The history of the Institute goes back to the late 1950s as a group within the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities, NAVF. Through over twenty-five years of activities, the Institute has gained considerable expertise in issues related to research and higher education nationally and internationally. The Institute is a key actor in delivering statistics, studies and research in these areas.
The Institute was associated with NAVF until the foundation of the Research Council of Norway, NFR, in 1993. On January 1st, 1996 the Institute became an autonomous non-profit public foundation and Norwegian was added to its name. The change of name and new status do not indicate a change in the Institute's activities. NIFU continues to work on research and higher education in the form of statistics, studies, evaluation and research.
The Institute is financed by the Research Council of Norway through a basic appropriation and programme funding. Additional funding is for contract research mostly for the Council, various ministries, universities, colleges, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the EU and the OECD.
The Institute is a multidisciplinary institution. Half of our researchers are political scientists or sociologists, others are economists, natural scientists, technologists and humanists. Our library is the most extensive in the field of science policy studies in the Nordic countries.