History of NOCIES

NOCIES has its roots in a 1990 Comparative Education Society in Europe conference in Madrid, where a group of Nordic scholars met and decided to

create a local society. By 1992, they had arranged a founding general assembly and a Nordic comparative conference, at which an official name and constitution were developed.

Since 1994 NOCIES has been a member of the World Council of Comparative Education, whose members are very active in the field of comparative education by, for example, organising new courses in comparative education at several Nordic universities. NOCIES has also hosted a number of smaller seminars including participants from inside and outside Scandinavia, and published a newsletter.

In May 2007, the group adopted a new definition of comparative education to meet the challenge of the reorganisation of higher education in the Nordic countries. The new definition is that comparative education is 1) inclusive: international education includes comparative studies, education abroad, international education and development education; 2) it is an academic and critical discipline with specific research methodologies; and 3) it is a teaching discipline at institutions of higher education.