Fewer applicants want to study petroleum engineering in Norway: report

The latest statistics show fewer applicants wanted to study petroleum engineering in Norway's leading university this year, reflecting the hard times in the country's oil sector, leading newspaper Aftenposten reported on Wednesday.

There were only 31 applicants for 29 study places at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), a big downfall compared to 420 applicants for 53 study places in 2013 and less than 50 percent of last year's result, according to statistics published by the Norwegian Coordinated Student Application Services.

On the other hand, NTNU saw a 30-percent increase in the number of applications in the field of communication technology and nanotechnology. But numbers further showed there was a general decrease of 3.5 percent compared to last year in applications for natural sciences and technology studies.

Norwegian minister of education and research Torbjorn Roe Isaksen said the application results were somewhat worrying, saying it was important the level of applications for technology studies remained stable, since a significant number of technology and natural sciences students was necessary for the future of Norwegian society.

Meanwhile, the total number of applicants for Norway's higher education has never been greater -- 132,000 applicants, marking an increase of 3.2 percent compared to last year, according to the statistics.

There was a significant increase of 20 percent in the number of nursing applicants. Health and social work studies were the first choice for 13 percent more applicants than in 2015. Pre-school teacher education also registered higher interest than before, an increase of 3.6 percent. Endit