The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world and as one of the leading universities of Northern Europe; the 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked it the 67th best university in the world and the third best in the Nordic countries. In 2023, both the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings listed the university as the highest ranked Norwegian university, placing it 101st and 126th in the world respectively. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian continuation of Denmark-Norway's common university, the University of Copenhagen, with which it shares many traditions. It was named for King Frederick VI of Denmark and Norway, and received its current name in 1939. The university was commonly nicknamed "The Royal Frederick's" (Det Kgl. Frederiks) before the name change, and informally also referred to simply as Universitetet (). It has remained Norway's preeminent institution of higher education and the country's only university until 1946. The university has approximately 27,700 students and employs around 6,000 people. Its faculties include (Lutheran) theology (with the Lutheran Church of Norway having been Norway's state church since 1536), law, medicine, humanities, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, dentistry, and education. The university's original neoclassical campus is located in the centre of Oslo; it is currently occupied by the Faculty of Law. Most of the university's other faculties are located at the newer Blindern campus in the suburban West End. The Faculty of Medicine is split between several university hospitals in the Oslo area. The university also includes some formally independent, affiliated institutes such as the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), NKVTS and the Frisch Centre. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in the university's Atrium, from 1947 to 1989 and in 2020. Since 2003, the Abel Prize is awarded in the Atrium. Five researchers affiliated with the university have been Nobel laureates and three have been Turing Award winners. History Early history In 1811, a decision was made to establish the first university in the Dano-Norwegian Union, after an agreement was reached with King Frederik VI, who had earlier believed that such an institution might encourage political separatist tendencies. In 1813, The Royal