What is u3a.no? 
Internationally, U3A is an acronym for "University of the Third Age". It is used as a name for organisations providing education to persons in their "third age", ie. persons of retirement age.
u3a.no is a portal for 11 U3A-organisations in Norway. Each of these has their own internet address (website) and maintain their individual webpages. Are you interested in one particular of these organisations, please click on the corresponding menu item to the left. u3a.no also provides articles of general interest to U3A-organisations and to their members.
What is the structure of u3a organisations in Norway?
Most of them are independent membership organisations with an elected board and committees for culture, travel, seminars etc. In general the organisations are financed by membership fees without public funding. Board and committee members are elected volunteers doing their work without remuneration. The number of members range from, say 200 to more than a 1000. Upstart organisations may have even fewer members than 200.
Some U3As are affiliated with a nationwide adult educaion organisation named "Folkeuniversitetet". This organisation has a large number of local branches providing courses in various topics such as languages, professional skills, data, etc. etc.".
"Folkeuniversitetet" introduced the concept of U3A in Norway in 1982 through establishing "Oslo Pensjonistuniversitet". Today "Folkeuniversitetet" provides varying degrees of service to their U3As, from organising lectures, travel etc., to simply providing a secretariat for a U3A otherwise organising itself.
How many u3a-organisations are there in Norway?
Since no umbrella organisation for U3As in Norway has been established, no exact number can be given. U3As are mostly created by local initiatives. An estimate is that the number is around 80. A list of the organisations known to u3a.no is provided by the link: http://www.u3a.no/index.php/puerinorge/93-pu-er-i-norge.
See also: www.u3a.no/index.php/about-sul for an example of a U3A in Norway.
Should you have questions or comments, an e-mail to will be appreciated.