Finland - Jyvaskyla Region - Final Self-Evaluation Report.pdf

Faculty of EducationRoleThe Faculty of Education represents the traditional roots of the university, namely the teacher trainingcollege founded in 1863 at Seminaarinmäki. The focus of research is on the life span development of ahuman being from early childhood education to educational gerontology. The faculty is concentratedstrongly on education, especially teacher education (large volumes of students) and its operation is mainlydirected by national needs.The educational and pedagogic views of teacher education cover many fields. In teaching, the practice andtheory are tightly integrated together. Most of the students stay in the region after their graduation, whichmeans that also the region benefits from the competent labour force available.As a result of putting a strong emphasis on education, there is relatively less research activity at the facultybut the research is focused on areas of importance, such as workplace learning and pedagogic developmentwork. The aim is to gradually increase the emphasis on research.The regional role of the faculty is not quite clear and regional orientation has not been very active orsystematic due to lack of resources. Thus, the aim is to find a balance between education and research first,and then focus more on regional activities. It is clear, however, that the national and regional functionssupport each other, and could create new opportunities.Starting points and channels of regional effectivenessThe most significant channel of regional effectiveness is the employability of competent teachers in theregion, and to sustain their know-how. Regional effectiveness of the faculty could be increased by allocatingmore resources in development projects carried out together with the schools of the region. These projectsbenefit not only the schools, but also the students and the staff of the faculty. Continuing education couldalso be further developed and regional needs could be mapped through joint development projects withregional actors.Regional co-operation and the division of tasksMost of the faculty's partners represent the public sector as the most important ones are the City of Jyväskyläand other municipalities in the region, and instances organizing the services of the public sector (for examplesocial and educational administrations). Co-operation includes continuing education and practical training ofstudents, among other activities. The faculty does not have much co-operation with enterprises orintermediary organizations in the region, and the co-operation is not expected to increase in the next years.There has not been much co-operation with the Jyväskylä Polytechnic either. However, the co-operationmight be fruitful in some fields, for example through co-operation projects or joint study modules (focusedon vocational aspect).Areas of strength and prioritising of activitiesPrioritising of activities is considered important and necessary, and it forms a foundation for strategicdecisions in the faculty. The faculty defines prioritising of activities as learning to be an expert in the field ofeducation. Sustaining life-long learning through for example adult education and training is a growing fieldin the future. Nationally important fields that have to be secured include early childhood education, teachereducation and special education. As generations get smaller, resources can be re-allocated from teachertraining to continuing education. It is hard to remove any fields of activities entirely, but new operationalmodels can be created instead.Faculty of Sport and Health SciencesRoleThe Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä is the only university levelinstitution in Finland educating experts in the field of sport. The central tasks of the faculty are to train highlevelexperts of sports and health sciences for different areas of society, and studying and developing the130