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

In 2004 over 18 000 Finnish people, young and adults alike, chose to study in the Open University ofJyväskylä. The majority of students came from the Jyväskylä region and other parts of Central Finland(partly due to the active marketing in the region). The University of Jyväskylä and Helsinki led the field inthe provision of Open University teaching in Finland, as measured by total annual study places. The openuniversity teaching provided by the University of Jyväskylä covers nearly one fourth of the total volume inFinland. The Open University of Jyväskylä promotes educational equality by providing university levelstudies for all interested individuals, without age limits or requirements for basic education. The teachingcorresponds with the basic university level in terms of quality. Information technology is widely utilized andprofited from in the organizations of the studies, and cooperation with the virtual university is intensive. TheOpen University channel provides the option of becoming a university degree student on the basis of OpenUniversity studies.The Open University concentrates only on teaching activities and they are not allowed to carry out externalregional projects, even if customized projects for municipalities and different organizations are sometimesdemanded. From the regional perspective, the role of the Open University is to provide education for peoplewho want to update their skills or learn something new. The studies are easily accessible for people inworking life as well as for the unemployed and for those searching for their ”own” field of study. The OpenUniversity is also an important provider of competence education as, e.g., in 2004 nearly 2 000 OpenUniversity’s students worked as teachers and wanted to have competence in another subject through openuniversity path. Hence, the Open University of Jyväskylä helps to maintain the knowledge base of theregional labour force. It has an active role in career planning of personnel in surrounding municipalities andother organizations and through allocation of marketing activities this could be further strengthened.The Continuing Education Centre operates as a business organization within the University of Jyväskylä,providing customized education and management programmes to clients. They unit sees its role as that of anintermediate organization between the university and external actors that transfer the academic knowledgeinto practise. The direct regional focus has not been very strong in recent years, but its importance isincreasing. The existing diverse networks can be seen to facilitate regional engagement.However, continuing education is not very effectively coordinated at the University of Jyväskylä. In additionto the teaching organized in the Continuing Education Centre, the faculties provide their own continuingeducation. As such, there is a clear need to develop the system so that the University’s disparate continuingeducation services would be gathered together into a one large operative unit.Box 5.2 University of the Third Age provides education for elderly peopleThe University of the Third Age (UTA) programmes are running in nine institutes of higher education(Jyväskylä, Helsinki, Tampere, Kuopio, Joensuu, Turku, Rovaniemi and Vaasa) in Finland. Third ageuniversity services are coordinated and developed by a national advisory board, which was established in1989. One of the typical reasons for participating in the programmes is, for instance, that these elderlypeople did not have a chance to study earlier in their lives, due to lack of financial resources, war, orsome other external constraint.The University of the Third Age of Jyväskylä, the first in Finland, started in 1985. It arrangesprogrammes in eight towns. The main tasks of UTA-activities are: (1) to promote elderly peoplesphysical, psychical and social health; (2) to promote educational and cultural equality betweengenerations; (3) to improve dialogue between generations; and (4) to co-operate with academicgerontology research and the staff of the Centre for Social Welfare and Health Services (of older people)in Jyväskylä. The main programmes are: lecture series, seminars, publishing, students' programmes,study tours, projects, research, and international networking. The UTA programmes have been extremelypopular in Jyväskylä from the very beginning. The total number of participants is about 2 500 olderpeople, of which 75 - 80% are women. The average age of the participants is 65 years, with their basiceducation varying from primary level to tertiary.In addition, the Jyväskylä Polytechnic provides continuing education, although to a lesser extent whencompared to the University of Jyväskylä. The professional specialization studies it offers are continuing73