Academisation of Nursing Education in the Nordic Countries

Overview & Synopsis

Nursing Science represents a new academic discipline in the Nordic Countries. The article focuses on the academisation of nursing education and the development of nursing to a specific discipline in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The education of nurses has developed within the national framework of each country, but not within a national vacuum. The theoretical framework is based on the sociology of the profession and methodological solutions lean on comparative and content analysis of text documents. This article argues that successful professional projects are not always primarily results of professional groups' struggles. In the case of Nordic nurses the realisation of their academisation project in the 1970s and 1980s has been due to efforts of individual nurses and their associations as well as the guidance of international organisations. However, in the final analysis reforms in the higher education system have made possible the implementation of the academisation project.