This report discusses the highly decentralized Nordic model of distance education at the university level, which involves giving responsibility for carrying out distance education to the individual university departments. Meeting at the university and using the telephone are primary contact methods. The report includes a discussion of higher education in Sweden, distance education in the Nordic countries, basic ideas behind distance education at Swedish universities, the scope and general organization of distance education, and experimental activities. The results of an evaluation of distance education courses at the Swedish universities are also discussed, as well as the advantages and drawbacks of the decentralized model used in Sweden and Australia. Sixty-six references are listed. Graphs show growth in courses and the distribution of subjects from 1973-1984; regions covered by individual universities and colleges in 1977; distribution of subjects by university area; and distribution of the most frequent subject groups: arts, administration and economics; languages; and behavioral, computer and natural sciences. (Author/LMM)