Global Health and Public Administration most popular with international applicants
Four of the five most popular master programmes among international applicants directly tackle global challenges.
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The master programme in Global Health received a record 782 applications for the autumn intake, 40 percent up from 2020, followed by the programme in Public Administration. The master programmes in Global Development Theory and Practice, and System Dynamics came in as four and five on the list.
In this mix of global challenges relevant programmes is also a master's in Biomedical Sciences with 558 international applications.
“These are great numbers for four of our Faculties! The University of Bergen evidently has a great reputation internationally. But it also means a tougher competition for the limited spots,” says Professor Bente E. Moen, director of Global Challenges and the Centre for International Health.
Covid-effect
All the top-five programmes have grown in popularity among international applicants over the three past intakes, with significant increase from 2020. This is a trend also seen at the other Norwegian universities. The number of Norwegian applicants has remained stable.
This increase compared to 2020 probably reflects the low number of international students who showed up last autumn due to the pandemic—be it travel restrictions, a tighter personal economy or the prospect of starting studies in lockdown. Some programmes chose to go digital, others offered to defer start till January 2021 or even extended the offer until next autumn.
“This increase in numbers of applicants shows that students are eager to get back to studying and follow their dreams,” says Professor Moen.
For the five master programmes, the top five nations from outside Europe are Nigeria (458), Pakistan (344), Iran (286), Bangladesh (286) and Ghana (278). Other countries with many applications include Germany with 101, the United States with 119 and China with 88 applicants.