Oslo Commerce School

Oslo Commerce School   (School)
Formation	1875
Headquarters	Oslo, Norway
A traditional mercantile high school in "the best part" of Oslo.

Oslo Commerce School (Oslo Handelsgymnasium) is a public full-time school in Oslo, Norway, specialized to teach financial and business management.

The school was founded in 1875 with the goal of enabling young people "who had settled on a career in commerce or other practical vocations" to receive "a complete theoretical and practical education in commercial subjects as well as a higher education in other subjects."

Growth and diversification

The first 32 students graduated in 1877. Until Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (Norges Handelshøyskole) in Bergen was established in 1936, Oslo Commerce School provided the highest level of commercial education available in Norway. The number of pupils has increased steadily since then, especially after a 1950 reform gave economics and commerce courses the same recognition as the traditional high school subjects, and provided the right for its graduates to study at universities and colleges. This avenue of entry to post-secondary studies became popular, and after a few years many traditional upper secondary schools began offering programs in economics and commerce as well.

The first students for the new Arts and Sciences curriculum began studies in 1977; the first class graduated in 1980. When Frogner Upper Secondary School closed, 13 class groups studying commerce and office/clerical programs transferred to Oslo Commerce School; the remaining students transferred to Hartvig Nissen School. From the 2002-03 school year, the school has included programs in training for the service sector, for the travel industry, for transport and logistics and for information technology. In addition, the school caters to special-needs students and offers two preparatory class groups for minority-language students.

School locations

At its 1875 founding the school was located at Rosenkrantz-gaten 7. Later, before the present building at Parkveien 65 was completed in 1946, the school's pupils were housed at Munchsgaten 4. The original school had been used as a command center for the occupying Germans during World War II. The Germans added a bunker, which is today used as a museum.

The current building was designed by the architectural partners Gudolf Blakstad and Herman Munthe-Kaas and was largely financed through private funds and donations.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Died	Nationality	Summary	Description
Ole Myrvoll	18 May 1911	16 July 1988	Norway	Academic Economist	Liberal Norwegian economist
Niels Werring Sr	4 August 1897	19 August 1990	Norway	Shipping magnate	Father of 14 times Bilderberger Norwegian ship owner
Otto Tidemand	18 June 1921	10 June 2006	Norway	Politician Pilot Deep state operative	Norwegian Shipowners' Association, Bilderberg Steering committee, ...

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