Tilstandsrapport for høgare yrkesfagleg utdanning 2026
Summary in English
Student growth driven by the largest fields of study
In 2025, there were 36,100 students enrolled in higher vocational education, representing an increase of six per cent from the previous year.
Overall student growth is largely concentrated in the largest fields of study. Technical subjects, health and welfare subjects, and economics and administrative subjects together account for more than three quarters of all students, and these fields have also experienced the strongest growth in recent years. Within health and welfare subjects, early childhood education and care-related programmes have seen a particularly marked increase in student numbers. For the first time, IT subjects are presented as a separate field of study in the report. After several years of growth, the number of IT students has levelled off. At the same time, student numbers continue to increase at publicly owned vocational colleges.
Growth in blended and campus-based provision
Most students make use of flexible learning provisions. In 2025, around three quarters of students were enrolled on a part-time basis. Online programmes, both with and without campus-based sessions, have become the most common modes of delivery. Nearly half of all students followed a blended programme with in-person sessions, while one third were enrolled in fully online programmes.
High credit attainment
Trends in admissions and the number of graduates broadly mirror the growth in the student population. Credit attainment is generally high, indicating good completion rates in a sector where part-time study and digital delivery models are predominant. At the same time, there are variations in credit attainment across different modes of delivery, fields of study, and between full-time and part-time students.
Larger vocational colleges and increased geographical accessibility
In 2025, the vocational college sector comprised 61 institutions, including 18 publicly owned and 43 privately owned colleges, with a total of 188 study locations. While there is considerable variation in institutional size, developments point towards a growing number of larger vocational colleges with a broad geographical distribution of study locations.
More programmes and growth in flexible provision
In autumn 2025, more than 450 distinct educational programmes were registered. When differences in geographical distribution, organisation and mode of delivery are considered, this corresponds to over 2,000 registered programmes. The largest number of programmes is found within health and welfare subjects, technical subjects and economics and administrative subjects. The number of programmes has increased within IT subjects and economics and administrative subjects. Short and flexible programmes constitute a substantial part of the overall provision and have experienced particularly strong growth within technical subjects.
Accreditation provides greater academic autonomy
In 2025, 17 vocational colleges held subject-area accreditation in one or more fields, with a total of 38 such accreditations. This provides vocational colleges with greater academic autonomy and opportunities to develop and adapt educational provisions in line with changing skills needs in the labour market. This represents an increase of approximately nine institutions and 24 subject-area accreditations since 2021.
Public funding remains the main source of financing
In 2025, approximately NOK three billion was spent on higher vocational education. Central government operating grants amounted to NOK 1.6 billion, while contributions from county authorities’ general revenues totalled NOK 215 million. Tuition fees amounted to a total of NOK 857 million, the majority of which was generated by privately owned institutions.
Increased public funding leads to more study places and higher output
Developments show that public funding allocated to new study places results in increased activity in the form of more full-time equivalents and higher credit attainment, in line with the assumptions underlying the funding system. At the same time, publicly funded programmes generally demonstrate higher credit attainment than programmes financed through tuition fees.
Appendices
- The underlying data for all figures and tables are available online. This also includes data for time series and additional tables not presented in the report itself.
- County-level overviews provide statistics and descriptive information for each county. These present selected data on higher vocational education at study locations within each county authority.