The application portal will open for admission for the academic year of 2026-2027 on 1 November 2025. Adjustments to the admission requirements for the upcoming admission round will be published by 1 November, and are highlighted below:

Published changes 2026/27:

• Updated list of exemptions from the English language requirement

Before applying, please familiarize yourself with the application procedure and important dates.

Registration of application

• In the application portal, if you are directed to a Norwegian language front page, but need English, please change the language settings on the landing page.
• E-mail is the medium of communication between the admission’s office and the applicants. Please make sure to register your address correctly and check it regularly, including your spam folder, as you will receive important information that you must act upon within given deadlines.
• When you have logged in, click on New Application and Master's programmes and select Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration Autumn 2026. 

Admission requirements

1. Bachelor’s degree - formal requirement

Admission to master’s degree studies in Norway requires Higher Education Entrance Qualification and a completed degree comparable to a Norwegian bachelor’s degree.

This means that, depending on where you completed your bachelor’s degree, you may need more than three years of bachelor’s level education in order to be qualified.

Please refer to HK-dir's GSU list for information about the minimum educational requirements for your country. In the GSU list, you may look up the country where you completed your bachelor’s degree. If it says «+ 1 year university education», it means you will need four years of higher education to qualify. If nothing is specified, a three year degree will be sufficient.

2. Bachelor’s degree - academic requirements

90 ECTS within economics and business administration:

• A minimum of 30 ECTS must be within business administration, e.g. finance accounting, strategy, marketing. Economics courses, such as micro- or macroeconomics, may not count toward the business administration requirement.
• A maximum of 45 ECTS may be within methodological subjects, such as statistics or mathematics.

A GPA corresponding approximately to a B on the ECTS grading scale.

Note that if you are completing your degree in the spring semester of the admission year, admission will be assessed on results up to and including the penultimate semester. If final trancripts result in an unacceptable decrease in GPA, you may be refused unconditional admission.

These requirements are absolute and cannot be compensated by work experience, test results, or other.

3. GMAT or GRE

Unless you belong to one of the groups exempted (see below), you must pass the GMAT or the GRE test successfully in order to be qualified. Below the three tests we accept including the minimum required test scores:

• GMAT™ Exam, current format (Focus Edition): a total minimum score of 555 points
• GMAT™ Exam, previous format (10th Edition): a total minimum score of 600 points 
• GRE: a total of minimum 152 points on the quantitative reasoning section

Test scores must be a maximum of five years old at the time of the application deadline and only test scores issued to NHH directly from the issuing authority are accepted.

• Exemptions from the GMAT-/GRE requirement

  Exemptions from the GMAT-/GRE requirement

  If you satisfy one of the following criteria, you are exempted from the GMAT/GRE requirement (please note that other exemptions will not be given):

  • You have at least 90 ECTS from a Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish or Icelandic institution.
  • You have a degree from an institution in the CEMS or PIM networks.
  • You have earlier passed at least 30 ECTS at NHH on the bachelor's or master's level.

  If you do not satisfy any of the criteria above, you are obliged to pass either the GMAT- or the GRE test in order to be a qualified applicant.

4. English language requirement

Unless you belong to one of the groups exempted (see below), you must document a good command of the English language by passing one of the tests below. We also accept TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition and IELTS Online.

• TOEFL iBT - Test of English as a Foreign Language Minimum total score: 90 points on the internet based test, 575 points on the written test or 233 on the computer-based test.
• IELTS Academic - International English Language Testing System
  Minimum overall band score: 6.5
• PTE Academic - The Pearson's Test of English Minimum score: 62

Test scores must be a maximum of two years old at the time of the application deadline and only test scores issued to NHH directly from the issuing authority are accepted.

• Exemptions from the English language requirement

  Exemptions from the English language requirement

  Updated September 2025

  If you satisfy one of the criteria listed below, you do not have to take an English language proficiency test. 

  1. You have completed minimum two years of full-time studies at university level in Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, New Zealand, or Australia. Please note that branch campus, validated and franchised programmes, and distance learning students are not exempt from providing an English proficiency test.
  2. You have completed one year of full-time studies on master’s level with English as the medium of instruction.
  3. You have completed English in upper secondary school, and it is considered comparable to the required level of English proficiency in the Norwegian upper secondary school system, and comparable to at least a Norwegian grade 4.

  Please note: Other grounds for exemption will not be considered. If none of the above applies to you, you must take one of the approved English language proficiency tests to qualify for admission.

Please proceed to the documentation requirements to find out what you have to upload.

Are you a former exchange student?

Please note that if you have formerly been on exchange to NHH and taken master level courses that are part of the basis for your admission, you will not be able to use those courses as part of a full-degree master's programme at NHH.