Nordic Fields of Higher Education

About the network

Higher education has today become one of the most important political areas. Each nation’s ability to compete in an increasingly globalized and competitive world economy is seen as more and more dependent upon the performance and the quality of its higher education system. Substantial investments are made to expand the systems, and in many countries 50 percent of the young population enters tertiary education. In an international perspective the higher education systems in the Nordic countries hold a unique position in this regard with widespread student grants and lack of tuition fees. Furthermore, efforts are made to make the systems work more efficiently and increase their competitiveness. The Bologna process is one key example, putting emphasis on national and international mobility of students and scholars as means for improving the quality of higher education in Europe, and thus strengthening its position in the global competition for students and excellence. As a consequence of the expansion of the national higher educational systems and the increased internationalization, the systems have become far more complex and less transparent.  

All this points at an increasing need for research on the higher educational systems. The  network Nordic Fields of Higher Education will enforce, support and further develop ongoing research in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland on recruitment patterns to higher education and student mobility drawing on large scale data registers and surveys. It is of particular importance to support and facilitate research that explores the higher education systems within these relatively homogenous welfare states. Internationally, this will strengthen the impact of Nordic research in this area, allowing for the particulars of Nordic higher education systems to be given a more prominent position.  

A strong Nordic network would also be able to more closely connect the larger research milieus to each other and to function as a much needed setting for researchers that at the present do not form part of a larger research milieu. The research network has the objectives to:  
* improve the infrastructure for research by means of conferences, workshops and visits,
* strengthen the PhD-education through relevant commune courses and workshops,
* increase the visibility of the research area by conferences, webpages and joint publications,
* prepare for further expansion of the research area through joint applications of comparative research.