1.8 Cross-border cooperation
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Cooperation with European countries
Denmark participates in a wide range of international fora at both the Nordic and the European level:
The Nordic Child and Youth Committee (NORDBUK) is the Nordic Council of Ministers’ advisory and co-ordinating body for matters relating to young people. NORDBUK’s programme aims to encourage young people’s own organisation, influence, and participation in democratic processes and to strengthen a Nordic identity among this cohort of Nordic societies. Grants may be awarded to organisations, networks, and other groups working with young people at local, national, and regional levels.
Nordic Council of Ministers – Education and Research (MR-U) has established a Nordic cooperation within education and research to help the Nordic Region retain a leading position as a knowledge and skills region. The youth dimension concentrates on promoting Nordic synergies in upper secondary and vocational education.
Nordic Language coordination takes place within the Nordic Council with the purpose to improve Nordic young people’s understanding of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish by promoting teaching in Nordic languages. A bilateral agreement exist between Iceland and Denmark, the Danish-Icelandic cooperation (PRD) with the aim to strengthen the teaching of Danish in Iceland.
Nordic Cooperation on upper secondary educations, Nordplus, is a collaboration between Denmark and the other four Nordic countries together with Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands and the three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on programs for mobility and networking in the field of education. The participants are institutions, organizations and others who work with education and lifelong learning. Since 2004 an agreement between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden has made free mobility possible for students on upper secondary education.
The Nordic countries have established a comprehensive cooperation in the field of higher education. The Nordic Master Programme is a Nordic cooperation that allows three universities in the Nordic countries to create a joint master degree, and the Nordic cooperation on higher education is an agreement where the Nordic countries undertake a reciprocal obligation to grant applicants domiciled in another Nordic country admission to their respective public courses of higher education on the same or equivalent terms as applicants from their own countries.
In the wider neighbourhood, the Council of the Baltic Sea States was established in 1992. It is a regional cooperation between Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Russia, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. In a youth perspective, the cooperation fosters youth participation and representation in institutions and decision-making processes in the Baltic Sea Region through intergenerational dialogue on topics affecting young people. Main measures are the Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue and the Baltic Sea Youth Platform project, and most recent the Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum (BSRYF). The council hosts the website Baltic Sea Youth.
In a European context, Denmark participates in a wide area of educational cooperation.
Within the EU, the Minister for Youth and Education is the Danish representative in the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council (Youth and education).
Denmark participates in National Europass Centres and hosts a local office. The objective of the Europass network is transparency, mobility, and mutual recognition of vocational skills across European countries.
As part of the Lisbon process, Denmark participates in the ENIC and NARIC networks and hosts a national information centre. The objective of the two European networks is to provide information about and the recognition of qualifications within higher education. Furthermore, the Bologna Process, or the European Higher Education Area, EHEA, is an intergovernmental European cooperation to facilitate comparability and mobility within higher education. Finally, the Copenhagen Process is a European cooperation to strengthen recognition, transparency, and mobility within European vocational educations.
Denmark is a founding member of the Council of Europe, which hosts a special youth department. Furthermore, the council has adopted a Youth Sector Strategy 2030. However no specific information about the Danish involvement in the youth field is available.
In the area of health, Denmark cooperates within the organisations the EU and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Within social affairs, the Ministry Social Affairs, Housing and Senior Citizens cooperates within Nordic Council of Ministers and the organisations in the EU, such as the European Council meetings on social affairs (the EPSCO Council), and committees such as The Social Protection Committee (SPC). Furthermore, together with the Ministry of Employment, cooperation is concerning the internal mobility of EU citizens and their rights.
In the Council of Europe, the Ministry participates in working parties concerning social affairs.
European and Nordic cultural cooperation takes place in all areas of cultural policy, such as sports, copyright, art, cultural heritage, film and media within the EU and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
International cooperation
Denmark participates in international cooperation. Each ministry has its own portfolio of international cooperation. In the area of health, the ministry cooperates within the organisations the UN, WHO, OECD. In the OECD, the Ministry participates in the work on social affairs.
Within the field of employment, the Ministry cooperates within the ILO on worker’s rights, and within the OECD, where the Ministry represents Denmark in the Labour Market and Social Committee (ELSAC), the Working Group on Labour Market Relations (WP5), and it contributes to annual publication "Employment Outlook".
International cultural cooperation takes place in all areas of cultural policy, such as sports, copyright, art, cultural heritage, film and media. The cooperation takes place both between Denmark and one or more countries and via cooperation in international organizations such as UNESCO.
In the field of education, Denmark participates in a range of international studies and evaluations in the area of education: OECD, TALIS, PISA-PIAAC, PISA, PIRLS, ICCS, TIMSS, ICILS. Furthermore, a bilateral cooperation agreement between Denmark and China has been negotiated on the mutual recognition of academic degrees in higher education.
The ASEM dialogue (Asia-Europe Meeting) is an intergovernmental process established in 1996 to foster dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe. ASEM addresses political, economic, financial, social, cultural, and educational issues of common interest.
In the UN, the Ministry Social Affairs, Housing and Senior Citizens is responsible for tasks relating to the conventions on human rights (especially the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child).