Values-based education - for all

NLA University College, with its foundation in Christian values, shall motivate education and critical thinking, and challenge active engagement for fellow human beings and society, nationally and globally.

This is the foundation that motivates the university college and its employees: the belief that all people are created in God's image and with inviolable value. It inspires a strong commitment and care for the weak, and a responsibility to manage the resources we have been given in the best possible way.

Value profile

Society is dependent on visible and participating academia that can provide both applicable knowledge and critical perspectives. NLA has an important task here. As an alternative, private, value-based and visionary player in the Norwegian university and college landscape, the university college has the opportunity to highlight value awareness and life stance competence, and contribute to the public debate with knowledge that shapes society.

A holistic perspective

NLA University College offers practical and socially relevant studies within various subject areas, with close follow-up of students as a trademark and with a holistic perspective on education. It is not just about a theoretical understanding of one's own field, but also includes an emphasis on the students' education and ethical competence, explained as an understanding and handling of ethical dilemmas and professional ethics.

In addition, emphasis is placed on training the students' judgment, as a combination of knowledge, practice and value-based choices that serve individuals, organizations and society as a whole in the best possible way.

NLA's core values

Based on the core values, expressed in the document «Basis and purpose», NLA shall uplift the students by seeing the individual, teaching them to discover their responsibility and giving them the tools and knowledge to manage this responsibility in the best possible way.

This continuously inspires the work with teaching and research. Our researchers look at the importance of ethics in education and the importance it has for the individual student.

NLA offers teaching that aims to get students to work with knowledge and at the same time reflect on their values. What binds all teaching at the university college together is the conviction that every human being has inviolable value.

The students make an important difference in other people's lives, and this is the background for NLA's motto: because someone needs you.

Stewardship

Central to Christian ethics is the view that humanity is called to be stewards. This includes, for example, a stewardship responsibility that provides guidance in the face of contemporary climate challenges and in the question of a just, sustainable, and creative distribution of the earth's resources. In light of the stewardship responsibility, the upbringing of children and young people is also a matter of social concern.

Sustainable Development

NLA aims to contribute to sustainable social development, both through the education programs offered and the educational buildings constructed. The university college aims to provide a good environment for learning and thus give students the best framework for the future. New buildings must be environmentally certified according to the BREEAM standard (standard for environmental profile) with environmentally friendly solutions. It is also desirable to reduce total CO2 emissions through less travel for employees.

Sustainability and the environment will also be a central theme for professional development work in most of the studies offered at the university college.