Deadline: 1-Feb-23
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 2023.
Each year, Nordplus awards around 9,8 million euro in funding for mobility, projects, and networks. Nordplus is a mobility and network programme for education in the Nordic and Baltic countries, including the autonomous regions of Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Nordplus is the largest educational programme within the Nordic Council of Ministers and funded by the Nordic and Baltic countries.
In 2023 and 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. The concept of “social sustainability” entails all aspects of the issue from for example health equity and human rights to cultural competence and community resilience. Integrated with this theme is also the Nordic competitiveness based on knowledge, innovation, mobility, and digital integration.
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.
Sub-Programmes
Nordplus consists of five sub-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.
- 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
- 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 languages.
- 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.
- Other thematic areas and activities covered by the programme include methods of teaching neighbouring languages in schools, development of teaching plans for Nordic languages in the school systems, second language learning in adult education, language technology projects, development and publication of learning and teaching materials, and other activities that focus on improving educational and didactical methods in relation to the Nordic languages.
- Nordplus Nordic Languages only supports activities that aim to improve the comprehension of another Nordic language than the Nordic mother tongue of a given target group. However, Nordplus Nordic Languages also supports projects aimed at language learning of Nordic languages for new inhabitants of the Nordic countries, e.g. immigrants and refugees. The programme also supports projects that aim to revitalise national minority languages in the Nordic Region.
Funding Information
- Nordplus Junior
- For mobility project with a budget over 15 000€ there will be a grant for project management.
- Nordplus Higher Education
- Grants for mobility, network and project activities are allocated for a fixed contract period that starts on 15 May and ends on 1 October the following year.
- Nordplus Adult
- Grants from Nordplus Adult are based on fixed unit costs for different types of expenses connected to the applied activity. Grants from Nordplus are contributions to project expenses, and all participating organisations must therefore expect some degree of co-financing.
- An average grant for a two-year Nordplus Adult collaboration project involving three or four partners is 50.000 €. For applications granted less than 15.000 €, 100% of the funds are paid after the contract has been signed.
- Nordplus Horizontal
- Nordplus Horizontal does not define a maximum allocation limit, preferring instead to let the applicants themselves define their need for funding for any given project. However, applicants must note that Nordplus Horizontal has a limited budget and that approximately EUR 1 million is awarded in total annually.
- For applications granted 15,000 euro or less, 100% of the funds are paid after the contract has been signed.
- Nordplus Nordic Languages
- Nordplus Nordic Languages does not define a maximum allocation limit for Project Activities or Extraordinary Project activities, preferring instead to let the applicants themselves define their need for funding for any given project. However, applicants should note that Nordplus Nordic Languages has a limited budget and approximately EUR 0,6 million is awarded in total annually.
- For applications granted 15,000 euro or less, 100% of the funds are paid after the contract has been signed. The grant is paid to the project or network coordinator responsible for the funds throughout the contract period.
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.
Eligibility Criteria
- Nordplus Junior
- All Nordic and Baltic countries are eligible to apply. In order to receive a Nordplus Junior grant all activities must take place in one or more of the eight participating countries or in the autonomous regions of Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
- The target groups of Nordplus Junior are pupils, teachers and other pedagogical staff in:
- Kindergarten/preschools (for children from 1 years and older)
- Primary schools
- Lower and upper secondary schools (general and vocational)
- Vocational schools/apprentice programmes
- Culture schools
- Organisations and institutions working with or having strong interests in the area of school education, e.g. Departments for Education. However, these may only participate as partners
- Nordplus Higher Education
- Nordplus Higher Education’s target groups are students studying for a degree on bachelor or master level, academic and other staff in HEIs and other actors working with or having a strong interest within higher education.
- The minimum requirement for a network and project partnership is that they consist of at least three institutions from three different countries. Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland are regarded as countries in the programme.
- As an exception, if the application consists only of mobility activities, a bilateral collaboration with a sending and a hosting institution can be eligible. A coordinating institution must be appointed as responsible for the application and the financing granted for the entire contract period. The coordinating institution is thus also responsible for the final report on behalf of all the network/project partnership.
- Nordplus Adult
- Nordplus Adult comprises a broad and diverse sector and is open to all types of organisations engaged in the field of adult education and learning in the eight participating countries and the three autonomous regions.
- Examples of organisation and institution types that can apply to Nordplus Adult are:
- Educational institutions for adult learners, including institutions with adult educator/ mentor programmes, institutions involved in special needs education for adults and research-based institutions with experience and expertise in adult learning
- Other organisations, including associations, public authorities, businesses, cultural institutions (e.g. museums and libraries) and non-governmental organisations working with adult education and adult learning in informal and non-formal settings
- Nordplus Horizontal
- Nordplus Horizontal is aimed at institutions and organisations in the eight participating countries and the three autonomous regions that mainly work in the education and lifelong learning sectors. A Nordplus Horizontal application for project and network activities must involve partners from at least two sectors. They may be sectors within the education system, e.g. partnerships between institutions in higher education and schools (pre-schools and kindergartens as well), or between organisations, institutions and businesses across the public, private and/or voluntary sectors, provided that the project applied for is an education partnership.
- The activities should involve a minimum of three partners from three different participating countries. The programme does not offer support for individual mobility, be it pupils, students, teachers or staff, unless such travel is linked to project and network activities.
- Nordplus Nordic Languages
- Nordplus Nordic Languages is aimed at institutions and organisations in the eight Nordic and Baltic countries and the three autonomous regions.
- Applications may be written in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or English.
- All organisations within the Nordic language area can participate in Nordplus Nordic Languages such as:
- Pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, adult education institutions, universities and research institutions
- Organisations and associations
- NGOs and other informal learning arenas
- Networks
- Private companies
For more information, visit Nordplus.