Study Abroad Program
Norway
Globalization, National Identity, and the Politics of Belonging
See Scandinavia in a new way by studying culture, society, and politics in Norway’s capital, Oslo. Explore how globalization and immigration are reshaping the politics of identity in Norway.
Program Overview
Discover Norway
Explore how globalization, immigration, national identity, and multiculturalism shape contemporary Norwegian society. Through academic study, internship experiences, field visits, and independent research, students examine how communities, public institutions, and social organizations respond to questions of identity, equality, and belonging.
Prosperous and egalitarian, Norway is known for its highly developed welfare state, oil and gas wealth, and global leadership on human rights. Like its European neighbors, however, the Norwegian state is struggling to adapt to a changing population.
This program focuses on the many effects of mass immigration and examines outreach to new Norwegians who have come to the country as work migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
Students meet with local researchers, community organizers, and government officials who shape policy and work toward change in integration and inclusion.
Coursework focuses on national and religious identity, gender equality, and political culture within an increasingly diverse Norwegian welfare state.
Students observe these issues through volunteer work with service organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and political groups.
In Oslo, students explore immigration, identity, and belonging through field excursions in and around the city center.
Students also travel to another Scandinavian capital on a multi-day comparative field visit.
Historical context note: These descriptions are supplied program material and should not be treated as verified assessments of current Norwegian society.
Classes take place three days per week, and the internship runs concurrently with coursework.
Students complete approximately 6–10 hours per week at their internship, according to the supplied program overview.
Students also take one four-day comparative trip to another Scandinavian capital city, either Stockholm, Sweden, or Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Classes: Three days per week.
- Internship: Approximately 6–10 hours per week in the general program structure.
- Comparative field trip: Four days in Stockholm or Copenhagen.
- Location: Oslo, Norway.
- Credits: 16 credits.
Administrator verification note: The supplied historical source contains differing internship-hour descriptions. The program structure indicates 6–10 hours per week, while the internship-specific section describes approximately 6 hours weekly and the practical information section gives a range of 4–6 hours per week. Preserve these distinctions and verify them rather than silently treating them as identical.
The program is based in Oslo, Norway, a compact and increasingly multicultural city situated between the Oslo Fjord and surrounding mountains.
Students explore issues of immigration, identity, and belonging through visits to community organizations, public institutions, and cultural sites around the city.
A comparative field visit to Stockholm, Sweden, or Copenhagen, Denmark, offers opportunities to examine similarities and differences between Scandinavian societies, particularly in their responses to globalization, migration, and multiculturalism.
Staff and Faculty
Meet the Program Director
The supplied program information highlights research and teaching in cultural history, religious identity, nationalism, performance, and the politics of belonging.
Alexander Bielicki has nearly always been fascinated by performance, whether the performance of a theatrical role or the everyday performance of identity.
Accordingly, Alexander’s teaching and research interests revolve around performance: the ways people negotiate identities through speech and action and how those identities help them navigate the world around them.
Alexander views observation as an important tool for actors and sees equal value in using this tool to understand the politics of identity. In conjunction with dialogue, he uses observation to help students build their capacity for empathy while guarding against natural tendencies toward sympathy.
He is particularly fascinated by manifestations of religious and national identity and approaches these subjects from anthropological, sociological, discourse-analytical, and cultural-studies perspectives.
Alexander holds a Ph.D. in Cultural History and History of Religions from the University of Oslo. He holds an M.A. in Nationalism Studies from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary; a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh; and an A.A. in Communications and the Arts from Harrisburg Area Community College.
In addition to The New Norway program, Alexander also teaches courses on The Norwegian Welfare State and Peace and Conflict for the International Summer School at the University of Oslo, according to the supplied program biography.
He has also regularly taught Norwegian Society, Cultures and Institutions, a course designed for newcomers to Norway who hope to establish permanent residence and possibly obtain Norwegian citizenship.
Alexander has worked with study-abroad programs in Europe for several years, including programs in Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.
As a former study-abroad student in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Alexander believes a term abroad can be an important educational experience because of its potential to shape worldviews, promote cross-cultural understanding, and influence how students view their own societies at home.
The supplied role and affiliations are historical details that require verification before current publication.
Curriculum
Courses and Academic Experience
The supplied 16-credit curriculum combines the study of Scandinavian welfare states, globalization and migration, Scandinavian arts and literature, and a choice between Norwegian language study and an Independent Study Project.
This course examines the context in which the Scandinavian welfare states developed.
Topics include theories of nation-building and national identity, globalization and multiculturalism, histories of racialization, the rise of populist and far-right movements, international aid politics, the politics of integration, and gender.
The course asks: How does the form of the state relate to its ability to foster a multicultural society?
This course examines contemporary challenges and opportunities for the Scandinavian welfare states in an age of globalization and mass migration.
Students explore how Norway and other Scandinavian welfare states adapt to the challenges of multiculturalism, European integration, and globalization.
The course also examines the factors that have made the rise of populist and far-right parties in Scandinavia possible and considers their impact on politics and society more broadly.
In Scandinavian Art, Film, and Literature, students gain insight into how national identity, national minorities, immigration, politics, and the welfare state are represented by novelists, filmmakers, and artists.
Literature and national identity
Students begin their study of Norwegian national identity by reading fairy tales collected by Norwegian folklorists Peter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, together with literary criticism by Nina Witoszek, a prominent Polish-Norwegian cultural historian.
Short stories by two Sámi women authors invite students to reflect on the exclusionary nature of nation-building processes.
Knut Hamsun’s 1890 psychologically driven novel Hunger gives students a window into turn-of-the-century Oslo and the effects of rapid urbanization.
Students explore debates surrounding twentieth-century Norwegian history through Jo Nesbø’s detective novel The Redbreast, predominantly set in central Oslo. The novel also provides an introduction to the role and prominence of Scandinavian crime fiction and the secular problem of evil explored in such works.
Danish author Peter Høeg’s 1993 novel Smilla’s Sense of Snow helps students understand the place of Greenlanders in modern Denmark.
Film and visual arts
In addition to literature, films from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark provide further insight into course topics. Assigned films address national identity, political culture, and debates surrounding immigration and multiculturalism. They include mainstream releases and documentaries, several written and directed by filmmakers with immigrant backgrounds.
Lectures and tours also take place at visual-art institutions, including the National Gallery of Norway, Oslo City Hall, and other prominent exhibition spaces.
Local experts lead tours of art institutions, and selected lectures on Norwegian literature are delivered by faculty in Scandinavian literature at the University of Oslo.
Do not treat these historical descriptions as current exhibitions, reading lists, or active partnerships without verification.
Norwegian Language Course
If students choose a Norwegian language course, they must take a placement test during the first week of The New Norway program.
The test determines the level, from 1 to 4, at which the student will study Norwegian.
Language coursework at the University is engaging but challenging. It is taught entirely in Norwegian, and department faculty evaluate students through a final oral and written examination.
The Program Director also evaluates students’ language proficiency and progress at the end of the semester.
Independent Study Project (ISP)
The Independent Study Project provides an opportunity for students to engage deeply with an issue of interest in Scandinavian society.
Students develop a research question on a relevant topic and can use the libraries associated with the University of Oslo. Students are also encouraged to use resources available at their internship sites.
Many projects use ethnographic research as primary source material.
Students who choose the ISP complete a substantial individual research project as their alternative to Norwegian language coursework.
Historical examples of completed ISPs
- “A Comparison of Special Education Resources in the United States and Norway: Autism Case Study”
- “Crime & The Implications of Punishment: An investigation of Norway’s penal system, a uniquely rehabilitative model, and the realities behind an alternative approach to crime control amid an increasingly multicultural nation”
- “Government Funded Acculturation”
- “Health Care Benefits and Socioeconomic Disparities in Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcomes in the U.S. and Norway”
- “Shattered Nation: Memorialization and Norwegian National Identity after 22 July 2011”
- “A Valued Second Chance: An Analysis of the Inner Workings Behind Norway’s Prosperous Correctional Model”
- “Anti-Discrimination for People, Anti-Discrimination for Animals: A Study on Why Norway Still Has Breed-Specific Bans”
These are historical examples and are not represented as recent or current projects.
The New Norway Fall 2018 Syllabus
Administrator note: Add the official syllabus URL before publishing. No official syllabus link was supplied.
Official syllabus link to be configuredExperiential Learning
Explore Social Change Through Internships
Students gain practical experience with local organizations working on diversity, refugee support, multicultural media, arts, community inclusion, and social change. The supplied internship examples illustrate how students engage with contemporary Norwegian society.
Mangfold i Arbeidslivet (MiA), or Diversity in Working Life, is described in the supplied program information as a foundation working to promote diversity, understanding, and tolerance through workplaces across Norway.
Students assisted with workshops, conferences, interviews, and report preparation.
This placement provided opportunities to gain insight into integration challenges and developments in Norway.
Administrator verification required: Do not imply this website or placement is currently active without verification.
This organization offers housing, financial aid, tutoring, meals, and support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors.
Students in the historical program helped run English-language classes, offered tutoring, joined occasional field trips, and spent time with young people in informal social settings, including around a foosball table and at the dinner table.
This historical description does not represent verified current services or placements.
UTROP is described in the supplied program information as Norway’s first multicultural newspaper.
A student in this historical placement worked as a journalism intern, preparing opinion pieces and a longer research article for publication.
The longer research article involved interviews and data collection, including an interview with Erik Solheim, who was identified in the source as the Minister for International Development at that time.
The placement gave the student an opportunity to participate actively in contemporary debates about identity and belonging in Norway.
This reference is not an authoritative current organizational website. Verify any replacement destination before publishing.
Nordic Black Theatre is described in the supplied program information as a multicultural performance space that provides a stage and support for writers, musicians, actors, and other creatives who primarily come from abroad or have a foreign background.
Past students have contributed to writers’ workshops, designed lighting for performances, worked at the door, and helped in the café.
The organization offered a creative environment through which students could explore cultural expression and community participation.
Do not imply that this website or a current placement is available without verification.
Financial Information
Program Costs
The supplied historical program information includes details about housing, meal stipends, transportation, and other program expenses. However, the member-school and non-member-school entries state that the program was on hiatus for Fall 2020 instead of providing a monetary price.
The program fee includes group transportation to field sites, planned group excursions, lodging, meals, local transportation, medical insurance, and administrative costs.
Students live in single rooms in a suite in a student village and receive a meal stipend for the semester.
Students are responsible for checking the costs charged by their home institutions, as additional tuition and fees may apply.
The program costs listed by HECUA represent its charges for participation in its programs. The final amount that a student pays may be higher and can vary from college to college.
Many colleges assess additional fees or charge their own tuition for off-campus programs. Some colleges also have specific financial-aid rules for off-campus programs.
Students should check with their home institution’s off-campus study office and financial aid office to confirm their final cost for a HECUA program.
A full and comprehensive fee breakdown can be found on the Program Costs page.
Program is on hiatus for Fall 2020.
The supplied historical program information does not provide a monetary price for member-school participation. It states that the program was on hiatus for Fall 2020.
The program’s current availability, applicable fees, member-school status, and future term dates must be verified directly before publishing enrollment information.
Program is on hiatus for Fall 2020.
The supplied historical program information does not provide a monetary price for non-member-school participation. It states that the program was on hiatus for Fall 2020.
The program’s current availability, applicable fees, non-member-school status, and future term dates must be verified directly before publishing enrollment information.
HECUA distributes three scholarships to students from consortium member schools:
- Scholarship for Racial Justice: up to $4,000.
- Scholarship for Social Justice: up to $1,500.
- Scholarship for Community Engagement: up to $750 for semester-long programs and $500 for short-term programs.
Students should verify current scholarship availability, eligibility requirements, award amounts, and application deadlines before applying.
The supplied scholarship amounts are historical program information and require verification before being presented as current awards.
Good to Know
Practical Information
Learn more about teaching language, class schedules, student housing, internship arrangements, comparative field visits, and residence-permit information described in the supplied historical program material.
All seminars, lectures, and readings are in English.
Students may choose optional Norwegian language study for a deeper understanding of Norwegian culture.
Students with prior Norwegian-language study who choose to continue learning Norwegian are placed into the appropriate language class through an examination.
Students who do not take Norwegian language classes complete an Independent Study Project over the semester.
The program is based in Oslo and is associated with the University of Oslo International Summer School (ISS).
Classes are held on campus three days per week, usually Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
The supplied historical internship description identifies class hours as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The internship takes place concurrently with coursework.
This schedule is supplied historical information and is not a verified current timetable.
Housing is located in a student village near the campus. The accommodation provides shared living spaces with Norwegian and other international students.
HECUA students buy and cook their own food with a monthly food stipend.
The housing arrangement offers opportunities to interact with other students and gain experience in everyday student life in Norway.
The internship connects students with local organizations working on political, social, and cultural debates in contemporary Norway.
The general program structure describes the internship as approximately 6–10 hours per week.
The internship-specific section describes approximately six hours per week.
The practical information section describes internships as four to six hours each week.
Historical source discrepancy: The internship-hour descriptions vary between 6–10 hours, approximately 6 hours, and 4–6 hours per week. Preserve the original descriptions and verify the official figure before current publication. Do not silently merge these numbers into one definitive schedule.
A comparative field trip to Stockholm, Sweden, or Copenhagen, Denmark, takes place on alternating years according to the supplied program description.
The trip helps students examine similarities and differences between Scandinavian states, particularly in their responses to globalization, migration, multiculturalism, and national identity.
The supplied program information states that students were required to register for a residence permit before leaving the United States.
HECUA was described as helping students navigate the residence-permit application process.
Visa and residence-permit requirements can change. Students should verify current Norwegian immigration requirements and applicable procedures through official sources before making travel plans.
For information about the program’s residence-permit process, the historical source directs students to HECUA Student Services.