The History of NHH: Key dates
| 1875 | Christiania (Oslo) Handelsgymnasium (commercial high school) founded |
| 1890's | The business communities in Bergen and Oslo begin discussing the establishment of a business school in Norway |
| 1900 | Bergen Handelsforening (Bergen chamber of commerce) establish a committee to consider setting up a commercial high school for pupils to specialise in business |
| 1904 | Bergens Handelsgymnasium (commercial high school) founded |
| 1909 | Committee established by Den Norske Handelsstand Fællesforening (the Norwegian business federation) under the leadership of Oslo businessman Trygve Bull to investigate setting up a business school in Norway |
| Stockholm School of Economics and the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, HANKEN, in Helsinki are founded | |
| 1911 | Helsinki School of Economics is established |
| 1915 | Foreningen for NHH i Bergen (association for NHH in Bergen) established by the business community in Bergen, and led by government minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl, to ensure that the new business school was established in Bergen |
| 1917 | Stortinget (Norwegian parliament) pass a resolution to establish an institution for higher education and research based on the German handelshochschule (business school) model |
| Copenhagen Business School is founded | |
| 1918 | Bergen ship owner Haakon J. Wallem donates a 70,000 m2 site at Breiviken (outside the centre of Bergen) for building of the new school |
| 1922 | Architect Bredo Greve wins a competition for designing a new building to house NHH |
| 1920's | Economic hardship in Norway halts building of the new school |
| 1933 | Former house of Bergen businessman Thorolf Sundt bought as the new location for NHH in the centre of the city |
| 1936 | NHH opened by King Haakon VII and Kristofer Lehmkuhl |
| 60 students start the new 2 year Handelsdiplom programme | |
| NHH Studentforeningen (NHHS - NHH Student Association) established | |
| 1938 | First students graduate and are given the title Handelskandidat |
| Additional 1 year Handelslærer programme (business teaching qualification) launched | |
| NHHS mountain cabin Kramboden inaugurated | |
| 1946 | Handelsdiplom programme extended to 3 years |
| 1948 | NHHS becomes a founding member of AIESEC |
| 1950 | Male choir Svæveru' founded in NHHS |
| Total number of students is 177 and 29 members of staff | |
| 1952 | AFF (Administrativt Forsknings Fond - the Administrative Research Institute) established as part of the NHH group and the Solstrand leadership programme starts |
| 1957 | Ole Myrvoll (later Mayor of Bergen and Minister of Finance) receives the first doctorate awarded by NHH |
| Yale professor E. Wight Bakke evaluates the Solstrand leadership training programme, and calls it "One of the few outstanding examples of executive development programmes in the world" | |
| 1958 | New logo for NHH, designed by NHH alumnus Bjarne Tømmerbakke (class of 1936), approved for use by the school, and continues to be used today |
| 1959 | NHHK (NHH Kursvirksomhet - NHH adult and continuing education department) established and further education courses begin |
| 1960's | Promising NHH graduates sent overseas (mainly to the US) to study doctorates as part of a strategy to develop the international networks, standing and competence of faculty |
| 1962 | The influential paper 'Equilibrium in a reinsurance market' by Professor Karl Borch is published in Econometrica |
| 1963 | NHH moves to a new, purpose-built campus at Breiviken, outside the centre of Bergen, making it possible for an increase in the size of the faculty and a major expansion in research |
| Handelsdiplom name changed to Siviløkonom, with graduates taking the same title | |
| Direksjonsmusikken brass band established in NHHS | |
| In total there are 304 students and 67 members of staff | |
| The annual intake increases from 60 to 200 students | |
| 1964 | Hatleberg student accommodation opens on campus |
| 1966 | Professor Jan Mossin's seminal paper 'Equilibrium in a Capital Asset Market' is published in Econometrica, contributing significantly to the development of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) |
| 1967 | Professor Karl Borch presents his influential paper 'The Theory of Risk' to the Royal Statistical Society in London |
| 1970's | NHH continues to send promising graduates abroad for their doctorates |
| 1972 | Høyere avdelingstudium (HAS) commences as a master level programme for Siviløkonom students wishing to continue on their education |
| 1973 | Høyere revisorstudium (HRS) introduced by Professor Dag Coward as a master level programme for Siviløkonom students wishing to specialise in auditing, accounting and the financial management of firms. Programme provides official authorisation to act as an auditor |
| Senter for anvendt forskning (SAF - Centre for Applied Research) opens | |
| Total student numbers increased to 945 and the total number of staff to 174 | |
| Professor Terje Hansen jointly wins the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize for 'best contribution to operations research and the management sciences published in English' | |
| 1975 | Siviløkonom programme extended to 4 years |
| Industriøkonomisk institutt (IØI - Institute for Industrial Economics) founded | |
| NHH starts to take over space in the Merino building |
| 1980 | First UKEN music festival organised by NHHS, and continues every second year to the present day |
| 1980 | All-female choir Sangria choir and mixed choir Optimum founded in NHHS |
| 1983 | Næringslivssymposiet (the Scandinavian Management Symposium) arranged by NHHS for the first time, and continues every second year to the present day |
| 1984 | SAF becomes a separate research foundation |
| First international student exchange agreement established with Stockholm of Economics | |
| NHH ranked 7th globally and 3rd in Europe in the American Economic Review amongst economics schools or departments in non-English speaking countries by publications in leading economics journals | |
| Big Business Blues Band founded in NHHS | |
| 1985 | The first candidate graduates from the new PhD programme at NHH |
| First edition of NHH Silhuetten (NHH's external journal) published | |
| Total student numbers increased to 1670 and the total number of staff to 198 | |
| 1986 | Centre of International Business (CIB) established |
| Master of International Business (MIB) programme introduced, the first master programme in Norway to be taught entirely in English | |
| Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication exercises the formal and practical responsibility for the National Translator Accreditation Exam (Translatøreksamen). | |
| NHH Celebrates 50th anniversary | |
| NHH Honorary Award for Excellent Research introduced to mark 50th anniversary. Professor Karl Borch is named first recipient | |
| NHH awards six leading international researchers with honorary doctorates | |
| 1989 | Autorisert FinasAnalytikerstudium (AFA - Authorised Financial Analyst) launched in partnership with Norske Finansanalytikeres Forening (NFF - Norwegian association of financial analysts) |
| 1990 | Annual production of PhDs increased to 12 |
| 1991 | The SAF, IØI and CIB are amalgamated into one research foundation, Samfunns- og næringslivsforskning (SNF - The Institute for Research in Economics and Business Administration) |
| Professor Agnar Sandmo receives the NHH Honorary Award for Excellent Research | |
| 1992 | NHH become a member of the prestigious Community of European Management Schools (CEMS) |
| NHH joins the European educational ERASMUS programme | |
| In partnership with London Business School, HEC School of Management and Warsaw University of Technology, NHH establishes the Warsaw University of Technology Business School (WUTBS) | |
| 1993 | Executive Master in Technology Management (MTM) launched in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| International Office established to manage NHH's international relationships | |
| 1994 | An executive Master programme in Management Control (MØST) is established |
| 1995 | Service Building opened, with new library, IT facilities, study rooms, offices, canteen and book shop |
| NHH becomes a member of the global Partnership in International Management (PIM) network | |
| NHH establishes the Nordic-Russian Leadership Executive Training (NORLET) programme with the St Petersburg State University School of Management in partnership with other Nordic CEMS partners | |
| 1996 | An Executive MBA programme (EMBA) in Strategic Management (MASTRA) is established |
| EMBA established at WUTBS joint venture in Poland | |
| Professor Odd Langholm receives the NHH Honorary Award for Excellent Research | |
| NHH awards three leading international researchers with honorary doctorates | |
| 1999 | NHH establishes the Baltic Management Institute (BMI) in partnership with Copenhagen Business School, HEC School of Management, Louvain School of Management and Vytautas Magnus University of Lithuania to offer an International EMBA programme |
| NHH, Nordic CEMS partners and St Petersburg State University School of Management form the North-European Business School Educational Network (NEBSEN) and establish a two year master programme in International Business at St Petersburg State University School of Management |
| 2000 | EMBA in Global E-Management (GeM) established in cooperation with international partners |
| EMBA in Public Management launched | |
| 2001 | Accreditation received from the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) |
| Professor Kjell Grønhaug receives the NHH Honorary Award for Excellent Research | |
| Lehmkuhlhallen opens, providing new on-campus sports facilities | |
| 2002 | EMBA in Brand Management starts |
| NHH joins its CEMS partners to launch the CEMS Master in International Management (MIM) | |
| SNF reorganised, with research tasks now carried out by the limited company SNF AS. The SNF research foundation and NHH own SNF AS, in cooperation with the University of Bergen | |
| Professor Agnar Sandmo wins the Møbius Award from the Norwegian Research Council for excellent research | |
| 2003 | In line with the Bologna Declaration, the Siviløkonom programme is extended to 5 years, now comprising a 3 year Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration and a 2 years Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration |
| AFF reorganised as a limited company, with the AFF foundation, NHH and AFF employees as owners | |
| Online alumni network launched for NHH Alumni | |
| 2004 | NHH Alumnus and Adjunct Professor Finn E. Kydland wins the Nobel Prize for Economics, together with Professor Edward C. Prescott of Arizona State University |
| 2005 | Financial Times 2005 European Masters in Management rankings rated the CEMS MIM as 3rd, and the NHH Master of Science programme as 19th overall in Europe. The Financial Times survey of alumni also rated NHH Best for Economics and 4th for Finance. |
| Student exchange agreements in place with over 100 institutions worldwide, with more than 50% of Master students taking at least one semester on exchange | |
| The total number of students is now over 2,700 and there are 330 members of staff | |
| Annual student intake is now 600 |
2000-present: Continued growth and development into the 21st Century
1980-2000: Specialisation and international expansion
1963-1980: A new campus and rapid growth
1936-1963: NHH opens and sets to work
1900-1936: Establishing a Norwegian school of business in Bergen
