Nursing education in Sweden: development from vocational training to higher level education

Recent decades have seen several changes within Swedish nursing education. The length of Swedish nursing education was previously 2 years; today, however, it has been adapted to the rules laid down by the European Union, which means that it covers 3 years. Swedish nursing education was raised to university college level as early as 1977; however, it is only in recent years that the education can be said to meet the requirements placed on it. The requirement that the education should be scientifically based entails that the teaching staff should include teachers not only with nursing experience but also with a doctor's degree in nursing. The county councils are the authorities responsible for nursing education with the exception of three university colleges of nursing education which are independent. During the past year, however, seven nursing programmes have gone over to State control, and several more are discussing co-operation. A central evaluation made of Swedish university colleges of nursing education shows that 10 colleges provided education which could not be considered to correspond to the required level of higher education. No university college of nursing education has yet been accorded the right to provide education for the bachelor's degree. The future of the Swedish nurse is uncertain due to a large extent to the reorganization that has taken place within the health services.