This country note provides an overview of the governance of the adult skills system in Norway. It is part of an extensive review of all 38 OECD countries. The main findings across all countries are summarised in the OECD policy paper The Role of Subnational Governments in Adult Skills Systems across OECD countries. The country note was reviewed by representatives from the Norwegian Government in December 2024 and was published in June 2025.
The role of subnational governments in adult skills systems: Norway
Note : For more information on the definitions of the governance models, please see OECD 2025 [XXX].
Source: (OECD/UCLG, 2022[1])
The Norwegian adult skills system is decentralised. General strategies and the legal framework are set at the national level across all education levels, while the regional level (Fylkeskommuner) develops skills strategies for regional development. The Regional Skills Fora (Regionale kompetenseforum) is an arena for cooperation between the county municipalities, regional organisations and institutions concerned with education and skills development. Implementation and delivery mainly fall under the remit of the regions and municipalities (Kommuner).
The Ministry of Education and Research (Det kongelige kunnskapsdepartement) is responsible for setting the legal and strategic framework for Vocational Education and Training (VET), Higher VET (HVET), Continuous Education and Training (CET) and adult education (AE) in close cooperation with the social partners through tripartite committees and councils. Except for AE, all of these policies are implemented by the regional government and primarily provided by public and private vocational upper-secondary schools, public and private tertiary HVET colleges, and, for CET, in university colleges and universities operating at the regional level.
AE is delivered at regional and local levels through various formal and non-formal providers, including Adult Education Centres (Voksenopplæringssenteret) and local centres for skills and education (studiesentre), which offer decentralised and flexible education in rural areas. Much of the provision is financed by the national government. Municipalities are in charge of basic AE and AE for immigrants.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion (Arbeids- og inkluderingsdepartementet) oversees the provision of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs), which are implemented by the national Public Employment Service (PES) (Ny arbeids- og velferdsforvalting, NAV), which operates through a network of deconcentrated regional and local branches. Both levels of governance have independent responsibility for their delivery.
Legend: ✓ = Yes; - = No
Note: For more information on exact definitions of policy areas and responsibilities, please see (OECD, 2025[2])
Note: Colour code: Dark blue → government/national/subnational agencies, Green → social partners, Lighter blue → private actors and education providers, Yellow → Expert councils/foundations/associations/research institutions. For more information, please see (OECD, 2025[2])
Source: OECD compilation based on available information.
Several actors are involved in the development of adult skills policies at the national level:
The Ministry of Education and Research is responsible for developing national skills policies, including VET, HVET, CET, and AE. It does so in close cooperation with the Directorate for Education and Training (Utdanningsdirektoratet) and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse), which are responsible for allocating funding to and overseeing the implementation of VET, HVET, CET and AE programmes. The Ministry also oversee the Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (Nasjonalt organ for kvalitet i utdanningen, NOKUT), which is responsible for quality assurance in VET and HVET.
Social partners are involved in setting the strategy and overseeing the implementation of VET and HVET programmes through the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (Samarbeidsrådet for yrkesopplæring), the National Council for Tertiary Vocational Education (Nasjonalt fagskoleråd), and the Vocational Training Councils (Faglige råd).
Two expert councils, the Skills Policy Council (Kompetansepolitisk råd) and the Future Skills Needs Committee (Kompetansebehovsutvalget), play a central role at the national level in developing national skills policies across various policy areas and levels of governance. The Committee will run until 2027 to inform on strategic planning for the future of VET and HVET and to advise the Skills Policy Council. Both operate under the Ministry of Education and Research.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion and the national PES are responsible for ALMPs at the national level. The national agency oversees a structure of deconcentrated local offices.
Legend: ✓ = Yes; - = No
Source: OECD compilation based on (Cedefop; Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, 2021[3]; Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse, 2024[4]; Kompetansebehovsutvalget, 2021[5]; NAV.no, 2024[6]; OECD, 2020[7]; regjeringen.no, 2024[8]; Store Norske Leksikon, 2024[9]; 4icu, 2024[10])
The regional level comprises the 15 countries (Fylkeskommuner) with important responsibilities, notably for providing and implementing VET, HVET, AE, and CET. In recent years, the regional governments have been delegated greater responsibility for skills policies:
The county authorities have comprehensive responsibilities for adult skills policies. They are responsible for providing and funding VET, HVET and AE and, more generally, for aligning education provision in counties with the skills demand, which they do through Regional Competence Fora and four-year regional skills strategies (Kompetansestrategi). The local government reform of 2020 strengthened the county authorities’ responsibilities in the adult skills area, including by making them responsible for the design and dimensioning of upper secondary education and higher vocational education based on student demand and employer needs. The county authorities are also responsible for career guidance for adults.
The county authorities run upper-secondary VET schools, some Tertiary Vocational Colleges, and adult education centres (Voksenopplæringssenter), providing AE at the upper-secondary level. VET schools and Tertiary Vocational Colleges can be both public and private.
The County Vocational Training Boards (Yrkesopplæringsnemnda) are key stakeholders in the VET system. These boards advise on the regional development of VET and HVET to meet labour market needs.
CET is provided by universities and university colleges, which are primarily owned and managed by the Ministry of Education and Research but operate at the county level.
Legend: ✓ = Yes; - = No
Norway's lowest level of government is the municipalities (kommuner) (counting 357 in total):
The municipalities are responsible for providing formal adult education (in cooperation with the county authorities) at the elementary and lower secondary levels and education and training for newly arrived immigrants (e.g. language courses). Other AE providers at the local level include Folk High Schools (Folkehøgskole), a supplement to the formal education system. Most Folk High Scohols are administered by non-profit foundations, nine by county councils and one by a municipality. In addition, study associations and distance education associations also provide adult education at the local level.
The local PES branches (NAV offices) are responsible for the delivery of ALMPs. The municipalities, the state and the PES cooperate in partnership to deliver social services, including training to enhance the employability of jobseekers, language courses, and guidance. However, the national government is responsible for the employment support services.
References
[10] 4icu (2024), Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, https://www.4icu.org/institutions/no/724.html.
[3] Cedefop; Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (2021), Vocational education and training in Europe - Norway: system description, https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/vet-in-europe/systems/norway-u2.
[15] Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse (2025), Operating funds for higher vocational education, https://hkdir.no/hoyere-yrkesfaglig-utdanning/driftsmidler-til-hoyere-yrkesfaglig-utdanning.
[4] Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse (2024), Senter for fremragende høyere yrkesfaglig utdanning (SFY), https://hkdir.no/programmer-og-tilskuddsordninger/senter-for-fremragende-hoyere-yrkesfaglig-utdanning.
[12] European Commission, Eurydice (2024), 8.1 Distribution of responsibilities, https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/norway/distribution-responsibilities.
[18] European Commission, Eurydice (2023), 8. Adult education and training, https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/netherlands/adult-education-and-training.
[11] European Commission, Eurydice (2023), Main providers, https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/norway/main-providers.
[5] Kompetansebehovsutvalget (2021), Norwegian Committee on Skill Needs, https://kompetansebehovsutvalget.no/mandate-of-official-norwegian-committee-on-skill-needs/.
[6] NAV.no (2024), Partnerskapet i NAV, https://www.nav.no/samarbeidspartner/partnerskapet.
[17] NAV.no (2024), What is NAV?, https://www.nav.no/hva-er-nav/en#navs-social-tasks-and-services.
[13] Nordic Co-operation (2024), Higher education in Norway: Tertiary vocational colleges, university colleges and universities, https://www.norden.org/en/info-norden/higher-education-norway-tertiary-vocational-colleges-university-colleges-and.
[2] OECD (2025), “From national to local: Exploring the role of subnational governments in adult skills systems across OECD countries”, OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2025/XX, OECD Publishing, Paris.
[7] OECD (2020), “Case study: Norway’s Skills Policy Council and Future Skills Needs Committee”, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/d416bb6f-en.
[1] OECD/UCLG (2022), 2022 Country Profiles of the World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment., https://www.sng-wofi.org/country-profiles/norway.html.
[14] Oxford Research (2024), Kartlegging og analyse av regionale kompetanseforum, Regjeringen.no, https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/9c4f35fa39134acea6085c7642898fc7/kartlegging-og-analyse-av-regionale-kompetanseforum.pdf.
[8] regjeringen.no (2024), Education, https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/education/id930/.
[9] Store Norske Leksikon (2024), yrkesopplæringsnemnda, https://snl.no/yrkesoppl%C3%A6ringsnemnda.
[16] Utdanning.no (2025), Regionale kompetanseindikatorer, https://utdanning.no/rki.
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