The Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship

The award winning Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship (Gründerskolen) is a Norwegian academic cooperation program involving all the universities and several university colleges in Norway. The University of Oslo has the overall academic and administrative responsibility for the program.

The Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship was founded in 1999 by professor Nils D. Christophersen at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. The program started up in cooperation with Cornell University and the first year 6 IT students participated in the program in San Francisco. Since then the program has had a rapid growth and have the last years had approximately 150 students. . Our alumni network has more than 2000 alumnus and is by far the biggest network of its kind in Norway.

In 2007 the program received first price for ’Best quality in higher education’ by the Norwegian Ministry of education and research and in 2006 a price for ”best learning environment” at the University of Oslo. In 2012 the program won «Best Startup Industry Provider» in the Norwegian Startup Awards.

Structure of the Program

The Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship program is divided into four parts, and offers students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of entrepreneurship by working as interns within a high-tech start-up company overseas.

1. Introductory course (ENT4000i or similar)

The Introductory course i held in Norway, gives the students a theoretic understanding of the elements of a business plan.

2. ENT4200 – Startups in practice – Entrepreneurship

The students spend 10 weeks working in start-up companies four days a week. This course gives the students first-hand experience with entrepreneurship. They take part in the daily life of a start-up company, and learn from and contributing to their entrepreneurial journey. Most companies should have a technological focus. The work placement is non-paid and will give the students an understanding of practical entrepreneurship in practice. In addition, there are 2-4 classes during the 10 week work period with discussions and mentoring on important or challenging issues experienced, and 1-2 individual meetings with a mentor.

3. ENT4190 – Entrepreneurship Theory in an International Context

Beside the work placement, the students follow classes at one of our partner universities. Classes are usually held one day a week. The students have several assignments during the period. This course focuses on theory of how to start and grow a successful, high-potential enterprise, and will address different key challenges facing such a start-up venture.

4. ENT4300 – Entrepreneurship and internationalisation

The students attend a seminar during the spring and work with a refletion report during the internships. The seminar includes sessions for inspiration and support for maximising the learning outcomes from the rest of the programme, both academically and personally. Sessions typically include cross-cultural understanding and communication, entrepreneurs sharing their stories and destination briefings held by former students.

Our destinations and partners abroad: 

Boston
Boston University

Houston
Rice University

San Francisco
University of California Berkeley

Toronto
University of Toronto

Singapore
National University of Singapore

Academics

Our Educational partners are chosen from a pool of the best universities in the country of origin., where our students spend 10 weeks abroad and in addition to the work placement, must undertake lectures in entrepreneurship at an acknowledged university.

The students

The students participating in the Gründerskolen program are educated to at least Bachelor’s Degree level, and there is a stringent selection process in Norway. Gründerskolen is open to students from all academic disciplines, but the program focuses on high-tech start-ups, and many of the work placements are with companies in the IT, biotech or other technology sectors. However, as the intention is specifically to learn about companies in a start-up situation, it is not necessary that the students have a technical background. Please note that only students fulfilling the Norwegian language requirements are eligible to apply.

Our domestic partners

The Norwegian Entrepreneurship program involves all the Norwegian universities and several university colleges