University of Oslo

The course offers an introduction to programming-based problem solving for social scientists. The course introduces a number of problems and solutions in social science data processing with applications in R. The course begins with a number of general programming topics, followed by efficient processing of different data structures and how data can be combined using SQL and Tidyverse. Secondly, the course looks at special challenges related to space and time. The spatial dimension introduces GIS techniques. Towards the end, the course sees how machine text analysis can be used to automate data collection and to look at how we can effectively visualize different types of data. The course provides a good basis for independent work with social science information. The course requires students to have completed a course in research methods and statistics as a prerequisite.

This course covers central topics in the global economic history since 1500. The topics are chosen from the comparative history of the development of nations. The course emphasizes the dynamic process of historical change. The method is in part applied economics with a critical attitude towards timeless explanations of the wealth of nations. The list of questions includes: Why and how has the world become increasingly unequal? Why did some countries industrialize before others? What was the role of income distribution, endowments and political institutions for economic progress? What role did high wages play to induce change? Why was it Europeans who conquered the world? How was the Americas incorporated into the global economy? Why has Africa remained the poorest region in the world? This course addresses these and other similar questions using simple tools and by contrasting them to contemporary and modern economic theories for understanding the role of economic incentives, inequality, and institutions for economic and social development. This course requires students to have completed courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and mathematics as prerequisites.

This is the five ECTS unit version of Introduction to Norwegian that takes place both online and in class. This is an introductory Norwegian language course for international students taught in English; though both Norwegian and English language is used in class. The students follow a MOOC online course (Introduction to Norwegian) for four weeks, and then four meetings are held on campus. In addition to getting an introduction to Norwegian language, the students become familiar with the student life and everyday life at UiO. After taking this course students are able to express themselves comprehensively on familiar topics, both written and oral; understand oral Norwegian about familiar topics when the interlocutor speaks clearly and slowly; understand written Norwegian about familiar topics; master Norwegian morphology and syntax reviewed during the course; and master basic Norwegian pronunciation reviewed on the course.