Nordic Countries Cooperating on Education and Research

Among the initiatives will be a language campaign and an analysis of dropout rates and special needs teaching in the Nordic countries as well as a conference on Nordic core strengths within education and research.

Education in the Nordic countries is of a high professional quality, and young people from these countries are in demand all over the world for their personal and professional skills. With a joint Nordic effort, their education can be even better.

In 2010, Denmark will take over the chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers. As the chairing country, Denmark will focus on the Nordic countries as a region for education and research. The central points will be language, talent and creativity. The goal is for the Nordic countries' education and research environments to measure up to the best in the world, attracting, educating and retaining talented international students and researchers.

On Thursday 8 December, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will launch a sector programme intended to develop Denmark's overall chairmanship programme "The Nordic pointing the way forward".

Education Minister Bertel Haarder looks forward to taking over the chairmanship.

– Together we can go much further than if working separately. We do not only have a community of language that we should maintain and make use of. But we also have a community of culture and a common tradition of high-quality education. We should make a joint effort to keep young people within the education system, develop talents and, not least, make children and young people take an interest in science, he says.

Science Minister Helge Sander looks forward to developing a strong research collaboration between the Nordic countries.

– Cooperation among the Nordic countries is an element in coordinating a joint Nordic effort in relation to pan-European research facilities and, not least, upgrading and developing research facilities within a Nordic framework. I look forward to continuing this work in 2010, says Helge Sander.

Denmark will make an effort to ensure that more students choose a scientific course of education. The countries' experience as to what is having an effect will be discussed at a conference on talent development and creativity within natural science.

A language campaign is to make the Nordic community of language and culture more visible, and make children, young people and teachers take an interest in the Scandinavian language.

On the whole, the good experience of the countries should be shared and the good examples disseminated – this also applies to practical art subjects.

Children and young people with special needs should complete their schooling and education with a good result. An analysis is to compare the special education and support schemes offered by the countries to children in basic school, and a conference is to determine which models work best.

A key point is the dropout rates from the education system, and here the Nordic countries have much to learn from each other. In various ways they try to make as many as possible complete an education. Such initiatives will be the subject of further joint work.

Vocational qualifications are to be recognised all over the Nordic countries, and the possibility of extended collaboration on professional bachelor programmes in the welfare sector is to be examined. Collaboration on lifelong learning is to be strengthened through various strategies.

As for university studies, further work should be done on Nordic master programmes, where Denmark will advocate work sharing between the Nordic countries so that small university subjects should only be taught at certain places. In addition, a conference will be held next April on profiling Nordic core strengths within higher education and research in global comparisons.

In the area of research, Denmark will cooperate closely with the other Nordic countries on profiling the role of the countries in the European research area. In this context, use will be made of the joint Nordic research excellence initiative on climate, environment and energy.

For further information, please contact:

Science Ministry: Charlotte Holst, Press Officer, tel.: +45 22 11 02 00 or chhh@vtu.dk.

Ministry of Education: Gunvor Barnholt, Special Consultant, tel.: +45 33 92 57 45, gunvor.barnholt@uvm.dk, or Ingeborg Nielsen, Press Secretary, tel.: +45 33 92 50 09, e-mail: ien@uvm.dk.