You cannot apply for NORPART, NORSTIP or Students at Risk. All three work through nomination or partnership, not an open application. If you are not already inside one of those channels, they are not routes you can choose.
That matters because degree-seeking students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland normally pay tuition fees at Norwegian institutions, and the fees vary between institutions and programmes. These schemes sit outside that rule, but only for the people they select.
What each scheme actually is
NORPART
NORPART supports long-term academic collaboration and mutual student mobility between Norwegian institutions and selected partner countries in the Global South. HK-dir administers it. The applicant is an accredited Norwegian higher education institution, which must have at least one accredited partner in a NORPART partner country. Target groups include master's and PhD students.
Partner countries include Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam. The Norwegian government proposed to end support for NORPART in the 2025 National Budget, and the 2024 call received 191 applications and allocated about NOK 35 million to 7 projects. If you are looking at NORPART now, check HK-dir's current pages before you plan around it.
NORSTIP
UiO describes NORSTIP as available only to students nominated and admitted to a master's programme through partnerships participating in the scheme. At UiO the scholarship covers tuition fees, living costs for 22 months, residence permit and visa costs of NOK 5,400, a one-off start-up grant of NOK 15,000, a return ticket up to NOK 15,000 and fieldwork up to NOK 29,000.
These are UiO's terms. Other institutions may run NORSTIP differently or not at all, so confirm the details with the institution running the partnership. The scholarship appears in our scholarship directory alongside others such as the BI Master International Scholarship, the BI Presidential Scholarship, Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarships and the A. Wilhelmsen Foundation Scholarship at BI.
Students at Risk (StAR)
StAR supports students who, because of their human rights activism, are at risk of being formally or de facto denied educational or other rights in their home country. Candidates cannot apply or nominate themselves. They must be nominated by a designated institution, embassy, university or human rights organisation.
They must have valid residency in a country on the DAC List of ODA Recipients and qualify for admission to higher education in Norway. HK-dir assesses academic and linguistic qualifications. Accepted students are enrolled in bachelor's or master's programmes at participating Norwegian institutions, receive a scholarship from HK-dir during their stay and are expected to return to their home countries. StAR has run since 2013 and has awarded scholarships and study places to more than 100 students.
Who these schemes are not for
If you are an ordinary international applicant choosing a master's from abroad, none of these is an open door. NORPART is applied for by institutions. NORSTIP depends on a partnership nomination at the institution. StAR depends on a third-party nomination.
The Norwegian government offers no individual scholarships to degree students. So there is no general state scholarship you can apply for as a self-funding applicant. Most students outside these channels pay tuition, and you can read how that works in our tuition fees guide. EU/EEA and Swiss students are normally exempt from tuition fees at public institutions.
Tuition and fees: what changes under these schemes
NORPART, NORHED and StAR students are normally exempt from tuition fees at public institutions in Norway. That is the main financial effect. For NORSTIP at UiO, tuition is covered as part of a wider package that also includes living costs, permit and visa costs, a start-up grant, a return ticket and fieldwork support.
Outside these schemes, fees vary between institutions and programmes. Our site lists 27 Norwegian higher education institutions and 353 programmes imported from the Study in Norway register, with fees as listed in the Study in Norway register. Always confirm the fee with the institution itself before you budget.
How to tell whether one of these could reach you
Work backwards from the nomination. Ask your current university or a human rights organisation whether it has a StAR nomination channel. If you are already in a partnership, ask the Norwegian partner institution whether NORSTIP applies to your programme. For NORPART, the question is for the institutions, not for you.
If none of those apply, treat these schemes as context rather than a plan. Then look at what you can control:
- Apply directly to master's programmes through the institution's own website. Postgraduate programmes are not part of the NUCAS coordinated application service.
- For English-taught bachelor's degrees, admission is through the institutions' own systems. For Norwegian-taught bachelor's degrees, it goes through NUCAS.
- Budget for tuition if you are from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland.
- Apply for a residence permit for studies if you will stay three months or longer, through UDI.
Studying in Norway means 60 ECTS in a full-time year. Bachelor's degrees take three years (180 ECTS), master's degrees two years (120 ECTS) after a bachelor's, and doctoral degrees three or four years. Those lengths affect how much a scholarship has to cover, which is why NORSTIP's 22 months of living costs at UiO is a specific figure, not a general rule.
To see which institutions run which programmes, start with our list of all universities in Norway. Our scholarship directory shows the schemes we have indexed, including the UiO NORSTIP listing and StAR. The tuition fees in Norway page explains the fee rules for everyone else. Any figure shown there comes as listed in the Study in Norway register, confirm it with the institution.
What to check before you rely on any of this
Rules and funding change. NORPART's future was under question in the 2025 National Budget. StAR nominations depend on designated organisations. NORSTIP depends on partnerships that may change their offer. Treat every amount and condition here as a starting point for a question, not a promise.
Check the institution's own pages for the programme you want. Check HK-dir for NORPART and StAR. Check UDI for study permits. Check lanekassen.no if you want to know about Norwegian student funding, which is a different system from the schemes described here. And check studyinnorway.no for the register that our catalogue is imported from.
Sources
- HK-dir, NORPART
- HK-dir, Students at Risk
- UiO, NORSTIP scholarship
- Study in Norway, cost and requirements
- Study in Norway, education system
- Study in Norway, admission to degree programmes
- Samordna opptak, English home
- Study in Norway, tuition fees
- Study in Norway, scholarships for degree students
- This site's catalogue, imported from the Study in Norway register
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for a NORPART scholarship myself?
No. The NORPART applicant must be an accredited Norwegian higher education institution with at least one accredited partner in a partner country. Students are included through institutional collaboration. Talk to your institution about whether a NORPART partnership exists for your programme.
How do I get nominated for Students at Risk?
You cannot nominate yourself. A designated institution, embassy, university or human rights organisation must nominate you. You also need valid residency in a country on the DAC List of ODA Recipients and must qualify for admission to higher education in Norway. HK-dir assesses your academic and linguistic qualifications.
Does the NORSTIP scholarship cover tuition fees at UiO?
Yes. At UiO, the NORSTIP scholarship covers tuition fees, living costs for 22 months, residence permit and visa costs of NOK 5,400, a one-off start-up grant of NOK 15,000, a return ticket up to NOK 15,000 and fieldwork up to NOK 29,000. It is only for students nominated and admitted through participating partnerships. Confirm details with UiO.
Are NORPART and StAR students exempt from tuition fees?
NORPART, NORHED and StAR students are normally exempt from tuition fees at public institutions in Norway. That is separate from the general rule that degree-seeking students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland normally pay tuition fees. Always check the current terms with the institution and HK-dir.