Kursplanen ble endret med hensyn til oppmøtekravet.

Because -en at the end makes the noun definite singular.

• en kursplan = a course plan / a syllabus
• kursplanen = the course plan / the syllabus

Norwegian often attaches the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front, unlike English.

Also note:

• kurs = course
• plan = plan

So kursplan is a compound noun meaning course plan or syllabus.

Ble endret is a passive construction in the past.

• ble = past tense of bli (become / get / be in passive constructions)
• endret = past participle of endre (change)

So:

• ble endret = was changed

This is a very common way to form the passive in Norwegian:

• Døren ble åpnet. = The door was opened.
• Planen ble endret. = The plan was changed.

Because ble endret usually focuses on the event of change, while var endret usually describes the resulting state.

• Kursplanen ble endret ... = The syllabus was changed ...
  Focus: someone changed it.

• Kursplanen var endret ... = The syllabus was changed ... / had been changed ...
  Focus: it was already in a changed state.

In many contexts, ble + past participle is the normal choice when talking about an action that happened.

Med hensyn til means with regard to, regarding, or in terms of.

It is a fairly formal expression. In everyday speech, people might more often use:

• når det gjelder = when it comes to
• om = about
• angående = regarding

Examples:

• Med hensyn til oppmøtekravet = with regard to the attendance requirement
• Når det gjelder oppmøtekravet = when it comes to the attendance requirement

So in your sentence, med hensyn til introduces the specific area that was changed.

It functions like a prepositional phrase that tells you in what respect the course plan was changed.

Breakdown:

• med = with
• hensyn = regard / consideration
• til = to
• oppmøtekravet = the attendance requirement

So the whole phrase means something like:

• with regard to the attendance requirement
• as far as the attendance requirement is concerned

It does not mean that the attendance requirement itself necessarily changed by itself; rather, it tells you the area or aspect in which the course plan was changed.

Oppmøtekravet is a compound noun with a definite ending.

Breakdown:

• oppmøte = attendance / showing up
• krav = requirement
• oppmøtekrav = attendance requirement
• oppmøtekravet = the attendance requirement

This is extremely typical in Norwegian: nouns are often joined together into one word.

Compare:

• skolebok = school book
• arbeidsplass = workplace
• oppmøtekrav = attendance requirement

And then the definite form is added to the end:

• et krav = a requirement
• kravet = the requirement

Because krav is a neuter noun in Norwegian.

For neuter nouns:

• et krav = a requirement
• kravet = the requirement

For common-gender nouns, you often get -en in the definite singular:

• en plan = a plan
• planen = the plan

So:

• kursplanen uses -en because kursplan is a common-gender noun
• oppmøtekravet uses -et because krav is a neuter noun

Because the expression med hensyn til is often followed by a noun referring to a specific thing already understood in context.

So oppmøtekravet means the attendance requirement, not just an attendance requirement.

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a particular requirement connected with that course plan, so the definite form is natural.

An indefinite version, med hensyn til et oppmøtekrav, would sound more like talking about some requirement in general, not a specific one.

Yes, very often that is exactly why the passive is used.

Kursplanen ble endret ... leaves the agent unstated. It does not say who changed the course plan.

An active version would be:

• Universitetet endret kursplanen med hensyn til oppmøtekravet.
• The university changed the syllabus with regard to the attendance requirement.

The passive is useful when:

• the doer is unknown
• the doer is unimportant
• the focus is on the thing affected

Here, the focus is on kursplanen.

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• ble endret = was changed
  Simple past; a completed event in the past

• har blitt endret = has been changed
  Present perfect; the change happened in the past but is still relevant now

So both can work depending on context:

• Kursplanen ble endret med hensyn til oppmøtekravet i fjor.
• Kursplanen har blitt endret med hensyn til oppmøtekravet.

The second one often feels more connected to the present situation.

No, this is normal Norwegian main-clause word order.

Structure:

• Kursplanen = subject
• ble endret = verb phrase
• med hensyn til oppmøtekravet = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + verb + extra information

That is very standard.

If you move the prepositional phrase to the front, Norwegian would still keep the verb in second position:

• Med hensyn til oppmøtekravet ble kursplanen endret.

This is normal Norwegian V2 word order: the finite verb (ble) stays in second position.

Usually no, not if you want the same meaning.

Med hensyn til specifically means:

• with regard to
• concerning
• in terms of

For usually means things like:

• for
• because of
• on behalf of
• intended for

So for oppmøtekravet would not naturally express with regard to the attendance requirement.

Better alternatives would be:

• med hensyn til oppmøtekravet
• når det gjelder oppmøtekravet
• angående oppmøtekravet

Yes, in many academic contexts kursplan can correspond to syllabus, though exact usage can vary by institution and country.

Depending on context, it may also be translated as:

• course plan
• course outline
• syllabus

Norwegian educational vocabulary is not always a perfect one-to-one match with English, so the best translation depends on context. But grammatically, the sentence works the same either way.

A less formal version could be:

• Kursplanen ble endret når det gjelder oppmøtekravet.
• Kursplanen ble endret angående oppmøtekravet.

Or even:

• De endret kursplanen for oppmøtekravet.

But that last one changes the structure and may sound less precise depending on context.

Your original sentence is grammatically correct and natural, but it sounds somewhat formal or administrative, which fits official or academic writing well.