1900-1936: Establishing a Norwegian school of business in Bergen
The business communities in Oslo and Bergen began discussing the establishment of a Norwegian school of business at the end of the 19th century. Christiania (Oslo) Handelsgymnasium (commercial high school) had been established in 1875 and a number of business schools had been established across Europe. During the early 20th century several business schools were established in Scandinavia based on model of the German handelshochschule (business school). Amongst them, the Stockholm School of Economics and the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration HANKEN in Helsinki were both established in 1909, followed by the Helsinki School of Economics in 1911 and Copenhagen Business School in 1917. A committee was set up by Den Norske Handelsstand Fællesforening (the Norwegian business federation) in 1909 under the leadership of Oslo businessman Trygve Bull to investigate the issue, and in 1917 Norway's parliament (the Storting) passed a resolution to establish an institution for higher education and research based on the German handelshochschule (business school) model.
Bergen in the late 19th century
From the late 19th century the business community in Bergen had been strongly supportive of establishing a school of business in Bergen and in 1900 Bergen Handelsforening (Bergen chamber of commerce) established a committee to consider setting up a commercial high school for pupils to specialise in business. Four years later Bergen Handelsgymnasium (Bergen commercial high school) was founded. Following the success of this commercial high school, the business community in Bergen established Foreningen til oprettelse av Norges Handelshøiskole i Bergen (association for the establishment of a Norwegian school of business in Bergen, later shortened to Foreningen for NHH i Bergen) in 1915 to campaign for the establishment of a Norwegian school of business in Bergen. The association was comprised of many of the leading figures in the Bergen business community, with the businessman and former cabinet minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl appointed chairman. Lehmkuhl and the association campaigned tirelessly to ensure that the new school was established in Bergen, Norway's historic home of trade and main export centre.
Lehmkuhl's work proved successful and the government decided to establish the school in Bergen based on the city's long-standing traditions within trade and their policy that institutions of higher education should be located in different parts of the country. At that time, Norway had just the one university, the University of Oslo, as well as the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in Trondheim.
Foreningen for NHH i Bergen and NHH staff at a celebratory dinner, 1936
(Lehmkuhl is sitting in the middle)
The interwar years were hard times economically in Norway and it took some time to build up the resources and expertise necessary to establish a business school. Initially it was uncertain if the school would be a private institution, covering its costs by charging students tuition fees, or whether it would be a public institution, funded by the state and offering free tuition to students. In the end the government took the decision to make the new school a public school with no tuition fees being charged to students.
In anticipation of the establishment of a private school, Foreningen for NHH i Bergen raised a large amount of funds from the business community in the city to cover the cost of building and setting up the new business school. A large piece of land outside the city centre was donated by local ship owner Haakon J. Wallem at Breiviken as a location for the new school in 1918 and architect Bredo Greve won a competition in 1922 with his design for the new school, but the plans had to be shelved after site work had begun due to the difficult economic times in Norway. Instead the former house of Bergen businessman Thorolf Sudt was bought and the new school was to be located in the refurbished city centre buildings near to Bergen Museum (the natural history museum), in what is now the heart of the University of Bergen campus. Ironically it was to the Breiviken site that NHH would move in 1963 when it out grew the original premises.
The original NHH building on Christies gate, 1936
Continue on to 1936-1963: NHH opens and sets to work.
