The Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences - from national to international

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1 The Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences - from national to international Teija Lehto, project manager The Finnish Online UAS teija.lehto@amk.fi 14 June

2 Universities and UAS s universities of applied sciences in Finland The Finnish higher education system consists of two sectors: universities of applied sciences and universities. The mission of universities is to conduct scientific research and provide instruction and postgraduate education based on it. Universities of applied sciences train professionals in response to labour market needs and conduct R&D which supports instruction and promotes regional development in particular. Source: (You can compare UAS s with hochfachschule, högskola or college ) 2

3 Universities and UAS s universities of applied sciences in Finland Finland has 20 universities and 28 universities of applied sciences. The universities are run by the state (until 2010), and the government provides some 70% of the budgets. UAS s are run either by local authorities or by private foundations. They are co-financed by the government and local authorities. In Finland, UAS s give Bachelor s and Master s degrees, but have no doctoral level studies. UAS s are oriented to applied sciences and labour market needs. 3

4 The Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences Founded in 2001, was at first called the Finnish Virtual Polytechnic. A consortium of all (28) Finnish UAS s. Based on the Information Strategy of the Finnish Ministry of Education Coordinated by the Development Unit, situated at TAMK University of Applied Sciences in Tampere 4

5 Administration of the Finnish Online UAS Finnish Ministry of Education Rectors' Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Steering group Chairman: Markku Lahtinen, Rector of TAMK University of Applied Sciences (in Tampere) Development Unit (in Tampere) Director: Marja Rautajoki & 7 employees 5

6 Objectives of the Finnish Online UAS The objectives have been nationally oriented: To arrange exchange of courses between all Finnish UAS s. To develop policies of acceptance of studies between UAS s. To offer high-standard educational services and online learning material for all the Finnish UAS s. To promote modern information and communications technology in learning. Increasingly: to cooperate with the Finnish Virtual University And now also: to cooperate internationally with other universities and UAS s. 6

7 Portal services eproduction Platform Single sign-on into portal Material Bank incl. metadata estudy Services elearning platform Health and welfare Industrial rights Virtual village Information searching Statistics Centralized course supply 7

8 The portal amk.fi, oncampus.fi, virtualyh.fi A gateway to educational contents and courses offered by the Finnish universities of applied sciences Centralized e-learning services for everyone interested in learning estudy Services for students (applying for courses online) and staff (handling the applications) eproduction platform for content producers Material bank and metadata repository for online study materials (learning objects, courses) Forum for professional cooperation A place to bring the UAS s expertise together and to share information between different target groups Based on the single-sign-on principle Built on a web publishing system utilizing multi-portal functionality: also the Open Polytechnic Portal (target group is other than degree students) is created with the help of this system. 8

9 Our deepest apologies Due to a large-scale technical update, the Finnish Online UAS portal is most of the time DOWN during the EDEN conference (from 11th to 16th of June)! We are sorry for the inconvenience. The only time of the year to do large-scale updates in information systems is during the students summer vacation, however before the staff start their holidays in Finland on 21st of June which means this year during the EDEN conference! 9

10 Study Services This is where students make applications for courses Services for the Staff in the dropdown box User interface in three languages 10

11 estudy Services The most important service of the portal, in use since UAS students can apply for courses arranged at other Finnish UAS:s. The study officials handle the students applications for courses electronically. The studying takes place mainly outside the portal. International issue: from the technological point of view ANY educational institution could be added to the system any moment including foreign universities. 11

12 estudy Services search for courses student s view 12

13 A two-phase approval for the students applications The student applies for a course arranged by another UAS. The home university of the student supports (or does not support) the student s electronic application for a course arranged in another UAS The receiving university (the university arranging the course) gives its acceptance for the student s application. The student gets an and instructions how to start the course. The information system as such could easily be used with foreign universities 13

14 Financial issues The portal studies are (by law) free for Finnish degree students. The money transfer only takes places between the universities of applied sciences. Money transfers are invisible for the student. The home university of the student pays for studies the student takes at another UAS. The receiving university (arranging the course) gets a payment for each incoming student / course. 14

15 Number of courses on portal Number of courses

16 Number of students applications on the portal Applications in all Accepted applications

17 Production teams and production platform Teachers and students from universities of applied sciences have produced online study materials (learning objects, courses and study modules) for different study fields in production teams. About 70 teams and 1000 people were involved in material production between The production is based on learning objects Before publishing the material has to pass a cross-evaluation process. Material producers can easily make and build up courses and study modules on Production Platform. For compiling courses also Moodle platform is used. 17

18 Material bank and metadata repository DIGMA Learning material worth of about 1500 study credits has been published in the material bank. Terms of use and copyright are carefully (but maybe too strictly) defined. The learning objects and course materials contain metadata, based on FinnEduMeta (which is an extension to Dublin Core). International issue: designed for Finnish speaking users mainly. Material in Finnish and English. Modifying DIGMA for international use would require extra effort and resources. 18

19 Material bank and metadata repository 19

20 Focuses and efforts The funding from Ministry of Education will decrease after > the establishing plan of the Finnish Online UAS is under way. Large-scale updates of the portal information systems are under way: A new version of the estudy Services The identification system based on HAKA-federation will be applied this summer. Many UAS users will be able to login to the portal services using their home university s credentials. More intensive cooperation with the The Finnish Open UAS, which uses the same portal system as Online UAS. Intensive cooperation with the Finnish Virtual University - developing more services together in future. 20

21 More focuses Applying tools of social media in education increasing the accessibility of study materials (material banks and metadata repositories). Getting more international Finding consortiums as partners:the Finnish Online UAS and The Finnish Virtual University are going to join the EuNeOn network. EuNeOn = The European Network for Higher Education Online, to be founded on7 October Finding also separate universities as partners 21

22 Links The Finnish UAS portal (in Finnish) (in English) (in Swedish) HAKA federation. Website of CSC, the Finnish IT Center fo Science. EuNeOn network (To be founded in autumn this year) 22