy supply and consumption in an energy system. Currently, a transition to sustainable energy is underway to limit climate change. Most of the sustainab ...

* Global challenges

Ranking

In 2010 the university was ranked as number 135 worldwide by the

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

, and 181st worldwide by the 2015/16

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

. UiB was also ranked number 148 worldwide in the July 2010

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

. The URAP (University Ranking by Academic Performance) has ranked UiB for 2014/2015 as the 219th worldwide.

Tuition

The University of Bergen, in common with other Norwegian universities, does not charge tuition fees, except for students coming from outside the EU. Students are however required to be members of the student welfare organisation. As of 2024, this fee (''semesteravgift'') is NOK 690 (approx. US$65) per semester, and provides access to several services, including cultural activities, childcare, refunds for many medical expenses and subsidized accommodation. NOK 40 of the fee is a donation to the SAIH, a student charity, but this is optional.

Faculties

Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design

The Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design was established on 1 January 2017. It is composed of the earlier Grieg Academy – Department of Music, and the

Bergen Academy of Art and Design Bergen Academy of Art and Design () or KHiB was one of two independent and accredited scientific institutions of higher learning in the visual arts and design in Norway (The other is Oslo National Academy of the Arts). It was located in Bergen, N ...

. * The Art Academy – Department of Contemporary Art * The Grieg Academy - Department of Music * Department of Design

Faculty of Humanities

* Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities * Centre for Women and Gender Research * Department of Archeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion (AHKR) * Department of Foreign Languages (Arabic, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, German and single courses in Chinese (IF)) * Department of Linguistics, Literary and Aesthetical studies (LLE) (Nordic, Comparative Literature, Theatre Studies, Digital Culture, Linguistics, Art History, Classics) * Department of Philosophy and First Semester Studies (see

Examen philosophicum Examen philosophicum (Latin for ''philosophic exam''; abbreviated to ''Ex.phil.'') is, together with Examen facultatum, one of two academic exams in most undergraduate programmes at Norwegian universities. Whereas ''Examen facultatum'' aims at t ...

and Examen facultatum) (FOF) * The Grieg Academy – Department of Music Two Norwegian Centres of Research Excellence are hosted at the Faculty of Humanities: * Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) * Center for Digital Narrative (CDN) The faculty revised its structure and names in August 2007.

Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law was established as a separate faculty in 1980, with legal studies and research having been conducted at the university since 1969. The faculty is one of three Norwegian institutions which offer legal studies, the other two being the law faculties at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

and the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

. The faculty offers a five-year programme leading to a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in law and a three-year

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

programme, and currently has approximately 1900 students.

Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

As of 1 January 2023 the faculty is organised into the following seven departments: * Department of Biological Sciences * Department of Chemistry * Department of Earth Science * Department of Informatics * Department of Mathematics * Department of Physics and Technology *

* Michael Sars Centre The Faculty is tied to a number of centres: Centres of Excellence in Research: * Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS) Centres of Research-based Innovation: * Climate Futures * Smart Ocean * Sea Lice Research Centre Centres of Excellence in Education: * BioCEED Other important units and centres: *

Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology The 'Michael Sars Centre'' is a research institute at the University of Bergen located in Bergen, Norway. It consists of an international community of scientists that use advanced technologies to study the unique molecular and cellular biology of ma ...

* K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research *

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research is a climate research centre in Bergen, Norway. The centres key areas of research is natural variability in the Earth system and man-made climate change. The centre combines observations with theoretical and ...

* CBU - Computational Biology Unit * Norwegian Ocean Observation Laboratory * Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Innovations (CSAI) * Bergen Offshore Wind Centre (BOW)

Faculty of Medicine

Since January 2013 the faculty is organised in the following departments and units: * Department of Biomedicine * Department of Clinical Medicine * Department of Clinical Science * Department of Clinical Dentistry * Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care * Centre for International Health * Laboratory Animal Facility

Faculty of Psychology

The University of Bergen is the only institution in the Nordic countries where the study of psychology has been assigned to its own faculty. Established in 1980, it educates psychologists and is responsible for the university's

pedagogic Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken a ...

education. * Department of Psychosocial Science * Department of Health Promotion and Development * Department of Education * Department of Clinical Psychology * Department of Biological and Medical Psychology * Centre for Crisis Psychology * SLATE: Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology * Norwegian Competence Center for Gambling and Gaming Research

Faculty of Social Sciences

* Department of Administration and Organization Theory * Department of Comparative Politics * Department of Economics * Department of Geography * Department of Information Science and Media Studies * Department of Social Anthropology * Department of Sociology * Centre for Development Studies * Centre for Gender Studies * Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Notable people

Alumni

Knut Olav Åmås Knut Olav Åmås (born 19 January 1968) is a Norwegian writer, editor and politician for the Conservative Party. He hails from Odda. He holds a cand.philol. degree in philosophy, having taken his master's thesis on Ludwig Wittgenstein at the Un ...

, writer, editor, and politician *

Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, he signed with Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journey" project, whi ...

, pianist and chamber musician *

Jon Fosse Jon Olav Fosse (; born 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable." Fosse's work spans over se ...

, author and dramatist,

Nobel laureate in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in th ...

(2023) *

Lars Gule Lars Gule (born 24 June 1955) is a Norwegian philosopher. He has graduated with a doctorate in philosophy, and is an associate professor (at Oslo Metropolitan University). From 2000 to 2005 he was secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Asso ...

, philosopher and social commentator *

Mukhisa Kituyi Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi (born October 20, 1956) is a Kenyan politician who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD from September 2013 to February 2021 when he stepped down to run for the Kenyan P ...

, Secretary-General

UNCTAD UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

Karl Ove Knausgård Karl Ove Knausgård (; born 6 December 1968) is a Norwegian author. He became known worldwide for a series of six autobiographical novels titled '' My Struggle'' (''Min Kamp''). ''The Wall Street Journal'' has described him as "one of the 21st c ...

, author * Tom Mollnes, immunologist and academic *

Torbjørn Mork Torbjørn Mork (17 November 1928 – 16 October 1992) was a Norwegian physician and civil servant. He was born in Odda as a son of Guttorm Mork (1897–1974) and Inga Skadsem (1894–1950). He took the examen artium in 1948 and graduated with the ...

, Director of the

Norwegian Board of Health Supervision The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (, short name ''Helsetilsynet'') is a national government institution under the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services (''Helse- og omsorgsd ...

Monica Mæland Monica Mæland (born 6 February 1968) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party who served as Minister of Justice from 2020 to 2021. Previously she served as Minister Local Government from 2018 to 2020, and Minister of Trade and Ind ...

, Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry *

Freda Nkirote Freda Nkirote M’Mbogori is a Kenyan archaeologist, who is Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) and President of the Pan-African Archaeological Association. Biography Nkirote studied for her BA at the University of Nairob ...

, Director of the

British Institute in Eastern Africa The British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and is dedicated to supporting historical, archaeological, and other social science and humanities research in eastern Africa. The BIEA is sponsored by the British A ...

(BIEA) and President of the

Pan-African Archaeological Association The PanAfrican Archaeological Association (PAA) is a Pan-Africanism, pan-African professional organisation for Archaeology, archaeologists, Geologist, geologists and Paleoanthropology, palaeoanthropologists. History The association was founded ...

Iselin Nybø Iselin Nybø (born 14 May 1981) is a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party, who served as the Minister of Trade and Industry from 2020 to 2021.; She also served as Minister of Higher Education from 2018 to 2020. She was elected to the Parliam ...

, Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry * Bernt Østhus (born 1970), lawyer, investor, photographer * Sveinung Rotevatn, Norwegian Minister of Climate and the Environment * Lars Henrik Smedsrud, Norwegian polar oceanographer and an academic *

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been the leader of the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Part ...

, Prime Minister of Norway *

Hans-Wilhelm Steinfeld Hans-Wilhelm Steinfeld (born 29 March 1951) is a Norwegian journalist, foreign correspondent and non-fiction writer. He has worked for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) from 1976, and been a foreign correspondent for NRK in Moscow for ...

, journalist and writer *

Grethe Fatima Syéd Grethe Fatima Syéd (born 1 January 1968) is a Norwegian literary scholar, translator and author. She has translated fiction from English, obtained a doctorate with a dissertation on Olav Duun, and published books about the writer Torborg Nedreaa ...

, literary scholar, translator, and author

Faculty

* Frank Aarebrot, comparative politics * Fredrik Barth, social anthropology *

Jan Fridthjof Bernt Jan Fridthjof Bernt (born 6 July 1943) is a Norwegian professor of law and former rector (1996-1998) at the University of Bergen. He graduated with the cand.jur. degree from the University of Oslo in 1968, with the Master of Comparative Law from ...

, law *

Margunn Bjørnholt Margunn Bjørnholt (born 9 October 1958 in Bø, Telemark) is a Norwegian sociologist and economics, economist. She is a Academic ranks in Norway#Research professor, research professor at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Stud ...

, sociology * Julia Brannen, sociology * Tom Colbjørnsen, sociology *

Michael Fellows Michael Ralph Fellows AC HFRSNZ MAE (born June 15, 1952 in Upland, California) is a computer scientist and the Elite Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen, Norway as of January 2016. Biogra ...

, computer science * Per Fugelli, medicine * Knut Fægri, botany *

Gabriel Gustafson Gabriel Adolf Gustafson (8August 185316April 1915) was a Swedish-Norwegian archaeologist. He was responsible for the excavation and conservation of the Oseberg Ship (''Osebergfunnet'') . Biography Gabriel Gustafson was born in Visby, in Gotl ...

, archeology * Pinar Heggernes, computer science *

Gudmund Hernes Gudmund Hernes (born 25 March 1941 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian professor and politician for the Labour Party. He was the state secretary to the Secretariat for Long-Term Planning 1980–1981, Minister of Education and Research and Ministry of C ...

, sociology *

Helga Hernes Helga Marie Hernes (born 16 January 1938) is a German-born Norwegian political scientist, diplomat, and politician for the Labour Party. Educated in the United States, she moved to Norway following her marriage to Norwegian sociologist and po ...

, sociology and political science *

Georg Johannesen Georg Johannesen (22 February 1931 – 24 December 2005) was a Norwegian author and professor at the University of Bergen. Background He was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the son of Knut Johan Johannesen (1900–1979) and Ingeborg Malene Olsd ...

, rhetoric * Stein Kuhnle, sociology and political science * Johan Olsen, political science *

Stein Rokkan Stein Rokkan (July 4, 1921 – July 22, 1979) was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was the first professor of sociology at the University of Bergen and a principal founder of the discipline of comparative politics. He founded ...

, sociology and political science * Gunnar Skirbekk, philosophy * Harald Sverdrup, oceanographer and meteorologist *

Sigve Tjøtta Sigve Tjøtta (1 March 1930 – 28 August 2023) was a Norwegian mathematician. Early life He was born in Klepp. He took the cand.real. degree in 1954 and the dr.philos. degree in 1960, both at the University of Oslo. His doctoral thesis was ''On ...

, mathematics

Other notes

The university also has an

Arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

and

Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

References

External links

*
All academic units

List over research groups

Humanities IT centre

Wittgenstein Archives of Bergen
-

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergen, University Of 1946 establishments in Norway

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

Universities and colleges established in 1946 Members of the International Science Council Public universities