Student-centred methods workshop at Quang Tri Teacher Training College in Dong Ha City, Vietnam. The students shown here are members of the college’s teaching staff, i.e. they are teacher trainers.
teaching models and learning environments to Russia. Jyväskylä is home to expertise in initiatives like Living Lab, where an open innovation ecosystem produces new services and products. “In addition to Russian students, we also want to bring decision makers to Jyväskylä with the aim of helping them to network with companies in the Jyväskylä Region.”
Eastern interest in health care education Networking is a key concept when exporting expertise, because an individual institution is often too small for involvement in major projects. For educational exports in the health and social care fields, for example, JAMK has formed a consortium to build a stronger export offering together with other players and educational organisations based in Jyväskylä. “Within the Jyväskylä Region we have expertise in areas such as the development of individual pedagogical solutions for students with developmental challenges. Other important fields are disability aids to support learning, early identification of autism, and construction of easy access buildings,” says Eila Latvala, Director at JAMK. Demand for health care education is boosted by Finland’s excellent health care system and an educational approach that focuses on promoting health. Educational exports have so far been to Kazakhstan and other Asian countries, Russia and the Middle East.
“Success in educational exports requires commitment, openness and a real interest in the customer’s needs,” Eila Latvala states.
Extensive development project in Egypt Jyväskylä has a long history of international education research and assessment, with the first projects having been undertaken in the 1950s. At the beginning of 2013 JAMK won a EUR 1.3 million EU Twinning project to develop assessment in the Egyptian education system. “In Egypt new legislation on educational assessment is under preparation. We are involved in the drafting work by providing recommendations. In addition we are seeking to develop educational auditing processes. Linked to this is an effort to rationalise data collection, because there is no comprehensive electronic data collection system in Egypt,” says Pasi Reinikainen, Resident Twinning Advisor. During the project the Finnish participants will reinforce the position and expertise of the Egyptian National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE), which was established in 2007. “The NAQAAE is responsible for more than 55 000 educational organisations covering 18 million school pupilsand seven million students. At the moment there are huge differences between schools, but partnership projects like this can make education more uniform, which in turn will support the development of democracy,” Reinikainen concludes. n
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