Nordic Life Design - a holistic approach and attitude to life

When discussing future education, we tend to focus on defining future competencies and discussions on preparing students for an everchanging labour market with job titles we cannot yet imagine. We tend to oversee that our students, for years, have been among the human beings characterized as having the highest degree of mental challenges, which indi-cates a real need not only for new initiatives but for radical transformations in education. Initiatives that represent a more humanistic and holistic view, combining a broader focus on education, including newer knowledge and a clear and heavy focus on students' lives, well-being, and vitality. This paper describes Nordic Life Design, a learning concept rooted in de-sign theory and -practice, including knowledge from cognition, creativity, and brain science. The intention is to educate student not only for working life in a complex and ever changing world, but for life in general. The paper adds examples of incorporating the concept in the higher education curriculum.