The application numbers for upper secondary education were presented by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training on Tuesday morning. According to the data, 192,000 people have applied for a place in upper secondary school, and in addition, over 20,000 have applied for an apprenticeship. This brings the total to 213,096 applicants for school places or apprenticeships.
For the first time in many years, there is a small decline in pupils applying to Vg1, the first year of upper secondary school. Specifically, 79,762 have applied to the first year of upper secondary school, which is 382 fewer than last year. However, for the third year in a row, the number of people applying to vocational programs is increasing, with a total of 102,258 people having vocational programs as their first choice.
The vocational education program that is increasing the most is electrical and computer technology, which has 800 more applicants than last year – a total of 17,806 applicants. About one-third of applicants to the first year of upper secondary school have applied for general studies, which remains the largest education program. In Trøndelag, a majority of applicants also applied for vocational programs.
The reasons for the small decline in Vg1 applicants and how these trends compare to previous years beyond the last year remain unclear.