University of Agder

Historie

The University of Agder, formerly known as Agder College and Agder University College, is a public university with campuses in Kristiansand and Grimstad, Norway. The institution was established as a university college in 1994 through the merger of Agder College and five other colleges, including a technical college and a nursing school, and became one of Norway's new universities in 2007. It is among the youngest of Norway's eight universities.HistoryThe idea of a university in the Agder region is not completely new. In his short period as ruler of the union of Denmark–Norway, Johann Friedrich Struensee planned on reforming the University of Copenhagen. He gave Bishop Johann Ernst Gunnerus of Trondheim the task of developing more detailed plans. Gunnerus presented a proposal in 1771 in which he suggested establishing a new university in Norway, and placing it in Kristiansand.The motives for suggesting Kristiansand as a university town have been debated. Regardless, the idea was soon discarded as planning began for the first Norwegian university. In 1811, a resolution was passed to establish Norway's first university in Christiania (Oslo).