This is a question that Denmark wants to bring into focus while holding the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2010. That is why the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in cooperation with the Ministry of Education are hosting a conference on Thursday the 15th of April 2010 at Danish Design Centre, Copenhagen.

With the launch of the Nordic globalisation initiative in 2007, the Nordic Council of Ministers highlighted the importance of knowledge and innovation for the ability of the Nordic countries to attract talent and maintain progress and growth.

Along with the rest of Europe and other regions, the Nordic countries are part of a global reputation race where we compete for knowledge and those who possess it, and where everyone seeks to describe and promote their own positions of strength internationally.

Making visible Nordic quality and positions of strength within education and research is a major factor influencing the competitiveness of the Nordic countries in the competition for the best students and researchers on the global market for knowledge.

But what is the best strategy for promoting Nordic the high Nordic quality?

Today rankings are increasingly used to assess and make visible the results of higher education institutions. However, in international comparisons it can be difficult to document and, thus, promote the diverse Nordic institutions as well as the different types of excellence.

Taking a point of departure in European developments, the objective of the conference is to discuss the international promotion of Nordic quality as well as classification and ranking in a Nordic perspective.

• How do we maintain the strength of a diverse institutional landscape?
• How do we document and market the high quality of Nordic education and research?
• How can the new European models for classification and ranking contribute to the promotion of Nordic higher education and research?
• Can good arguments be found in favour of a Nordic involvement in the European development projects on classification and ranking?
• How can the conference serve as a point of departure for a future, joint Nordic effort within this field?
   

These are some of the questions that the conference aspires to find potential answers to.

Deadline for applications is March 25th.

Michael Funch
Phone +45 33960332
Email mifu@norden.org