Agreed by the UNIS board the 28th of November 2009 (reference number 59/2009). Authority in law by “Lov av 1. august 2005 nr.15 Lov om universiteter og høyskoler (universitets- og høyskoleloven)”, § 3-6 and 3-7. Revised in December 2011.

§ 1 Scope and extent
The regulations govern admission to courses at Bachelor-, Master- and Ph.D. level at UNIS (200- and 300-courses).

§ 2 Admission requirements
Admission to courses at UNIS requires the following:

- The applicant must be enrolled at Bachelor-, Master- or Ph.D. level at a Norwegian institution of higher education, a Scandinavian institution of higher education or a NOKUT (The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education) approved international institution of higher education.

- Applicants must fulfill discipline/academic requirements and, where applicable, any additional course requirements set by UNIS.

- UNIS reserves the right to admit applicants based upon scientific or educational commitments and/or agreements.

§ 3 UNIS admission requirements to Bachelor level courses (200-courses).

Full time semester study (30 ECTS).

3.1. Academic requirements:
Department of Arctic Biology: 60 ECTS within general natural science, of which 30 ECTS within the field of biology

Department of Arctic Geophysics: 90 ECTS within the field of mathematics,
physics or geophysics

Department of Arctic Geology: 60 ECTS within general natural science, of which 30 ECTS within the field of geology/geosciences

Department of Arctic Technology: 60 ECTS within the field of mathematics, physics, mechanics or chemistry

Applicant must be enrolled at Bachelor level.

3.2 Course specific requirements:
Course specific requirements will apply as presented in the current curricula/course descriptions.

§ 4 UNIS admission requirements to Master and Ph.D. level courses (300-courses)

4.1 Academic requirements:
Applicant must be enrolled at Master or Ph.D. level.
Special case admission may be granted based upon scientific or educational commitments/agreements

4.2 Course specific requirements:
Course specific requirements will apply as presented in the current curricula/course descriptions.

§ 5 Admission responsibility UNIS
The Managing Director of UNIS has immediate responsibility for admission following guidance from the Board of Directors

§ 6 Application deadlines and documentation requirements

6.1 Admission deadline:
Spring semester: October 15
Autumn semester: April 15

In cases where there are insufficient qualified applicants, a new application deadline may be announced. The Managing Director of UNIS determines the date for the extended deadline.

6.2 Documentation for admission
Applications should be made using the UNIS application form.

All relevant information must be documented by the applicant in order for the application to be complete and subsequently processed.

Only certified copies of original transcripts and diplomas are accepted. Official translation to Norwegian or English is required.

6.3 Deadline for supplementary documentation
Required documentation must be sent (postmarked) within one week of the application deadline.

§ 7 Dispensation from the application deadline
The Managing Director of UNIS may consider granting an exception from the application deadline in the following cases:
a) Illness on the deadline for the application. Medical certificate from a doctor must be provided

b) Death in the close family of the applicant. Statement by a public servant required.

c) Other exceptional circumstances

§ 8 Ranking criteria

8.1 Criteria for ranking qualified applicants to Bachelor level courses
(200-courses):
a) Priority will be granted to applicants that apply for full semester study, 30 ECTS.

b) Grade point average in qualifying courses within the UNIS course requirement.

c) Nationality might be included in the ranking criteria based upon the primary principle of a general division of the student mass by 50 % Norwegian and 50 % international students.

d) UNIS reserves the right to rank applicants based upon scientific or educational commitments/agreements.

e) In case of ranking equality, final ranking will be accomplished by lot.

8.2 Criteria for ranking qualified applicants to Master and Ph.D. level courses (300-courses):
a) Relevance to educational/research topic

b) Grade point average in qualifying courses within the UNIS course requirement

c) Nationality might be included in the ranking criteria based upon the primary principle of a general division of student mass of 50 % Norwegian and 50 % international students.

d) UNIS reserves the right to rank applicants based upon scientific or educational commitments/agreements.

§ 9 Right of appeal
Individual acceptance decisions can be appealed. Time limit for filing an appeal is three weeks after the decision has reached the applicant. The Managing Director of UNIS is the recipient of appeals.

The Regulations governing Admission to courses at The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) became effective 1.1.2010.

ECTS: European Credit Transfer System. 60 ECTS equals one year full time study.

Spending (part of) your Master studies at UNIS?

A student who has been accepted or will be accepted into a Master programme at his/her home educational institution may apply to complete (parts of) the study (fieldwork/thesis) at UNIS. This requires an academic contact person at UNIS and a separate application to UNIS.

Please contact the Student Administration at UNIS for more information: studadm@unis.no or +47 79 02 33 00.