Applications open for Nordplus Programmes

Deadline: 1-Feb-24

The Nordplus programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers invites Nordic and Baltic institutions and organisations working with or involved in education and training to apply for funding in the application round of 2024.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has agreed on a new, green, competitive and socially sustainable vision for the Nordic region before 2030. The intention is for the region to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world. Nordplus supports this vision by setting highlight in line with this vision.

In 2024, Nordplus welcomes applications for the programme under the theme “Enhancing Educational Cooperation for a Socially Sustainable Future”. The Nordplus highlight relates to all Nordplus programmes and to all sectors within the field of education and training.

Objectives

The general objectives for Nordplus 2023–2027 are to:
- strengthen and develop Nordic and Baltic co-operation on education, including early childhood and care, and help to create a Nordic–Baltic educational area,
- support, build on, reap the benefits of and promote innovative products and processes in education through the systematic exchange of experiences and good practice,
- contribute to the development of quality and innovation in the educational systems for lifelong learning in the participating Nordplus countries through co-operation in education and training, as well as co-operation with the labour market on development projects, exchange programmes and networking,
- enhance mobility for educational purposes and expand digital collaboration in education in the region,
- enhance opportunities for all, regardless of background and resources, to participate in regional educational collaboration and to gain new knowledge and skills based on collaboration between organisations,
- promote Nordic languages and culture and mutual Nordic-Baltic linguistic and cultural understanding,
- improve inter-Nordic language comprehension (primarily between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian), especially among children and young people,
- stimulate interest in and knowledge and understanding of the languages of the Nordic countries essential to society (Danish, Finnish, Faroese, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sami and Swedish) and Nordic sign language, and
- revitalise national minority languages in the Nordic Region for cultural and inclusive purposes.

Five Nordplus Programmes

Nordplus Junior
- Nordplus Junior gives contributions to school’s strategic quality work through partnerships between schools in the Nordic and Baltic countries. All activities aim at strengthening and developing collaboration and includes everything from minor ventures with a focus on the process and the actual exchange of experiences, to major development projects with the aim of developing new ideas, methods and ways of working. It may also include exchanges of individual participants – for example continuing professional development for teachers and staff, or transnational pupil cooperation closely connected to curricula in order to enhance student achievement.
- Target groups for the programme are kindergartens/preschools, primary schools, lower and upper secondary schools, vocational schools and apprentice programmes, and other organisations within the educational field.
Nordplus Higher Education
- Nordplus Higher Education awards grants to higher education cooperation with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and other actors in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as the autonomous regions of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Grants may be awarded for networking activities, intensive courses, joint study programmes, development projects and mobility of students and academic staff.
- The goal is to enhance the collaboration between the actors within higher education and with working life. The dissemination of good praxis and innovative results is important. The programme supports also academic mobility and work placements of high quality.
Nordplus Adult
- Nordplus Adult includes all parts of adult learning – formal, non-formal and informal learning, whether in the context of general, liberal or vocational education in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
- The programme should be a catalyst for the development of the sector through grants for mobility, establishment of networks and project collaboration. It is crucial that a project involves organisations with knowledge, expertise and experience that can be of mutual benefit in the partnership.
- The programme supports initiatives that improve the quality of adult education and learning, meet new learner needs or test new organisational forms and teaching methods. In practice, the programme is open to a wide range of themes and subject areas. Most importantly, each partnership should be based on the current challenges and needs that adult education institutions and organisations face in their daily work.
Nordplus Horizontal Programme
- Nordplus Horizontal awards grants for cross-sectoral projects and network activities in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Any institutions and organisations working with education and lifelong learning may apply, and projects may also involve partners outside the field of education.
- A grant application for project and network activities from Nordplus Horizontal must involve participants from at least three Nordic and/or Baltic countries. A further prerequisite is that the application must involve participants from at least two sectors. Accordingly, the programme is open to participation from institutions and organisations such as enterprises, public and private sector organisations, labour market organisations and various administrative entities in addition to institutions and organisations involved in education at any level. Nordplus Horizontal is flexible in the sense that grants are available for a number of educational activities, ranging from conferences to major development projects.
Nordplus Nordic Languages
- Nordplus Nordic Languages provides grants to institutions and organisations in the field of Nordic languages in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The programme is aimed at all levels of education and is open for institutions, organisations and actors interested in working with or, promoting the Nordic language.
- Nordplus Nordic Languages should stimulate interest in, and knowledge and understanding of the languages of the Nordic countries essential to society which are Danish, Finnish, Faroese, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Sami, Nordic sign language and official minority languages in the Nordic countries.
- In particular, the programme puts focus on activities that improve language comprehension of the Nordic languages among children and young people, primarily Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The programme places a strong emphasis on projects that seek to develop materials, methods, and strategies for improving comprehension of the Nordic languages within the educational system.

Funding Information

Nordplus Junior
- Administrative grant for project management is only granted to projects with a budget exceeding 15 000€.
Nordplus Higher Education
- Nordplus grants should be seen as a contribution towards the actual cost of activities in the participating countries. The maximum grant for each project is 100 000 euro. The same project may receive renewal funding in three calls in a row, hence in total 300 000 €. The same course can also be funded three times in a row.
Nordplus Adult
- An average grant for a two-year Nordplus Adult collaboration project involving three or four partners is 50.000 €.
Nordplus Horizontal programme
- For applications granted 15,000 euro or less, 100% of the funds are paid after the contract has been signed.
Nordplus Nordic Languages
- For applications granted 15,000 euro or less, 100% of the funds are paid after the contract has been signed.

Target Groups

Nordplus is aimed at all educational sectors and organisations and institutions involved in learning and education. Only institutions or organisations can apply in Nordplus – you cannot apply as an individual.
Only applicants from the Nordic countries – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – and the autonomous regions of Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which act as independent countries in Nordplus, are eligible for grants. Institutions placed outside the Nordic and Baltic countries are not eligible for funding from the programme but can participate in Nordplus projects if they cover their own expenses.

What can you apply for?

Nordplus Junior
- The organisations can apply for funding through the Nordplus Junior programme to conduct activities in the following areas:
  - Mobility activities: preparatory visits, study visits, class exchanges, teacher exchanges and exchanges of educational/academic staff.
  - Project activities: project partnerships for example, on quality assurance, dissemination of project results, the development and improvement of educational methods and syllabus development.
Nordplus Higher Education
- Nordplus Higher Education supports network cooperation, intensive courses, development projects and joint study programmes as well as student and teacher mobility in universities and university colleges.
- Support can be granted for e.g. innovative development projects, joint curriculum planning, dissemination and use of results achieved by networks and projects, quality assurance, language training and establishment of new networks.
Nordplus Adult
- Nordplus Adult supports both mobility and collaboration projects of various types.
- Mobility grants are aimed at the exchange of adult learners, teachers, managers and others with responsibility for adult learning. Nordplus Adult also offers grants for preparatory visits aiming at the preparation of applications for future deadlines of the programme.
- Grants for collaboration projects are aimed at e.g. establishing transnational networks of adult learning organisations exchanging knowledge and experience within a joint theme. Furthermore, Nordplus Adult offers grants for development projects aiming at joint courses, teaching materials, concepts and methods as well as grants for mapping projects aimed at studies, analyses and collection of data within adult learning across the Nordic/Baltic countries.
- Nordic Network for Adult Learning – is a programme under the Nordic Council of Ministers. The network is a forum for Nordic adult learning organisations and disseminates information about projects within adult education and learning, including Nordplus Adult initiatives.
Nordplus Horizontal
- Nordplus Horizontal can support several kinds of activities, such as workshops, seminars, conferences, production of educational material, establishing courses, dissemination and exploitation of results and experiences within the field of education, or projects building on and expanding other Nordplus projects.
- Nordplus Horizontal supports most activities for cooperation within education, except individual mobility. Individual mobility can be supported within one of the other Nordplus programmes.
Nordplus Nordic Languages
- The programme supports a wide variety of project ideas related to Nordic languages and /or networks that work within the area of Nordic languages. Note that regular student/class/teacher mobility is generally not supported. Examples of activities receiving support are; development of methods for including Nordic language learning in schools, cooperation on development of school curricula concerning the position of the Nordic languages in the school systems, projects on information to the general population, research projects, conferences/seminars, dictionary and terminology projects, publications, language technology projects, development and publication of educational aid and teaching materials and development projects and other activities focusing on the development and improvement of pedagogical and didactic methods.

Eligibility Criteria

Nordplus Junior
- Nordplus Junior is aimed at preschools, primary and secondary schools, both theoretical and vocational programmes, as well as vocational schools/apprenticeships. Extended schools in arts and culture that are part of a national or regional school syllabus may apply as coordinators.
- Organisations that work with or have strong interests in compulsory education in the Nordic and Baltic countries may participate as partners.
- Pupils, teachers and other educational staff may participate.
Nordplus Higher Education
- The Nordplus Higher Education Programme is aimed at universities and university colleges in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The minimum requirement for a network and partnership is that they consist of at least three institutions from three different participating countries.
- Individuals cannot apply for grants directly from the Nordplus administration but they can participate in the activities via their home institutions.
Nordplus Adult
- All types of institutions and organisations working with adult education and learning can participate in Nordplus Adult. The participating organisations and institutions should be able to contribute with experience and knowledge from adult learning and be interested in learning from other organisations and institutions in the field – to the benefit of adult learning and adult learners.
- The target group of the programme is institutions and organisations offering learning to adults and institutions involved in adult teacher education, guidance counsellor education, education for adults with special needs and institutions working with research, studies and analyses in adult learning.
Nordplus Horizontal
- Nordplus Horizontal targets all institutions, organisations and other actors working within education and lifelong learning.
- An application for support to projects or network activities from the Nordplus Horizontal programme must involve at least two sectors. This might be sectors within the educational system, for example between higher education and the school sector, or between organisations, institutions and companies across the public and private sectors, given that they are applying for cooperation within education and lifelong learning.
Nordplus Nordic Languages
- The programme is open for all institutions, organizations and other actors. Both private and public, who are interested in working with or promoting the Nordic languages. Such as universities and research institutions, NGOs, associations and societies, private companies and others. The programme is open to both the Nordic and Baltic countries and an application must represent at least two different participating countries/areas, i.e. one coordinating institution/organization and at least one partner.
- The application must be in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or English.

For more information, visit Nordic Council of Ministers.