A BENCHMARKING EXERCISE USING THE NORDIC MODEL OF HIGHER EDUCATION, THE POWERHOUSE TO A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

This study focuses on the Nordic Model in education, considered to be the powerhouse of the successful transition of the Nordic countries to the knowledge economy. We achieved an analysis of the scientific literature on educational policy in the Nordic countries, identifying and describing a core of common educational policies and practices for higher education, namely a "Nordic Model" for higher education. This first step was continued with a benchmarking exercise, analyzing the performances of the Romanian higher education policies comparatively to the Nordic Model, considered to be the best practice, as benchmarking is an important development tool in the EU, a simple, yet efficient means of progress. The choice of the Nordic countries for a benchmarking exercise was based upon the World Bank studies on the transition towards a knowledge economy that designated the Nordic countries to be in the top five on a global level and assessed the great performances of these countries from the perspective of the educational pillar, considered essential for the development of a knowledge economy. The research method is the analysis of secondary sources of information and data. The sources selected for this analysis are sound and reliable - international policy documents, official statistical data, research studies of international bodies.