This paper contributes to the theoretical debate over a global upsurge in higher education (HE) regionalisms which pursue different region-building processes and create policy spaces beyond national boundaries. Focusing on the Nordic countries, the paper studies parallel processes of intra-Nordic and European HE and research cooperation. Although…

Europe is, in many ways, of central importance to discussions about higher education. Various European initiatives, such as the Bologna Process and the Erasmus mobility programme, have had a direct and material impact on the shape and nature of higher education across the continent. They have also been linked to wider political objectives, such as…

The article deals with the validation of the internationalization imperative in higher education institutions (HEIs) of the Nordic countries. I focus on both the goals and motives behind activities supporting internationalization, but also on the manner of their habitualization and institutionalization in the practice of academic administration…

The Bologna Process was an attempt to build and coordinate OECD countries' higher education systems through, "inter alia," strategic public investment. The Lisbon Strategy 2000-2010 was a continuation of the Bologna process that also highlighted the coordination of education and research based on market-based funding models. Similarly,…

The paper addresses the current lack of emerging technology education in both research and practice and the urgent need for preparing future generations for a digital future. Based on a two-year participatory design process with Danish researchers and pioneer teachers, the article presents outcomes on the collaborative development of…

This article explores new nationalisms as part of the conflicting political interactions constituting the post-Cold war governance arrangements in higher education. Drawing on policy documents, archival sources and interviews and against the backdrop of a historical perspective on the university and the EU's role as an education actor, the article…

Shifting from a traditional lecture-based teaching approach to a student-centred approach, such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL), demands significant changes in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). It requires changes for teachers, students, institutional management, and even the physical learning environment. Once a university is not designed…

Intergovernmental regional cooperation is one of the defining characteristics of political Europe. This article investigates it in the area of higher education and research. Specifically it explores what types of intergovernmental regional alliances exist and to what extent their member countries coordinate their higher education and research…

This article studies issues of coloniality in so-called capacity-building projects between universities in Africa and Scandinavia. Even fifty years after independence, the African higher education landscape is a product of the colonial powers and subsequent uneven power relations, as argued by a number of researchers. The uneven geography and…

The educational field is traditionally characterized by a distinction between general and special education in educational practice, theory and research. Especially in cross-professional collaborative processes related to inclusion, it becomes evident that the professionals represent different perspectives and positions with different roles,…

This paper, based on the Praxis Lecture I delivered at the National Association of Kinesiology in Higher Education Conference in January 2024, articulates how my experiences at a Danish gymnastic folkehøjskole (folk high school) and højskole pedagogy inform my teaching and service. After defining højskole pedagogy, I discuss how I incorporate its…

Australia's system of vocational education and training (VET) is based on the principle of partnerships between key stakeholders: governments (Commonwealth, state and territory), training providers, employers and employees. Industry representation and governance in the VET sector in Australia has undergone several transformations in the past, and…

This report offers insight into a reflective and critical practitioner's role in carefully planning an environment that reflects young children's need for independence. Education as an agent of liberation is the key to the child obtaining that freedom and achieving independence. It is argued that liberation can only be achieved when an effective…

This chapter traces how national teacher education policy discourse in Denmark and Sweden is being transformed by opaque, albeit often inclusive, processes in transnational policy forums, such as the Bologna Process, OECD, and EU. This is facilitated by "soft law" surrounding the imagined needs of modern nations, if they are to succeed…

This article is based on a school experiment of three local makerspaces that connected and turned into a global makerspace online. The three municipal schools were from Australia, United Kingdom and Denmark and participated in "the Global Makerspace project," which was a part of the European Union project "Makerspaces in the early…