History

In the early 90s, the "Nursing Education" sector was only represented in the European structures through the Advisory Committee on nursing education. To address this situation, the idea came to create a European "platform" of exchange on nursing education.

The European Federation of Nurse Educators (FINE) was formally established at a conference in Leuven in 1995, after several years of discussion and planning by an enthusiastic group of nursing teachers from several countries.

These teachers saw the importance of establishing a forum for nurse education from the front line in higher education in nursing in Europe to exchange information and experiences, and to acquire better knowledge about the similarities and differences in nurse training and education programmes. The association has established contacts on specific issues of nursing education and opportunities for exchange student - teacher and also to influence policy making in Europe.

Initially, the countries involved were the Netherlands, Great Britain and the Dutch-speaking Belgium. Quite quickly however, other countries saw the potential of the network and joined.