NORWAY

In Norway the government is responsible for higher education, but the municipalities are responsible for primary and lower secondary education and the counties are responsible for upper secondary education and training and post-secondary vocational education. In Norway, children can attend kindergarten at the age of 1 and compulsory education is from 6 to 16 years. The upper secondary education or training takes 3 to 4.5 years and students can choose between three academic education programs (3 years) or nine vocational education programs (3 to 4.5 years). The academic programs finish with a general university and college admissions certification. The figure below shows the structure of the Norwegian school system.