LIFELONG LEARNING IN FINNISH UNIVERSITIES

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LIFELONG LEARNING IN FINNISH UNIVERSITIES

• Director Kari Seppälä
• University of Turku
• Centre for Extension Studies
• Bergen 29.11.2005

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TASKS OF ACADEMIC LLL

• Open university
• Continuing education
• Regional development
• Adults in mainstream university

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TYPICAL CONTEXTS OF LLL

• Open University/University Extension
  University Liberal adult education
• VIP Student
• Continuing Professional Development Scientific
  Professional sphere
• VIP Client of our student
• Regional Development University Region
• VIP People and firms in the region

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UNIVERSITIES IN FINLAND
10 multi-faculty universities 3 schools of
economics and business administration 3
universities of technology 4 art academies
National Defence College
Most of the Centres for Continuing Education were
founded in the mid 1980s.
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NORMS AND STRUCTURES

• Few norms
• Market orientation
• University connection 2 mainstreaming
• Direction through results decentralization
• Cooperation with faculties and institutes

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DIFFERENT CENTRES

• In universities of different sizes and traditions
• On campus/distant
• Big and small
• Multifield, specialized
• Strong emphasis on UCE/not
• Different contexts

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WHO ARE THE CLIENTS?

• Professional experts
• Ministries
• Children, elderly, sick, poor, unemployed
• Man in the street
• Faculty

• Expert organizations
• European programs
• Communities
• General public
• University

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WHAT MAKES UCE ACADEMIC

• University as the provider
• Services for university graduates
• Making use of the knowledge production
• In search of the new
• Multidisciplinarity

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THREE QUESTIONS OF BALANCE

• In Volumes
• ? Growth till late 1990s
• ? Decrease in early 2000s
• In Strategic Development
• ? Outreach - Mainstreaming
• In Profiles
• ? Task Expansion Core activities

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REFORM STRATEGIES

• The fields of science in the university determine
  the basic tasks of the centre.
• Quality is the most important success factor.
• Centres have been quite independent in their
  strategies.

• It is a value in itself to find new tasks and
  modes of operation
• Being different is valuable.
• Flexibility demands active development work.

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KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Student/Customer Orientation
• Teamwork of Scientific and Professional Experts
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Flexibility
• Mixture of Government and Private Funding

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ESSENCE OF TYPES OF UCE/LLL
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ESSENCE OF TYPES OF UCE/LLL
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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Many universities are active in the development
  of learning regions.
• From 1.8.2005 the third mission is a legal task
  of the universities.
• The main aim is to construct
• a regionally innovative milieu.
• Typically funded by European Commission.

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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPLY

• RD had its roots in training for the unemployed
  and later in courses for entrepreneurs
• Regional development is implemented in (ever
  larger ) projects, where universities act as
  coordinators and partners.
• Projects often include service research,
  continuing education and training, consultation,
  networking and marketing.

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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STUDENTS

• continuing education students
• often entrepreneurs or SME staff
• often with low educational background

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WORKING GROUP ON ACADEMIC LIFELONG LEARNING
(Min.Ed.)

• Some 40 propositions, including
• Lifelong learning strategies for the universities
• A working group on APEL
• Widening the open university channel to degree
  studies
• Financing UCE
• Lifelong Teacher training
• Generally standard, quality, mainstream,
  e-learning, coordination, cooperation
  specialization