Nordic Council of Ministers

The Nordic Council of Ministers is a partnership between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.

The Nordic Council of Ministers was established in 1971. The presidency of the Council, which is held for a term of one year, alternates between the five Nordic countries. The country holding the presidency of the council sets out a programme to guide the Nordic partnership for that year.

Cases are prepared and followed up by the various Nordic committees of officials, comprising officials from the various Nordic countries.

The Secretariat to the Nordic Council of Ministers is based in Copenhagen, where it is co-housed with the Nordic Council – the forum for Nordic parliamentary cooperation.

Although only the Nordic countries and territories are members of the Nordic Council of Ministers, the organisation also has an extensive partnership with Russia and the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, not least in the fields of education and research.

Education and research at the Nordic Council of Ministers

Cooperation between the Nordic governments in the fields of education and research takes place under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research. Cooperation takes place in the following areas:

• Educational partnerships and adult education
• Higher education and research
• Nordic language cooperation
• Communication and information technology

The Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research is intended to promote the Nordic countries as a knowledge and skills region and aims to establish the Nordic countries as a continuous and dynamic education, research and innovation region and to achieve maximum added value and strength for the region.

"Avdeling for utdanning, forsking og arbeidsliv i sekretariatet" is responsible for the day to day running of education and research cooperation at the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic Council of Ministers also finances Nordforsk, a Nordic cooperation institution for research and researcher training.

Programmes and schemes

SIU also manages the following programmes and schemes on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers:

• Nordic Master Programme
• Nordplus Framework Programme (coordinator)
• Nordplus Horizontal
• Promotion of Nordic Higher Education and Research
• Nordic-Russian cooperation in education and research