Summer school 2026 - Migration and career guidance

Welcome to Migration and Career Guidance - international Summer Course

Migration and Career Guidance – international summer school 10. -14. august 2026 is now open for applications! 

Application form is found here: https://nettskjema.no/a/vala2026migration
Application period for the summer course is open until 1. march 2026.

The application form for the summer course is also a VALA/Nordplus mobility grant form. Primarily only Master and Bachelor students from VALA affiliated institutions can apply for mobility grant and participation for the summer course. We encourage also other students to apply, but they can be accepted only if we have extra places in the course. Read more below under Mobility funding for the Summer Course Migration and Career Guidance. We will inform all applicants of the results at the beginning of April 2026.

 

Migration and Career Guidance – international summer course 10–14 August 2026


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We invite you to join us in the VALA Summer Course Migration and Career Guidance. The course is organised for the second time and hosted by University of South-Eastern Norway and will take place in Drammen campus (1 hour from Oslo airport). 

Through this 5 ECTS Master-level course you will be able to deepen your understanding on issues of migration and careers, apply key methods and theories for social inclusion and broaden your skills in multicultural career guidance and counselling.

  • What: Summer Course
  • When: August 10 - 14, 2026
  • Level: Master
  • Host: University of South-Eastern Norway
  • Credit points: 5 ECTS

Some feedback from 2025 participants:

"New perspectives, questioning norms, theories and practices to decolonise career guidance"
"New theories to take with me in counselling"
"Learned to work together with people from other countries"
"I loved the active workshops (visual tools / language workshop)"
"Everything was well organized"

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Learning outcomes
    By the end of this intensive course you will be able to:

  • Describe how national integration policies frame the career guidance and counselling (CGC) services offered for migrants.

  • Understand migration as a phenomenon.

  • Understand and discuss key concepts such as integration, diversity, segregation, equity and inclusion, and the challenges and tensions within them.

  • Identify and understand individual and structural issues related to migration and career development.

  • Understand and apply key theories and methods in CGC to promote social inclusion.

  • Understand the role intersecting structures of power and privilege in counselling interactions and in client agency.

  • Reflect critically on your personal and professional socialisation and cultural background.

  • Identify issue to consider when designing inclusive CGC practices (eg. language, power asymmetries, counselling settings).

  • Describe and apply multicultural competencies in CGC practice.

  • Identify, address and challenge segregation (ethnic, racial, class, gender etc.) as part of CGC practice.


During the course

Method of study in the Summer Course is a mixture of lectures, workshops, online tasks, group discussions, group work, reading and self-reflection.You will have the possibility to work in groups with other students and develop a portfolio based on the activities and input of the course. Successful completion of the course entails active participation in lectures and workshops, and the completion of course assignments. There will be a pre-assignment (1 ECTS) prior to the contact week in Drammen. The students´ final exam/assessment takes the form of an oral group presentation.

Summer Course uses assessment scale from A to F (F is a fail grade). The intensive course is a 5 ECTS course and corresponds to 135 hours of work.

Course contributors

The curriculum and teaching design of the summer course has been developed in collaboration with the University of South-Eastern Norway, Stockholm University and the University of Eastern Finland. All course contributors have developed their materials and approaches as part of higher education (MA and BA programmes) or further education and training for career practitioners.

Mobility funding for the Summer Course Migration and Career Guidance

Students in VALA affiliated institutions can apply for mobility grant and participation for the Summer Course. VALA is a network for career counseling and guidance programs at higher education institutions in the Nordic and Baltic countries. See list of VALA institutions here: https://peda.net/vala/partners.​

Travel grants to Norway:

From Greenland 1,300 €

From Faroe Islands and Iceland 660 €.

From Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania Estonia and Finland 330 €

From within Norway 175€ for domestic travel.

If more than 500km travel within own country or host country 175€ 

Accommodation/board grants for all students:

Per day 70 €; 5 days total 350 €

You will receive notice of our decision on your application and further information on how to approach the travel grant. 

Students not affiliated with VALA partner institutions can also apply, but they need to cover their travel costs in other ways, eg. Erasmus+ mobility (see here https://peda.net/vala/partners, please).

How to apply

You can apply by filling the application form found at VALA website: https://peda.net/vala/migration/ We will allocate course places evenly accorss VALA partner countries. You will receive notice of our decision on your application in the beginning of April 2026.

We look forward to meeting you in Drammen in August 2026!