The heterogeneity of the Nordic journalism education models: The ‘academic’ and the ‘professional’ in the bachelor’s curricula

This article conducts a comparison of the curricula in bachelor’s programmes in journalism in the Nordic countries. Typically, the journalism education in the Nordic countries has been assumed to share many similarities due to a shared media system, societal ideology and cultural homogeneity. The analysis examines the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish curricula in terms of their orientations towards the academic and the professional traditions and goals. It is found that the Nordic journalism education inhabits a heterogeneity that does not fit into a single model; instead, bigger differences in integrating the academic and professional orientations can be seen within the countries rather than between them. The most significant inter-national differences can be found in the role of the final thesis and courses in methodology as well as in the length of the internship. It is suggested that the diversity reflects the increasing diversity and heterogeneity of the profession.