Nordic-Baltic Co-operation in Social Work Researcher Education: A Finnish Perspective on the Impact of Scientific, Historical and Linguistic Similarities and Differences

Abstract

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Nordic and Baltic universities became engaged in researcher education co-operation in social work. Finland as a bilingual country (Finnish/Swedish) also shares a long common Nordic history of social policy development, especially with Sweden, but it also could now re-activate its special relationship with Estonia, due to the closeness of the Finnish and Estonian languages. Based on written material, personal experiences and interviews with some key players in the development of Nordic-Baltic researcher education co-operation initiated by Finland, this chapter explores the scientific prerequisites for and benefits of joint efforts in Nordic-Baltic researcher education and the impact of various scientific, historical and linguistic similarities and differences between the countries involved. The ultimate goal is to thereby contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of developing social work research and education in the Nordic-Baltic region as an example of the relevance of linguistic and historical differences and similarities.