Participatory development of nursing curricula – A Global North–South partnership between Norwegian and Ethiopian universities

Transnational academic collaboration, particularly global North-South, is increasingly recognized as a critical strategy for enhancing educational quality, equity, and relevance in global health and nursing education. This study aimed to describe the participatory process of developing and revising two joint Master's level course drafts, Global Health Nursing and Participatory Action Research in Health Care, and to explore the feasibility of integrating these courses into the existing curricula of partner universities in Norway and Ethiopia. A qualitative descriptive design was employed, grounded in a participatory approach. Data were collected during a structured workshop using the Story Dialogue Method (SDM), which engaged 20 academic participants from both countries in reflective discussions and collaborative revisions of course drafts. Thematic insights were drawn from dialogue notes and synthesized through group-based reflection and analysis. The findings revealed both opportunities and challenges in joint curriculum development. The collaborative process fostered pedagogical innovation, mutual capacity building, and student-centered-learning approaches. However, integration into existing programs, especially in the Ethiopian context, was hindered by less flexible institutional structures, digital infrastructure limitations, and the ambitious scope of learning outcomes relative to course design. Thus, discussions emphasized the need for clearer course content alignment with credit allocation and institutional capacities. This study underscores the potential of equitable and participatory academic partnerships to co-create contextually relevant and globally informed curricula. For such initiatives to be sustainable and impactful, future efforts should include broader stakeholder engagement, realistic curricular planning, and strategic measures to bridge digital and institutional divides.