The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) was established in 2005 when it received full university accreditation from NOKUT. It is one of the 8 accredited universities in Norway.
Photo: Gro Elden
In 1859 it was initially established as an agricultural school and in 1897 it became a scientific university college (vitenskapelig høgskole).
From 1897 onwards, it was known as the Agricultural University of Norway (NLH) until receiving university status in 2005.
UMB is comprised of 8 departments and works closely with 5 centres on campus.
Education at UMB is characterised by its high professional quality, constant teacher-student interaction and a pleasant social and physical environment.
UMB is recognised as a leading international centre of knowledge, focused on higher education and research within environmental- and biosciences.
The university's main specialisation areas are:
Biology
Environment
Food
Land Use and Natural Resource Management
Together with other research institutes established at Aas, UMB provides state-of-the-art knowledge based on a broad range of disciplines.
A broad range of study programmes are offered at Bachelor, Master and PhD level.
These include:
Animal Science
Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Aquaculture
Biotechnology
Business Administration
Chemistry
Development and Resource Economics
Ecology and Natural Resource Management
Economics
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Environment and Natural Resources
Food Science
Forestry
Landscape Architecture
Physics
Plant Science
Spatial Planning
50% of topics at the Bachelor and Master level are taught in English, as well as many PhD level courses.
Several Master's programmes and one Bachelor programme are conducted fully in English.
Besides theoretical and scientific education, emphasis is placed on practical training. Around 20% of UMB students conduct part of their studies abroad.
Photo: Håkon Sparre
The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is already a hub of expertise within the life sciences, environmental sciences and in the arena of sustainable development.
It will continue to develop and expand areas of competence established over the course of its 150-year history.
The University will be, above all, a living university with socially committed, innovative and competitive academic communities collaborating towards sustainable development.
Meeting tomorrow's challenges UMB began in 1859 as the only Norwegian agricultural post-graduate college (Norges landbrukshøgskole), a mainly educational institution.
Research received a primary function nearly 40 years later and on 1 January 2005 the institution received the Norwegian university status.
UMB, under Norwegian law and in follow-up to the European Bologna Declaration, has implemented a quality reform and has restructured the courses, credits and degrees to meet European standards.
In total, UMB has some 3,800 students of which about 430 are PhD students. Annually, the University confers 50 to 60 PhD degrees upon successful candidates.
There are many different nationalities at UMB; the international students make up over 15% of all students at the University. Of the 940 University staff, more than half hold scientific positions.
