Students flock to our law programmes

When the application deadline for higher education closed on 15 April, UiA figures showed that the new master's degree in law is very popular. 328 applicants are fighting for 40 places.

“These are very encouraging numbers. We are pleased that so many people want to be part of our first master's cohort in law at UiA,” says Dean of the School of Business and Law at UiA, Roger Normann.

The new master's degree also seems to have increased the interest in the bachelor's degree in law.

“We see that the number of applicants who put our bachelor programme as their first choice increased by almost fifty percent. Overall, we see that the opportunity to offer a master’s degree in law leads to a strengthening of the academic environment and increased interest in studying with us,” Normann says.

Many applicants attracted to social education programme to be offered in the regions

From the next academic year, UiA will offer social education in the regions, in both eastern Agder, Setesdal and the Lister region. And the figures show that these offers have drawn a lot of applicants.

A total of 317 applicants are fighting for 35 student places. The preliminary processing of applications shows that there are more than enough qualified applicants in all regions to start up in August.

“These are extraordinarily good numbers that show there is great interest in becoming social educators in the districts of Agder. We are happy to be able to participate in meeting the needs of the various regions,” says Anders Johan Wickstrøm Andersen, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences.

The programme is part-time over 4.5 years and includes online delivery and face-to-face gatherings. The gatherings will mainly take place in Lyngdal (18 student places), Tvedestrand (9 student places) and Evje (8 student places).

Worrying national decline in teacher education enrolments

The applicant numbers show a marked decline for teacher training courses throughout the country, which the press release from the Ministry of Education also emphasises (Norwegian only). Several programmes at UiA also saw a decline:

-          Kindergarten teacher training in Grimstad and Kristiansand is down 44% and 21% respectively

-          Primary school teacher training, grades 1 to 7, is down 4.5%

-          Primary school teacher training, grades 5 to 10, is down 47%

-          Secondary school teacher training, grades 8 to 13, is down 12%

“This is a development we have been expecting for some years now. UiA will continue to provide good education for teachers in our entire range of courses, but it is clear that the trends we see in recruitment should worry us all,” says Dean of the Teacher Education Unit at UiA, Hilde Inntjore.

“Many people will have to join in and contribute to increase the interest in becoming a teacher in both kindergarten and schools, and as a broad teacher training provider, we will of course contribute to that in any way we can,” says Inntjore.

Other figures from UiA

Below are some key figures on applications to UiA's programmes.

How many applied to UiA?

6,112 applicants through the Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service (NUCAS) put UiA as their first priority. This is a decrease of 2% from last year (6,243).

Among the universities we normally compare ourselves to, UiA holds up reasonably well. Among them are the University of Stavanger (-5.6%), Nord University (-6.7%) and the University of South-Eastern Norway (-12.6%). Several of the universities in the largest cities have seen an increase, such as OsloMet (+5.4%).

UiA's share of first-priority applicants in NUCAS is 4.49%, marginally down from 4.62% in 2022.

In the local admissions, 5,450 students had applied to UiA programmes by 15 April.

Who applies to UiA?

52% of UiA's applicants are aged 21 or younger. The national figure is 45%.

As before, around 6 out of 10 applicants to UiA are women.

52.3% of applicants live in Agder, Viken (11.8%), Rogaland (9.6%) and Vestfold and Telemark (9.5%).

Which study programmes are most competitive?

When we look at the number of applicants per student place through NUCAS, this is UiA's top ten list:

1. Academic Esports, bachelor's degree - 5.9 applicants per place
2. Law, bachelor's degree - 5.3 applicants per place
3. Child Welfare, five-year master's - 4.2 applicants per place
4. Nursing, bachelor's degree - 4 applicants per place
5. Social Work, bachelor's degree - 3.9 applicants per place
6. Marketing and Management, bachelor's degree - 3.7 applicants per place
7. Education, 1-year programme – 3.4 applicants per place
8. Industrial Economics and Technology Management, five-year master's - 3.3 applicants per place
9. Biomedical Laboratory Science, bachelor's degree - 3.2 applicants per place
10. Outdoor Education, 1-year programme - 2.9 applicants per place

All universities also have their own local admissions. In the local admissions, applicants may submit applications to several institutions, so the applicant numbers are less clear. Nevertheless, the following programmes have a particularly large number of applicants per place:

1. Special Needs Education, two-year master's - 12.9 applicants per place
2. Performing Music - popular music, bachelor - 11.4 applicants per place
3. Law, two-year master's - 8.2 applicants per place

Applicant numbers within UiA's largest subject areas

Within health subjects, UiA has a 1% decrease compared to 8% nationally. There has been an increase in applications to the degree in social education (+15.1%) and the nursing degree programme in Grimstad (+6.6%). Applications to the nursing programme in Kristiansand decreased by 10%, but the numbers are still high with 441 applicants for 170 places.

Within business administration, the number of applicants increased by 11.2% at UiA, which follows a positive national trend. The bachelor's degree in business administration increased by as much as 20%, while the two-year master's programme increased by 10%.

For engineering courses at bachelor's level, we get applications through NUCAS or through local admissions (TRES or Y). Application numbers for Electrical Engineering increased by 9%, just ahead of Computer Engineering which increased by 8.7%. Renewable Energy increased by 2%. Mechatronics decreased by 29.5% and master’s courses by 18.5%. The applicant numbers at master's level are presumably affected by a labour market where there is high demand for labour, and there are fewer applications in several fields. Available student places will be announced continuously on UiA.no.

The teacher education was widely discussed above.

Available student places

As usual, some study programmes still have open places after 15 April. For example, it is already clear that places are available for our master's programmes in:

• Renewable Energy
• Mechatronics
• Civil and Structural Engineering 
• Sociology
• Innovation and Knowledge Development

This list is incomplete. All available places will be published:

• Local admissions, 1 June
• NUCAS, 19 July

One exception is the TRES admission for engineering programmes, which will be published soon.

Follow UiA.no for updated information.

When vacant student places are advertised, this normally means that applicants who do not meet the admission criteria may be granted conditional admission. This may, for example, apply to applicants for engineering programmes who lack Math 4 or applicants for a master's degree who lack up to 15 credits.

SEE ALSO: Information from the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (NUCAS)

SEE ALSO: How to apply to UiA's degree programmes

Our press contacts are Director of Academic Affairs Greta Hilding and Director of Communication Øivind Dagsvik Eskedal.