Master’s Scholarships in Norway for International Students 2027

A master’s degree in Norway offers research-led teaching, programmes taught entirely in English, close contact with professors in small cohorts, and a degree that is respected across Europe and beyond. It also requires honest financial planning. Since autumn 2023, master’s students from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland pay tuition at Norwegian public universities, and Norway does not run a central government scholarship for international master’s students. Any website that promises you a fully funded Norwegian Government Scholarship for a master’s degree, with a single simple application form, is not describing a real programme.

This guide is written specifically for master’s applicants targeting entry in 2027. It explains the funding routes that genuinely exist at master’s level — tuition exemption categories, the BI Presidential Scholarship, Erasmus Mundus joint master’s scholarships, Fulbright and home-country awards, and employer or family sponsorship combined with a lower-fee programme choice — and it is frank about the routes that do not exist, including general tuition waivers at the University of Oslo and NTNU. You will find published tuition categories for 2026/2027 and the first published 2027/2028 figures where universities have released them, the living-cost amount required by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), a step-by-step application plan built around the November to December application window, documents, selection criteria, mistakes and detailed answers to common questions.

If you are still comparing Norway with other countries, start with our broader guide to scholarships in Norway for international students and the StudyGraduate scholarships directory, then return here for the master’s-specific detail. Students from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia are the core audience, but the rules described apply to all non-EU/EEA applicants.

Master’s Scholarships in Norway at a Glance

The table makes the central point of this guide: at master’s level in Norway, funding is attached to a specific programme, institution or home-country scheme. There is no separate national application you can submit to cover any master’s you like. Your first task is therefore not filling in a scholarship form. It is choosing programmes where a funding route realistically applies to you.

How Much Does a Master’s in Norway Cost in 2027?

Tuition is set by each university, by subject category, and — following a recent change in the rules — institutions may now set their own level for non-EU/EEA students rather than charging a nationally required full-cost figure, provided the fee remains a real fee and not zero. Published categories for 2026/2027 give you the best available planning basis for 2027 entry, and at least one major university has already published reduced categories for 2027/2028.

The University of Oslo charged commonly NOK 204,000 or NOK 295,000 per year for master’s programmes in 2026/2027, and has published NOK 186,000 or NOK 218,000 for most master’s programmes for 2027/2028. NTNU’s common categories in 2026/2027 were NOK 176,300 and NOK 205,600 per year. The University of Bergen’s common master’s categories were NOK 197,000 and NOK 226,000. NMBU used categories including NOK 80,000, NOK 150,000 and NOK 275,000 depending on the programme. The University of Stavanger was among the lowest, at around NOK 60,000 or NOK 85,000 per year. Private BI charges its own tuition for all students; check the programme page for the current MSc fee. These are categories, not quotes for your programme: laboratory, clinical and professional programmes can sit above the common bands, and every figure must be confirmed on the programme page for your intake.

Tuition is only half the budget. UDI requires you to document living costs of NOK 170,368 for the academic year 2026/2027, in addition to tuition. The University of Oslo sets out these amounts on its documenting your finances page, NMBU confirms the same yearly figure on its documentation of financing page, and the University of Bergen publishes the same semester amounts in its study permit guidance. Expect the UDI figure to be adjusted again for 2027/2028. Add the semester fee of roughly NOK 600 to NOK 1,000 per semester, travel, insurance arrangements and the UDI application fee, and a two-year master’s without a scholarship is a major family investment. That is exactly why programme choice, not just scholarship hunting, determines whether Norway is feasible for you. Use our student tools to build a two-year budget for each shortlisted programme before you apply.

Eligibility for Master’s Admission and Funding

• A recognised bachelor’s degree in a relevant field. Norwegian master’s programmes are consecutive: your bachelor’s must contain a defined amount of study in the subject area of the master’s. A general degree without the required specialisation will not be made eligible by high grades alone.
• Grades that meet the programme threshold. Admission normally requires at least a C average on the Norwegian grading scale in the relevant bachelor’s specialisation, converted from your system. Competitive programmes admit well above the minimum because applicants are ranked by grade average.
• Country-specific qualification requirements. Norway publishes requirements by country of prior education, covering recognised institutions and, for some countries, additional study beyond a first degree. Check your country entry on the university’s pages before applying — this is a frequent and avoidable cause of rejection for applicants from South Asia and West Africa in particular.
• English proficiency. Most programmes require IELTS Academic around 6.5, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic or another accepted test, unless your previous education qualifies for a documented exemption. NTNU, for example, requires IELTS 6.5 in each section for its international master’s programmes. Prepare with our test preparation guides and note that scores must be valid at the deadline.
• For BI Presidential: an A-level record. The scholarship requires a minimum overall GPA of A on the ECTS scale or the equivalent top grade, admission to the first year of an eligible MSc, and that you are seeking your first master’s degree.
• For Erasmus Mundus: consortium criteria. Each joint programme sets its own academic and language criteria and selects a cohort across partner countries. A bachelor’s degree and a strong, programme-specific motivation case are standard.
• Documented financing. Whatever your funding route, you must be able to document tuition plus the UDI living amount for the study permit. A scholarship letter, sponsor documentation or deposit transfer will form part of that evidence.

Benefits: What Each Route Really Pays For

Read every award as a budget, not a headline. The BI Presidential Scholarship is the most complete master’s award in Norway that is openly advertised to international applicants: full tuition for up to two years, and for international recipients a living stipend of NOK 50,000 per semester. It is conditional. You must complete full study progression — 30 ECTS each semester — and maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of B on the BI scale after each semester, and recipients are expected to act as BI ambassadors. Lose the progression, and you can lose the scholarship. Even with the stipend, compare NOK 100,000 per year against the UDI living benchmark of NOK 170,368 for 2026/2027: you will still need additional documented funds.

Erasmus Mundus scholarships are designed differently: the consortium sets a package intended to cover participation costs, travel and installation elements and a monthly allowance across the joint programme’s mobility path, which includes study in at least two countries. The exact structure is published in each consortium’s call, and not every admitted Erasmus Mundus student receives a scholarship — self-funded places exist on many programmes, so read the funding section of the consortium site carefully.

An exemption is financially powerful but narrow: it removes tuition entirely for students who fall within the defined categories, yet it provides no cash for living costs. A home-country scholarship can be the most generous route of all for the few who hold one, because some government schemes cover both tuition and maintenance and list major Norwegian universities among approved institutions — but eligibility, approved fields and return obligations are set entirely by your own government. Finally, remember the route that is not in the table because it sits one level up: completing a strong master’s in Norway can position you for salaried PhD vacancies afterwards, where funding is employment-based and tuition does not apply. That is a career pathway, not master’s funding, and it should never be presented to UDI as money you already have.

Programmes and Fields with the Strongest Master’s Offer

Norway’s English-taught master’s catalogue is broadest where the country’s research and industry are strongest. Prioritise these areas when you search, because programme availability, industry links and later PhD vacancies cluster there:

• Engineering and technology — NTNU is the national centre, with master’s programmes across civil, mechanical, electrical, marine and industrial fields, alongside strong offers at UiS, NMBU and OsloMet.
• Computer science, data and artificial intelligence — offered at UiO, NTNU, UiB, UiT and several university colleges, often with research-group links that matter for later doctoral applications.
• Energy, renewables and environment — petroleum transition, offshore wind, hydropower, climate science and sustainability programmes at UiS, UiB, NMBU, NTNU and UiO reflect Norway’s energy economy.
• Marine, fisheries and Arctic studies — UiT and UiB are distinctive globally; few countries can match their field stations, vessels and polar research access.
• Health and global health — master’s programmes in public health, global health and health sciences at UiO, UiB, NTNU and NMBU, distinct from clinical medicine degrees which have separate rules and very high fees.
• Business, economics and analytics — BI for professionally oriented MSc programmes with the Presidential Scholarship route; the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and university economics departments for research-oriented study — always check the current tuition and any programme-specific funding on the official page.
• Education, social sciences and humanities — a smaller English-taught offer, with notable programmes in areas such as peace and conflict, human rights, and education at UiO, UiT and OsloMet.

Compare fields against your bachelor’s specialisation honestly. Norwegian admissions officers check subject match in credits, not just degree titles. If your background does not match, a related programme with realistic admission odds and a lower fee is a better application than a famous programme you cannot enter. Browse broader context in our university rankings and study guides, then verify every shortlisted programme on its official page.

How to Apply: Step by Step for 2027 Entry

1. Start in spring or summer 2026. The non-EU/EEA master’s window is early and short. Research, country-requirement checks and English testing must happen months before the portal opens.
2. Build a costed shortlist. For each programme, record tuition category, UDI living amount, city living costs, prerequisites in credits, and any funding route that applies to you. Drop programmes with no feasible funding path early and focus your effort.
3. Take your English test by autumn 2026. Ensure the score will still be valid on the application deadline and that official score delivery is arranged where the university requires it.
4. Apply in Søknadsweb between roughly 1 November and 1 December 2026. This was the window pattern in the last cycle for non-EU/EEA master’s applicants at the major universities. Register, choose programmes within the limits the portal sets, and upload all documents — diploma, transcripts, English results, passport and any country-specific documentation — before the deadline. Late or missing documents are not chased.
5. Submit BI applications and scholarship material by 1 March 2027 if BI is on your list. Apply for admission and the scholarship at the same time. Combine your CV and a one-page scholarship letter into the file format BI requests and upload it in the scholarship section. Scholarship applications are not accepted by email, except for the specific internal category BI names on its site.
6. Apply to Erasmus Mundus consortia on their own calendars. Most open in autumn and close between October and January. You may apply to a limited number of joint programmes in one cycle under Erasmus rules — confirm the current cap on the official Erasmus Mundus pages.
7. Respond to admission results in spring 2027 exactly as instructed. Accept the offer, then follow the university’s financing instructions: tuition invoice payment and transfer of the UDI living amount to the deposit account by the deadline the university sets — the University of Oslo, for example, used 15 June as its autumn deposit deadline in the last cycle, with UDI documentation due by 1 July.
8. File the UDI study permit application immediately after financing is documented. Include the admission letter, financing evidence, housing documentation and passport. Processing takes time in peak season; a late permit application can cost you the semester even with full funding.
9. Book student housing the moment you are admitted. Apply through the local student welfare organisation. Housing queues in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim are the main practical bottleneck after funding.

Required Documents

• Bachelor’s degree diploma and complete transcripts, with certified English translations where needed.
• Upper secondary school documentation where the university’s country requirements ask for it.
• Valid English proficiency results meeting the programme’s test and sub-score rules.
• Passport identification page.
• Curriculum vitae in the format the portal requests.
• Motivation letter where required — always for BI scholarships (one page, with CV) and Erasmus Mundus; some university programmes also require a statement or specific course descriptions from your bachelor’s syllabus to prove subject match.
• Course descriptions or syllabus extracts from your bachelor’s degree if the programme asks you to document prerequisite subjects in detail.
• Financial documentation for the permit stage: scholarship award letter, sponsor or family bank documentation, and deposit-account confirmation.

Deadlines and Timeline for 2027 Entry

Treat every date in this table as a planning pattern from the most recent published cycle until the university publishes the binding 2027 date. Where a university has already published 2027/2028 information — as UiO has for its reduced tuition categories — use it, and re-check it before you pay anything.

Selection Criteria and How to Improve Your Chances

For ordinary master’s admission in Norway, ranking is driven by your grade average in the qualifying specialisation and by strict prerequisite checks. The practical implications are clear. First, protect your grade average in your final bachelor’s year if you are still studying; it is the single number that follows you through Norwegian admissions. Second, evidence your subject match: upload syllabus descriptions proactively where the portal allows, so the assessor does not have to guess whether your degree contains the required credits. Third, apply to a spread of programmes — a competitive flagship, one or two strong mid-range options, and a lower-fee programme you could genuinely fund — rather than staking everything on one name.

For named scholarships, selection adds a merit layer. BI’s Presidential Scholarship is awarded on academic excellence, not need, and its A-grade threshold is a filter, not an aspiration: if your converted record is below that level, invest your effort in other BI awards or other routes. Erasmus Mundus panels reward a precise fit between your background, the consortium’s curriculum across its partner universities, and a credible mobility and career plan. In both cases, a short, specific letter that names courses, research groups and outcomes beats a long general essay about loving Norway. If a master’s in Norway is one option among several countries, compare it honestly with funded routes elsewhere using our guide to scholarships in Finland for international students, where the waiver system works differently.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying after the December window. Non-EU/EEA master’s admissions for autumn entry effectively close around nine months before the semester starts. This is the most common fatal error.
• Assuming a tuition waiver will appear. UiO and NTNU state they do not offer tuition-covering scholarships for degree students. A plan that depends on an unpublished waiver is not a plan.
• Ignoring subject prerequisites. A mismatched bachelor’s is rejected regardless of motivation letters or work experience.
• Budgeting tuition only. You must also document NOK 170,368 in living funds for 2026/2027 — and the updated figure for your year — or the permit fails even if tuition is covered.
• Sending the BI scholarship letter by email or separately. BI requires the scholarship application with admission, in the portal’s scholarship section, by 1 March.
• Treating Erasmus Mundus admission as automatic funding. Many joint programmes admit both scholarship and self-funded students. Confirm which you have been offered, in writing.
• Using an out-of-date tuition figure. Categories changed between 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 at some universities. Always price your programme from the current official table.
• Paying anyone who guarantees a scholarship or permit. No such guarantee exists in the Norwegian system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there fully funded master’s scholarships in Norway for 2027?

Only in narrow forms. The BI Presidential Scholarship covers full tuition plus a NOK 50,000 per semester stipend for international recipients who meet its A-grade and progression conditions. Erasmus Mundus scholarships fund their specific joint programmes. There is no general fully funded Norwegian government master’s scholarship, and the largest public universities offer no tuition scholarships for degree students.

How much is master’s tuition in Norway for international students?

It varies by university and programme. Published categories for 2026/2027 range from around NOK 60,000 per year at the University of Stavanger to NOK 295,000 at the University of Oslo, whose published 2027/2028 categories fall to NOK 186,000 or NOK 218,000 for most master’s programmes. Check your programme’s current official fee table.

What is the application deadline for a master’s in Norway?

For non-EU/EEA applicants, the Søknadsweb window commonly runs from 1 November to 1 December for the following autumn entry. BI’s admission and Presidential Scholarship deadline is 1 March. Erasmus Mundus consortia close between autumn and January. Confirm the binding dates for 2027 on each official page.

Can I study a master’s in Norway without IELTS?

Only if you meet a documented exemption in the university’s rules — for example, specific previous education in English that the university lists as sufficient. Otherwise an accepted test such as IELTS Academic, commonly around 6.5 with sub-score rules at some universities, is required and must be valid at the deadline.

How much living money must I document, and is it separate from tuition?

Yes, separate. UDI requires NOK 170,368 for the academic year 2026/2027 in addition to tuition, as confirmed on University of Oslo, NMBU and University of Bergen pages. The amount is adjusted yearly; use the figure published for your intake.

Can I work part-time during my master’s in Norway?

A study permit normally allows up to 20 hours per week in term time and full-time work in holidays. Part-time earnings help with daily costs but cannot be used as your documented financing and will not cover tuition at Norwegian prices.

Does a master’s in Norway lead to a funded PhD?

It can help, but nothing is automatic. Norwegian PhD candidates are hired into advertised, salaried vacancies and pay no tuition. A strong Norwegian master’s, especially with a research-based thesis and supervisor contacts, is a credible preparation — but you must still win a vacancy in open competition.

Should I choose a lower-fee university to make Norway affordable?

For many self-funded students, yes. The difference between the lowest and highest published public categories can exceed NOK 200,000 per year, while the degree remains a Norwegian public university qualification. Compare total two-year cost, programme quality and your funding evidence, not ranking alone.

Sources and Verification

• University of Oslo — tuition fee tables for 2026/2027 and published 2027/2028 categories, and the documenting your finances page for UDI amounts and deposit deadlines.
• NTNU, University of Bergen, NMBU and University of Stavanger — official tuition and financing pages for published fee categories and scholarship statements.
• Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) — documentation of financing page confirming NOK 170,368 for 2026/2027.
• University of Bergen — study permit guidance confirming the UDI semester amounts.
• BI Norwegian Business School — Presidential Scholarship terms: full tuition up to two years, NOK 50,000 per semester for international applicants, A-grade requirement, 1 March deadline, 30 ECTS and B-average progression conditions.
• Study in Norway (studyinnorway.no) — official portal guidance on tuition since 2023 and the absence of a central government scholarship.

Disclaimer: Scholarship and tuition details change yearly, so always confirm deadlines, amounts and eligibility on the official website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency. We never promise selection, admission or visa approval, and no one can guarantee those outcomes.