Economics (master's 2-years)
Duration: 2 years
Credits: 120
Organization: Full time study
Responsible faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
Programme name
Samfunnsøkonomi (bokmål)
Samfunnsøkonomi (nynorsk)
Economics (english)
Why choose this programme?
Want to understand the complex economics mechanisms and forces that influence individuals, companies, and society? Want to learn to think analytically and strategically regarding topics such as sustainability, climate change, global markets, and technological development? With a master’s degree in Economics, you gain a versatile education that gives you competence and skills that are sought after and recognized in both the private and public sector.
By choosing this programme you will get the opportunity to take courses taught by some of Norway’s leading economists and be part of an academic environment that prides it self on being on the forefront of economic research.
Through this programme you will get a good foundation in core economic disciplines like micro- and macroeconomics, econometrics and mathematics, combined with elective courses that offer themes and topics that are based on the research interests of the academic staff. This means that you will have a choice of courses with a diversity of topics like; Demography, International Economics, Behavioural Economics, Economic Policy, Industry Markets and Competition, Money Credit and Finance, Growth and Development, Resources Energy and Environment. This diversity of topics makes it possible to tailor you degree according to your own academic interests.
You may take part of your degree abroad at one of our partner Universities. What about a semester in Shanghai, Essex, Barcelona or San Diego (USA)? As a master’s student in Economics you will be able to choose from UiO’s long list of exchange agreements with Universities across the world.
Through the course ECON4032 - Internship i Økonomi, you'll be able to combine work as an intern at highly esteemed institutions with your other studies, giving you invaluable experience and a taste of how it is to work as an economist.
The 2-year master’s degree programme in Economics has the following three programme options that encompass both compulsory and optional courses. You sign up for one of these programme options in StudentWeb during your first semester of the programme.
- Economics
- Environmental-, Resource- and Development Economics
- Research
Read more about the differences on the programme structure.
The programme is suitable for students with a bachelor's degree in Economics or equivalent.
Discover your future
Preparing for life after graduation is a process that takes time and starts early. We have created a program to make it easier for you to discover your options along the way and make way for good choices later. You will learn more about how you can plan and set goals for yourself, and what you may not be able to plan for. You will gain insight into what may be relevant experiences on the way forward and how you can use your time to explore your options for further education or work. You will also get concrete tools along the way that you can use to find your direction.
Honours certificate
Are you academically ambitious? It is possible to supplement your master`s degree with an honours certificate worth 20 credits. You take the certificate concurrently with the master`s programme.
Learning outcomes
With a master’s degree in economics from the University of Oslo you are expected to have comprehensive knowledge of modern economics as an academic discipline. You are also expected to be able to use theoretical and empirical methods to analyse economic problems and to plan and carry out a research project.
After having completed the master’s degree programme you should have the following knowledge, skills and competences.
Knowledge
- understanding at an advanced level about the complex economics mechanism that characterise modern society
- in depth knowledge about economic theory regarding the utilisation and allocation of resources, including labour, natural resources and capital
- in which way the economy is influenced by economic policy, technological advances and demographic conditions
- analyse how markets for goods and services function and how income is generated and distributed. Such analyses may have a national and international perspective, and a time frame that may be either short-term (business-cycles and crises) or long term (economic growth)
- to formulate mathematical economic models, as well as how to quantify model parameters from data from Norway or other countries
- use of econometric- and mathematical methods
- insight into special fields of your choice, like energy economics, competition policy, industrial economics, financial markets, environmental and resource economics, development economics and international trade and globalisation
Skills
- analyse existing economic models and evaluate their relevance for theoretical and practical problem solving
- use relevant models and methods, independently but under supervision,
- undertake applied work and research projects in economics
- concretise economic problems to be analysed and understand how the theoretical framework and actual empirical conditions are connected
Competences
- undertaking specialised and concrete problem solution on your own
- analysing relevant economic literature, concretise economic problems, and have insight into how you may draw the connection between theory and empirical conditions
- using economic models and communicating both the underlying assumptions of these models, as well as the results from theoretical and empirical model-based analysis
Admission
Get your admission requirements and application deadline for this programme by following our guide.
Check your admission requirements and when to apply
Answer three questions in our admission guide to get
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your application deadline
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admission requirements
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which documents to submit
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access to the application portal Søknadsweb
Selected program requirements (visible to UiO employees only)
Available places
77
Required specialization
Bachelor's degree
You must have a bachelor’s degree comparable to a Norwegian bachelor’s degree.
Required specialization and minimum grade requirement
You must have a minimum grade average comparable to a Norwegian C in the required specialization. A Norwegian C is described as a good grade, generally comparable to an American B and a Second Class Upper in the British system. We do not use conversion tables for foreign grades. All foreign education is individually evaluated during the admission process.
Please note that eligible applicants who fulfill the minimum grade requirement will compete for a study place. Please see the section on ranking for more information on selection criteria.
Information for applicants with Norwegian higher education (in Norwegian)
You need to meet the following specialized academic admission requirements:
- Mathematics - 10 ECTS
- Statistics and Methods - 10 ECTS
- Microeconomics - 20 ECTS
- Macroeconomics - 20 ECTS
- Additional economics - 30 ECTS
This amounts to a total of 90 ECTS credits.
Please note that accounting, auditing, marketing or management do not count as economics.
Test requirement – GRE/GMAT test
You must also submit a GRE or GMAT test.
- GRE Revised General Test (GRE) with at least 152 points in the Quantitative Reasoning section.
- Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) with at least 600 Points.
You are exempt from submitting a test if you have at least 30 ECTS in economics and/or mathematics from an institution within the EU/EEA or Switzerland.
Further documentation for this program
GRE/GMAT
You are exempt from submitting a test if you have at least 30 ECTS in economics and/or mathematics from an institution within the EU/EEA or Switzerland.
You must add UiO as a recipient of your GRE test result using our institutional code 0756. In addition you must scan and upload a copy of your test result to the application portal. In order to document your GMAT result, you must order a score report to be sent online to the University of Oslo, and also scan and upload a copy of your test result to the application portal.
- GRE Revised General Test (GRE) with at least 152 points in the Quantitative Reasoning section. We only look at the quantitative results of the GRE test. GRE general test at home is also accepted.
- Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) with at least 600 Points. GMAT online exam is also accepted.
Test scores are valid for five years.
Course descriptions
- If you have completed studies outside the University of Oslo, you must upload course descriptions that contain information about the completed courses (e.g. a document containing links to relevant websites).
Optional document
- If you have foreign education we want to ensure that we get a good understanding of your background in economics. Please fill in the form "List of Academic qualifications" (use pdf version or odt version).
- Official explanation of the grading and credit system at your university.
Ranking of applicants
Selection is based on your academic performance in the required subjects for this programme.
Admission to this programme is usually highly competitive. Please note that even if you fulfill the minimum grade requirement, you are not guaranteed a study place in the programme.