University of Oslo’s first fully digital master's is about Ibsen

The Centre for Ibsen Studies admits 15 students each year to an English-language master’s program in Ibsen Studies. In the autumn of 2026, the Centre will in addition admit ten students to a new fully digital master’s program called Ibsen studies online.

Head of Centre Giuliano D’Amico describes the content of the two versions of the master’s program as nearly identical.

–The students gain in-depth knowledge of Henrik Ibsen’s life and works. We also look at the world around Ibsen – for example, how Ibsen is interpreted and performed in different traditions and in different places, he comments, and emphasises:

– Ibsen has become great because he addresses themes that resonate with people across borders. He touches on issues that are fundamental to each individual and still relevant.

– An entirely asynchronous program

According to D’Amico, the Center came up with the idea of creating a digital master’s program during the pandemic.

– We were forced to adopt digital teaching methods, and we saw the pedagogical opportunities it offers,” he says, highlighting in particular Associate Professor Liyang Xia as one of the driving forces behind the new program.

– What is important and exciting is that the entire program is asynchronous, he says, pointing out that it is difficult to offer live teaching to students in different parts of the world.

In collaboration with LINK, Centre for Learning, Innovation and Academic Development, and HF:Studio, the Centre for Ibsen Studies has developed a model with several different activities that work asynchronously.

– Instead of live lectures, for example, we have recorded lectures in the studio, he explains. 

In addition to himself and Xia, Professor Ellen Rees and Associate Professor Thor Holt are also in the process of preparing the digital courses.

– A great deal of work has gone into developing the program design, D'Amico says. 

– We have to be creative. Instead of thinking that we are merely compensating for the drawback that students do not meet their fellow students in the classroom, we choose to focus on the opportunities offered by the digital space, he stresses.

– Every student will get individual feedback

Because much of the content can be reused, the preparatory work will be less resource-intensive for the next admission round. At the same time, students in the online master’s program will be well followed up. Everyone will receive individual feedback on their assignments.

As the center director describes it, following an asynchronous online teaching format has both disadvantages and advantages.

The program gives students the flexibility to choose when they want to watch lectures and complete various tasks. What you lose, he believes, is the dynamic that comes from interaction among students and between the instructor and the students, as well as the possibility for improvisation.

– A lot of what happens in a classroom or lecture hall is not planned in advance. New elements may be introduced in response to a spontaneous question from a student, D'Amico points out.

– On the other hand, he add, the digital classroom offers good opportunities for deep learning and close individual follow-up.

– You can learn at your own pace and delve into the texts and topics that interest you the most. This is a major advantage for students who are working full time or who, for other reasons, cannot follow regular on-campus teaching, he says.

Internship at Ibsen Stage

The center also aims to facilitate the development of a sense of community among students in the online program.

– We will encourage students to assess each other’s work and solve assignments together, without requiring them to do so at a specific time on a specific day, D'Amico says.

– What is also great, he adds, is that in recent years we have had good experiences with internships. Students attending the master's program i Oslo have done internships either outside the University of Oslo (UiO) or at UiO. Those who do an internal internship work with Ibsen Stage.

D’Amico explains that the Ibsen Stage is a database covering all documented, or documentable, productions of Ibsen’s works worldwide from 1850 up to the present day.

– As of now, we have documented more than 27,000 performances based on Ibsen’s works, he says.

D’Amico envisions that students following Ibsen studies online may also be offered the opportunity to do an internship at Ibsen Stage.

An opportunity for theachers

What he hopes most is that the the online program will attract students who would not have become UiO students without this opportunity.

– I’m not only thinking of people around the world. I also see this master’s program as a good offer for teachers who want further education, he says.

– The lectures will be given in English, but you can read all of Ibsen’s works and write all your assignments in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language. This also applies to the master’s thesis, he says.

D’Amico emphasizes that the knowledge you gain in Ibsen studies online is transferable both to the Norwegian subject and to other subjects such as history and social studies.

Interest in Ibsen varies between countries. In addition to students from Europe and the US, the Centre for Ibsen Studies has consistently attracted students from countries such as India, Bangladesh, China, Iran, and Ghana, D’Amico explains.

He believes that the overrepresentation of some countries among the students is due to Ibsen being better known in some countries. D’Amico mentions Ghana and Bangladesh as examples of countries where Ibsen is well established in the curriculum for students of literature and drama.

About NOK 70,000 cheaper

– According to D’Amico, the center began planning the online program from a fairly idealistic starting point

– We saw the online master’s program as an opportunity to spread knowledge about Henrik Ibsen around the world, he says.

However, the introduction of tuition fees for students from outside the EU/EEA has led to fewer international students applying to UiO. 

A master’s degree in Ibsen Studies costs about NOK 200,000 per year for international students, while the online students, D’Amico informs, will pay about NOK 130,000 in tuition per year. He explains this by noting that these students will, at least in the longer term, require slightly fewer resources and, unlike on-campus students, will not make use of UiO’s physical infrastructure.

But NOK 130,000 is still a lot of money. For the 2025 intake, the Ibsen Centre was able to offer five master’s students, one from Bangladesh and four from Ghana, Nordstip scholarships. This is a scholarship scheme introduced by the government in 2024.

The scheme has been put on hold for the 2026–2027 academic year, but D’Amico hopes it will be continued in the future, and that it will then also include students in the online program.

In many ways a pilot

The on-campus master’s program started in 2004. The online master’s program will start in fall 2026.

– We received only positive feedback from the faculty when we applied to start this, and we’ve gotten a lot of support. Not least, HF:Studio has devoted a great deal of time to us, D’Amico says. 

He sees this as a sign that HF:Studio considers the work to have transferable value

– Ibsen studies online is in many ways a pilot, he concludes.

In recent months, the center has worked extensively to promote the online master’s program both in Norway and abroad. The application deadline for students from countries outside the EU/EEA was in December. Students from countries within the EU/EEA have an application deadline of March 1.

D’Amico is very curious about the number of students who will apply for admission, which countries they will come from, and what backgrounds they will have. In May, the Centre for Ibsen Studies will have the answers to these questions.

The text has been translated from Norwegian with assistance from ChatGPT UiO