75 Years Old and Brand New in 2021

Year-end is a symbolic juncture, and this one marks the end of a particularly challenging year. It is also a time for hope. Although the pandemic is not over, there is reason to be optimistic that things are changing for the better. As for The International Summer School, 2021 will be another irregular year due to the lingering restrictive effects of the pandemic and we are preparing for yet another digital summer. But there is also another reason why the coming year will be different.

International Summer School for 75 Years

ISS 2021 will be a special occasion, as it is our 75th session and marks the beginning of our anniversary year, which will last until the summer of 2022. No pandemic changes that feat! With all the tools available to us, the alumni, partners, academic and administrative staff plan to honor this achievement. After 75 years of bringing students together from around the world to learn with and from one another, we continue to offer the ISS digitally during these times. We derive our ideals from the original aspirations from 75 years ago, and rely on as many years of experience. Nevertheless, we are continuously developing and renewing as we go along. We are happy to be able to offer our students all the digital Bachelor and Master level courses free of charge in the summer of 2021, as a gesture of goodwill on this anniversary occasion.

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The ISS administration, faculty and staff wishes all alumni, students, and partners a Happy New Year!

New Year, New Courses

On January 4, we will open the admissions portal for the ISS class of ’21. This summer, we are excited to test out new modules: Latin America in the New Global Resource Politics which is an intensive 1-week course, and Norsk grammatikk i et fremmedsspr?ksperspektiv, which is a supplementary Norwegian grammar class for advanced Norwegian language students. We are also happy to be re-launching an earlier course, A Changing Arctic. Simultaneously, we will be building on our new experiences with digital teaching to further develop what we achieved online in 2020. 

Though selected classes will be shorter, most will retain the 6-weeks format. Classes will be taught virtually with the possible exception of some in-person Norwegian classes, primarily for students who are residing in the Oslo area during the summer. Norwegian language classes follow the same syllabus whether digital or in person. With the exception of the shorter grammar and Nynorsk classes, Norwegian classes are subject to tuition costs.

Welcome to ISS Applicants of 2021

With the New Year rapidly approaching, we invite you all to look forward to the summer of 2021. Please invite those whom you think will be a good fit for the International Summer School to have a look at the classes we are offering. With the pandemic came new ways of doing things, but ways that also proved fruitful for continued diversity and easier access to the ISS for some students. We will continue to offer the ISS to a diverse group of excellently qualified students around the world.

As we are looking forward to a renewed future, we proudly look back at 75 years of ISS achievements. I wish all our ISS students and alumni, partners, faculty and staff a very happy and healthy New Year!  

By Nita Kapoor, ISS Director
Published Dec. 28, 2020 5:39 PM - Last modified Mar. 8, 2024 9:46 AM