University of South-Eastern Norway

The University of South-Eastern Norway (Norwegian: Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge), commonly known as USN, is a Norwegian state university. It has campuses in Bø, Telemark, Porsgrunn, Notodden, Rauland, Drammen, Hønefoss, Kongsberg and Horten. USN is a continuation of the three former university colleges, Telemark University College, Buskerud University College and Vestfold University College, which merged between 2014 and 2016 to form the University College of South-Eastern Norway. The institution was granted the status of a full university by the King-in-Council on 4 May 2018.[1] It has 1,360 employees and 17,152 students.

University of South-Eastern Norway
Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge
TypePublic university
Established4 May 2018
Vice-ChancellorPetter Aasen
Students17,152
Location
Bø, Telemark, Porsgrunn, Notodden, Rauland, Drammen, Hønefoss, Kongsberg, Horten
,
Norway
Websiteusn.no

USN has 88 undergraduate programs, 44 master's programs and 8 PhD programs. Measured in the number of students, USN is among the largest in higher education in Norway. The university is exclusively offering several courses in Norway, such as optician study in Kongsberg and writer's study in Bø.

History

Buskerud University College and Vestfold University College merged to Buskerud and Vestfold University College in 2014. On 4 June 2015, the boards on University College in Buskerud and Vestfold approved a proposal along with Telemark University College to ask the government to merge the educational institutions. The Storting's consideration of Report to the Storting no. 18 (2014–2015) Konsentrasjon for kvalitet – strukturreform i universitets- og høyskolesektoren found place on 11 June.[2][3] The institutions were formally merged on 19 June through Royal Decree with effect from 1 January 2016.[4]

The merger decision from the respective directors at Buskerud and Vestfold University College and Telemark University College, asked that the name of the merged school should be University College of South-Eastern Norway with merger date 1 January 2016. It was also specified in the board decision that the purpose of the merge was to become a university.[5] An application to be granted status as a university was sent for assessment by NOKUT in 2017, and NOKUT issued its recommendation that the institution meet the criteria for university status in April 2018.[6] The institution was granted status as a university under the name University of South-Eastern Norway in King-in-Council on 4 May 2018 and is usually referred to by the abbreviation USN.

References
  1. Klare for sørøst-fusjon, Khrono, 4 June 2015
  2. Normannsen, Sølvi Waterloo (3 June 2015). "Steile fronter om valgt eller tilsatt UH-ledelse". universitetsavisa.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  3. Kunnskapsdepartementet (27 March 2015). "Meld. St. 18 (2014–2015)". Regjeringen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  4. Flølo, Susanne (19 June 2015). "Høgskolen i Sørøst-Norge er et faktum". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. "Klare for sørøst-fusjon". khrono.no (in Norwegian). 4 June 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  6. "Universitet – Høgskolen i Sørøst-Norge". web.archive.org. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2020.

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