EEPG Members: Nám, Faroer Islands
We are excited to present the EEPG members in a weekly spotlight via short interviews. This is Nám from the Faroer Islands.
Nám is an educational publisher in the Faroe Islands. It is producing both printed and digital materials. In addition to its publishing business, Nám is a centre for education services offering ICT-solutions, library, courses and guidance for teachers. Find
more information here.
Interview with Sigfríður Símunarson Sólsker, Managing editor
1. What is the main challenge in your country & market?
Our main challenge in the country and the market is the size. With only 53.000 inhabitants on the Faroe Islands, we are operating in a micro market, which makes it difficult to make money from sales. At the same time, we have just as many subjects to cover as in a bigger country, and the school system is more or less the same as in the other Scandinavian countries. We only have much fewer people to do the work, that is required to meet the demands. In short, the main challenge is to meet the demands of a high standard school system with Faroese educational materials in every subject.
2. Why is educational cooperation on a European level important to you?
Again, size matters. To cover all subjects with the resources that we have, we need to cooperate with publishers abroad. We translate and adjust a lot of materials that are 'universal', subjects such as physics and maths. Then we focus on creating specific Faroese materials for other subjects such as history. We look to Europe for digital materials and platforms since we lack the resources the build our own. We mainly cooperate with the Scandinavian countries because the systems are so alike.
3. In your opinion what are the main benefits of being a member of the EEPG?
Our reason for joining the EEPG was to share know-how and experiences with the best educational publishers in Europe. We have never had a physical meeting as a group the time that we have been a member, but the online meetings have been very good. I believe that physical network meetings are very important 'tool', when working with ideas, knowledge, and innovative educational materials.
Since we joined the EEPG the covid-19 and now the war in Ukraine have marked the period. I must say that the EEPG has really shown its worth in these difficult times. It helped us networking during the Covid-19 pandemic and sharing know how. In the context of the war in Ukraine, it unites publishers from all over Europe to stand together. If it had not been for EEPG and the Ukrainian publisher "Ranok", we would not have been able to help the Ukrainian fugitives in the Faroes in the same manner, as we can now.