The GNU project establishes cross-border cooperation between 9 Nordic schools and 18 school classes, who will jointly plan and carry out joint cross-border education in the subjects of language, science, history /social studies and mathematics supported by new technologies.

Specifically, a series of virtual "Nordic classes", will be established, where Swedish, Norwegian and Danish students are taught simultaneously by a common group of Nordic teachers. The project establishes a cooperation between educational institutions and students from the ÖKS-region and develops exemplary models for a practical cross-border study community that will support integration between the Nordic countries' school systems and inspire other educational institutions and levels to develop cross-border education, which may contribute to Nordic young people feeling that it is natural to study and work in other Nordic countries.

The project focuses on both mental and formal barriers for increasing daily integration in the Nordic countries' school systems and generates exemplary and realistic models that:

1. Reduce the formal barriers in education integration,
2. Establish a concrete and binding cooperation between students and teachers from the Nordic countries ,
3. Develop joint Nordic courses that professionally help to increase students' knowledge of Nordic culture and history thereby strengthening a common Nordic identity and generally enhancing integration throughout the ÖKS area.

The project builds on previous experience with a Nordic school cooperation which has been prominent in a number of years through the Nordic Council. A number of Nordic schools have participated in various cooperation projects including friendship projects, mutual visits and more. However, impact and a general spillover to a broader group of schools has been limited, as geographical, cultural, linguistic and economic barriers are a major challenge for the Nordic schools. It has therefore been difficult to develop projects that could be implemented more permanently in specific subjects in the three countries' school systems. New digital technologies in the form of IWB, wireless web connections at schools, webcams, mobile technologies, Web 2.0 media, various types of cloud technologies, assistive digital tools and especially the integration of IT in a number of school subjects have opened up new opportunities to establish a specific educational cooperation between the Nordic schools, that can promote cross-border integration between the Nordic countries' education systems.

The GNU project will develop new knowledge about how to realize a broader vision of  cross-border Nordic educational cooperation in a concrete and practical manner, making it  possible at various levels, from elementary to university level, to combine training with modules from various Nordic countries without having to travel to another country. The project puts direct focus on the Interreg programme’s objective of creating conditions and structures in primary education that formally and mentally can motivate Nordic students to continue their studies and / or work in another Nordic country. The development of cross-border parallel teaching forms supported by new technologies in primary education is seen as a pioneering project that can inspire others to develop a common Nordic infrastructure in education supported by advanced - but today accessible and relatively cheap information and communication technologies. At a general level the project will pave the way for closer educational cooperation between the Nordic countries and hereby on the long-term nurturing and promoting a Nordic mobility among young people while supporting youth employment opportunities in the Nordic countries, which will promote the development of a more functionally integrated labor market between the Nordic countries.

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