NordParamedics
NordParamedics is a Nordic higher education network dedicated to advancing paramedic education and the prehospital profession across the Nordic countries. NordParamedics has a demonstrated history of over ten years of paramedicine-focused educational activities and collaboration. Through its time, the network has strengthened international collaboration on student and faculty exchanges, as well as initiated one larger development project.
Principal investigator
Christoffer Ericsson
Senior Lecturer in Emergency Care and Educational Planner (Continued Education)
Why do we need a Nordic paramedic educational network?
Across the Nordic countries, there is currently a mix of models when it comes to paramedic education. This is mostly due to the lack of any frameworks, such as EU directives on paramedic education. The Nordic countries have developed their respective paramedic educations in five separate corners of the North, adapting to local needs and frameworks. In our changing geopolitical landscape, where Nordic countries need more collaboration, we need to be moving toward a more unified vision of paramedic professionalism.
Members of NordParamedics
Original founding members of NordParamedics are Arcada University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Oslo Metropolitan University (Norway) , and University of Borås (Sweden) .
Although NordParamedics is focused on paramedic education, we have also welcomed institutional partners who are strongly invested in bringing such an education to their own country. As such, University of Akureyri (Iceland) joined in 2018, and in September 2024, University College Absalon (Denmark)
completing a Nordic-wide representation across all five countries.
Network activities
NordParamedics has enabled student exchanges for ambulance placements across Nordic EMS (Emergency Medical Services), as well as international faculty and student mobility for educational collaborations across member institutions.
The annually organized mobility educational week, with rotating hosting institutions, further allow our network members to participate and learn about contemporary and relevant topics, such as management of mass casualty incidents, resilience and EMS preparedness, as well as participate in practical and simulation exercises. This allows not only our students the opportunity to study and train abroad, but also our teachers to network and learn from, and with each other. Future planned activities from 2026 onwards, will also include educational webinars.
European Paramedic Curriculum
In 2019, NordParamedics formed the basis for a three-year (2019-2022) Nordic development project, European Paramedic Curriculum (EPaCur). Funded by Erasmus Higher Education Collaboration, EPaCur brought together four Nordic countries with the aim of developing a unified competency framework for paramedic bachelor-level degrees across Europe, through the Nordic countries. The project was led by University of Akureyri, with Arcada, OsloMet, and EMS Copenhagen from Denmark as partners. The EPaCur project explicitly argued that the current variation in paramedic education is problematic for mobility, quality assurance, and shared professional identity.
The EPaCur project has garnered international interest and was prominently displayed (presentation and poster) at the EMS 2022 conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
NordParamedics warmly welcomes any national or international collaborations focused on developing and research of paramedic education, especially (but not exclusively) from partners within the Nordic, or European region, including the United Kingdom. However, in consideration of the current equal balance of partners across our Nordic regions, as well as logistical, administrative, and budgetary constraints, NordParamedics is not currently open to accepting any new members into the network.
Contact information
If you want to contact the network, you can do so by reaching out to any of our institutional representatives:
Christoffer Ericsson christoffer.ericsson
Jeanette Viggen Andersen jevian
Linus Backlund linus.backlund
Thomas Lynge Andersen thla
Hrafnhildur Lilja Jónsdóttir hlilja
Funded by NordPlus
NordParamedics is entirely funded by NordPlus Higher Education Programme.
The Nordplus Higher Education Programme is a mobility and network programme for the higher education sector, at bachelor and master level, open to institutions in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Åland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Its aim is to foster collaboration between participating institutions through exchanges, shared experiences, good practice and innovative results. Collaboration can take the form of network activities, intensive courses, joint study programmes, development projects, and mobility for students and academic staff.
Sustainable development goals
