Strategic Educational Partnerships
The University of Oslo aims to enhance the quality of education through long-term strategic partnerships with world-leading universities. Although UiOs various research groups, departments and faculties are broadly involved in international academic cooperation, our strategic partnerships involve multi-level collaboration.
Strategic partnerships are by nature involving cooperation within both research and education. However, some agreements and programs have stronger focus on either activity. Within education, as of 2020 the University of Oslo participates in 5 Erasmus+ Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships.
In 2016, UiO and the University of California, San Diego, established a strategic educational partnership which builds on academic contacts to stimulate increased cooperation in education and student mobility.
In general there has been a strengthened focus on quality in education at the University of Oslo the last few years. This also applies to internationalization of the study programs. Through strong partnerships the aim is to give every student experience from studying in an international environment. The means are internationalization at home, semester exchanges, embedded mobility, digital learning, summer courses, internships abroad and other forms of exposure to wider academic horizons.
Student Exchange
The Norwegian government and the university leaders are aiming at increasing student mobility substantially in the years to come. At present we welcome more than 1500 exchange students from our partner universities to UiO while over 1000 UiO students go abroad for a semester or two as part of their degree. UiO has exchange agreements with more than 500 universities around the world and participates in a number of international exchange programmes such as Erasmus+ and Nordplus.
Student exchange agreements are based on mutual academic interest in cooperation between our own and the cooperating institution’s faculties and departments. Most of these agreements are owned and managed by the actual faculty or department. There is a strong focus on building relationships with Nordic and European partners through the Nordplus and Ersamus+ programmes.
Bilateral institutional agreements should be of academic interest to several faculties, have potential for a substantial number of mobilities, and with partner universities that offer a wide range of courses taught in English. UiO has institutional agreements with 10-25 yearly exchange places each with key partners in Australia, Singapore and USA, destinations where there are reciprocal exchanges with many faculties on both sides.