Co-operation between Higher Education Institutions in Oulu 30. September 2015 Jouko Paaso President, CEO
Challenges and Solutions in the Oulu Region Vast structural change in the ICT development sector in recent years => loss of thousands of jobs At the same time, a heavy increase in the need and use of ICT on all areas of life globally Strong ICT knowledge gives Oulu the possibility to be a strong actor in utilizing the digitalization trend Oulu is the sovereign higher education knowledge center of the Northern Scandinavia and plays the key role when utilizing the huge potential of the geographically large and sparsely populated North Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland are, compared to the other arctic area, longest developed, e.g. have infrastructure allowing extensive utilization of technology in knowledge transfer In this region there live about four million people Higher education utilizing elearning is in key role when utilizing the huge potential of the North In Oulu two universities: University of Oulu, which is a science university, and Oulu University of Applied Sciences (OUAS); in total they have about 25000 students; Oulu Innovation Alliance is a well-known cooperation arrangement where both universities are strongly involved Of all the graduation programs in OUAS about half are offered only in Oulu, not anywhere else in Northern Finland => the sphere of influence of OUAS is geographically large (map)
Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) in Finland 24 institutions in 70 localities (+ Police College of Finland and Åland UAS), All UASs are limited companies (Ltd) 1.1.2015 Nearly 140,000 degree students UAS-universities task is to focus on the requirements of the working life and its development, i.e. educate to the working positions of professional experts, and pursue research, development and innovation activities that renew business structures of the region In Northern Finland Lapland UAS 5,600 Oulu UAS 9,000 Kajaani UAS 2,100
Agile Strategy of Oulu UAS for Renewing the Business Structure In the university ranking lists the regional influence is not taken into account as a success factor Characteristics of the higher education graduates mostly appreciated by the employers: professional expertise & special knowledge, human relation skills & capability to work in a diversified team Tasks of the UAS universities + appreciated capabilities of the graduates + sought-after regional influence What kind of education is needed and why in the Oulu UAS?: Agility of the contents based to the needs of the SME companies and people needing new skills Education and development should be closely linked together, i.e. education to be done in diversified development projects originating from the needs of the working life in the region Agile Strategy of the Oulu UAS for Renewing the Business Structure
An agile strategy process for the needs of the area This is how our world is 1. Quick and global digitalisation 2. Structural change of the business life in Oulu 3. Northern location is a possibility 4. Large investments of the area 5. Expansion of the operational environment and internationalisation 6. Life-long learning Objective This is how we succeed in our world (the board of directors) Profitability develops so that Oulu UAS s share of the funding for the universities of applied sciences increases Profitability of the regional impact work remains Internationalisation profitability improves Digitalisation of the university of applied sciences grows stronger Student recruiting succeeds Co-operation with working life strengthens Superior UAS-skills to the benefit of the North These are the projects we implement Developing the co-operation with working life Developing the co-operation with Oulu Innovation Alliance and University of Oulu Renewing syllabi Diversifying the education, e-materials, e-campus Developing the staff, providing them with new skills Developing real and targeted internationalisation of Oulu UAS A unified Oulu UAS brand and way of operation Towards two campuses Our objectives and their indicators Profitability: Oulu UAS s share of the funding for the universities of applied sciences Regional impact profitability Internationalisation profitability Digitalisation of the university of applied sciences: level of multiformity Image research by Taloustutkimus, feedback from students Applicant index
Principles of the Cooperation between Higher Education Institutions in Oulu (1/3) Existing situation: Universities of Applied Sciences lose a remarkable part of their students, who have received the study place, to universities - who on their part have students who want to move to opposite direction Many times the reason for quitting the studies is that the students don t get the full credit of their previous studies when students transfer from UAS to university University studies on their part are many times quitted in order to get faster to working life by the means of a graduation in a UAS Nowadays many students don t start their studies before they have received a study place in the university and the study program they really want If transfer from UAS to universities to the studies in the same study field would be easier, the starting of the studies would probably be earlier The main rule in the planned model is that the student should not move between the different type of universities before having graduated from the first university
Principles of the Cooperation between Higher Education Institutions in Oulu (2/3) The University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences plan extensive cooperation, which is based on the existing dual model; there is no need for changes to the recently updated Finnish university laws Also other UAS's "in the neighborhood" have now shown interest to participate There are two primary beneficiaries in the cooperation model, i.e.: the students, who get as flexible study paths as possible, and the enterprises of the region, both existing and those to be established Smart specializations, regional specializations, are affecting in the background i.e. the nordicness and the nuclear power plant The report produced by the Ministry of Education and Culture about the future needs in education: Suomi osaamisen kasvu-uralle is also taken into account The focus in the cooperation is in education, not in research and development The model is planned to be piloted between five Universities of Applied Scieces and the University of Oulu, by the means of a common development project
Principles of the Cooperation between Higher Education Institutions in Oulu (3/3) Example paths: Path 1 (University - University of Appplied Scienses): University bachelor working life competent (= additional one year studies in the UAS, university student can get a bachelor s degree in UAS) Path 2 (University of Applied Sciences University): Bachelor of UAS has a route to master in the University (= additional one year studies to Master s degree) Paths are possible without any so called bridge studies, but both university Bachelor studies should offer contents that give readyness to study later in the other type of university These studies are offered by the other type of university Educational technology is utilized in realisation The cooperation model assumes graduation programs planned together 100 % crediting of the previous graduations is assured it is important that the competence goals are filled in all cases Schedule: Pilots should have started in the beginning of the study year 2017-18 Concrete plans will be presented in the near future to the Ministry of Education and Culture and in the Spring and Autumn 2016 negotations with the ministry