HOVFEL24024 Digitalisation and interdisciplinary collaboration in health and welfare - Comparative Welfare Systems (Spring 2026)

• Bachelor in Child Welfare
• Bachelor in Nursing
• Bachelor in Social Educator Training
• Bachelor in Social Work
• Bachelor in Work and Welfare Studies

The course is open for international students within the same bachelor programmes.

This course explores the dynamic world of digitalisation and interdisciplinary collaboration within health and welfare services. Students will be introduced to various topics and critical perspectives on digitalisation. We will explore the use of digital technologies such as e-health, artificial intelligence (AI), welfare technologies and robotisation in interdisciplinary contexts. We will also investigate how to foster a just and equal distribution of health and welfare services through digitalisation and interprofessional collaboration.

In the last section of the course, we will go deeper into critical understandings on the current debates on the challenges in the welfare state. Furthermore, we will explore differences and similarities between different welfare systems. Ethical dilemmas related to political priorities will be thoroughly thematised and discussed.

The course aims to equip students with an overall understanding of the complexities and opportunities in the fields of digitalisation, interprofessional collaboration and knowledge about different welfare systems with emphasis on the Nordic modell. This will be achieved through critical analysis of recent research and authentic examples presented in lectures and seminars.

Central topics covered:

• Digitalisation and innovation within health and welfare services
• E-health, artificial intelligence (AI), digital tools and welfare technologies
• Digitalisation in the context of inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination
• Critical perspectives on digitalisation
• Collaborative organisation of services in the context of digitalisation
• Outcomes from interprofessional collaboration
• Interdisciplinary conflicts and power dynamics/ interactions
• Welfare systems
• Current debates on the challenges in the welfare state
• Different systems ways of dealing with challenges
• Digitalisation and inclusion, equality and non- discrimination
• The future of welfare

• The following users are emphasized in the module:

  • Children and young people
  • People who misuse drugs and people who experience mental health issues
  • People who have experienced violence and sexual abuse

Knowledge

The student

• has broad knowledge about the organisation, opportunities and challenges in interdisciplinary, interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration.
• has knowledge about different perspectives on digitalisation and coordination and organisation of health and welfare services
• has knowledge about ways of coordinating services, and work practices
• has knowledge about how digitalisation of services can influence inclusion, equality and non-discrimination, in relation to gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and age
• has knowledge about different welfare systems with emphasis on the Nordic model
• has knowledge about division of responsibility and labour in welfare provision, including the roles of voluntary and commercial agencies
• can acquire updated knowledge relating to current debates on the development of the welfare state

Skills

The student

• can utilise scientific and professional knowledge to initiate and contribute to interdisciplinary, interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration
• can identify research literature, and evaluate the use of technology and digital solutions on an individual and structural level
• can reflect upon social inequality and inclusion
• can identify, evaluate and reference relevant literature on challenges relating to welfare policy, and relate this to a relevant research question
• can reflect upon social inequality and inclusion

General competence

The student

• has insight into and can present risk factors and ethical issues related to digital solutions on an individual and structural level
• can communicate their own perspectives and experiences in interactions with others, and can, through collaboration with others, contribute to the development of good practices in the field
• has knowledge of the relationship between health, education, work and standard of living
• can present the differences and similarities between different welfare systems

• Participation in compulsory activities

Requirements must be approved before the student can take the exam.

Approved coursework requirements are valid until the end of the following academic year.

Written exam under supervision.

• Duration: 4 hours
• No aids allowed
• Language: Optional, Norwegian or English
• Grading system: A-F

Feedback from our students is vital in order to develop and offer high quality courses. The following forms of evaluation are used for this course:

• Continuous evaluation with a reference group
• Final evaluation at the end of the course

The results are considered in a program council.