Anders Behring Breivik to Study Political Science at University of Oslo
Anders Behring Breivik has won a place to study political science at Oslo’s university.
The 36-year-old Norwegian admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then went on a shooting spree at a youth camp on a nearby island in 2011.
Anders Behring Breivik has been studying certain course modules since first applying to the University of Oslo in 2013, but he will now be taught as a full student.
The mass killer will have no contact with staff or students as he studies from his cell.
In 2012, Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced to the maximum 21 years in prison for carrying out Norway’s worst massacre since World War Two.
This jail term can be extended if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
The university’s rector, Ole Petter Ottersen, said that Norwegian inmates “have a right to pursue higher education in Norway if they meet the admission requirements and are successful in competition with other applicants”.
Writing on the university’s website, Ole Petter Ottersen admitted that the university had faced “moral dilemmas” about Anders Behring Breivik’s admission.
The rector added that the university had students whose family members had been killed by Anders Behring Breivik. However, he said that the university would abide by its rules “for our own sake, not for his”.
As he studies from his prison, Anders Behring Breivik will be subject to strict regulations. He will be allowed no access to internet resources or receive any personal guidance from tutors. All communication with the university will take place via “a contact person in prison”.
Anders Behring Breivik first applied to study in 2013 but did not meet entry requirements as he had never completed secondary school. Instead, he was allowed to study certain political science modules.
His deadly rampage at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya Island was found by an Oslo court to have been a premeditated act of terrorism.
Anders Behring Breivik harbored extremist right-wing views and claimed he had reacted against what he saw as a Marxist-Islamic takeover of Europe.