The Nordic Council of Ministers' Secretariat in Copenhagen is responsible for the administration of co-operation between the Nordic governments on a day-to-day basis.

The Department of Education and Welfare carries out preparatory work on the issues processed by the:

• Council of Ministers for Education and Research
• Council of Ministers for Health and Social Affairs
• and the associated committees of senior officials.

The department is also responsible for following up decisions taken by these Councils of Ministers and the committees of senior officials.

This work contributes to promoting the Nordic Region as a leading knowledge, innovation and IT area, which strives to achieve an efficient social and health sector and enhanced Nordic linguistic understanding.

Examples of the concrete projects and institutions are the school exchange programme Nordplus, research co-operation under the auspices of Nordforsk, Nordic Master Programmes at several Nordic universities and institutions such as the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues and the Nordic School of Public Health.

Key themes

• Development of the Nordic Research and Innovation Area, NORIA, including the Nordic Top-level Research Initiative and co-operation on e-science.
• The globalisation projects “The furtherance of higher education”, including marketing the Nordic Region as an attractive place for education and training and “Excellence training for young people and adults” including the Nordic Learning and Dialogue forum.
• Developing the globalisation project Health and Welfare.