Impactful partnerships and networks
FINEEC, the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre granted Laurea its Quality Label for Excellence in higher education in May 2023 as proof of Laurea’s high-quality development work. The panel that conducted the Excellence evaluation paid particular attention to three aspects of Laurea's activities. The first one was Laurea’s pioneering role in developing societal interaction and the practices related to it. Secondly, the panel found Laurea’s evidence and practices in RDI activities and their development exceptionally strong. RDI activities are an integral part of the implementation of Laurea’s overall strategy. Laurea’s third strength is its open-minded focus on surpassing boundaries. Laurea looks beyond any boundaries creatively, and it also actively utilises alumni and other networks in its development efforts.
Laurea has intensified its collaboration with working life in recent years by building an impactful key partnership network. At the end of 2023, the network included 101 key partners. With the growth and development of Laurea’s key partnership activities, a new Key Partnership Team was established at Laurea in 2023 to foster partnership activities that benefit all parties. The Team maintains regular contact with Laurea’s key partners and personnel, and enables concrete collaboration with working life, for example in the form of visiting lectures and working life projects, work placement and thesis opportunities for students, shared visibility, and RDI collaboration. Key partnership collaboration benefits all parties: Laurea’s students can gain a better understanding of working life, Laurea’s key partners can discover future experts, and Laurea itself can develop its degrees and RDI networks and increase its regional impact.
Laurea received good feedback from its key partners and stakeholders in its annual feedback questionnaire, achieving an overall grade of 4.0 (on a scale of 1–5; no change from 2022). 78% of respondents would strongly recommend Laurea or had already done so. The satisfaction of Laurea’s key partners with the key partner programme was also a 4.0, as it was in the previous year. In their open feedback, Laurea’s partners praised Laurea’s diverse range of projects, the service provided by its contact persons, how Laurea’s students worked together with them, and their close collaboration with Laurea. In 2023, the survey was arranged for the 10th time with 218 partner representatives responding to the survey, with a little over a third of responses coming from key partners.
One of Laurea’s key strategic partnerships internationally is the PIONEER Alliance of ten European higher education institutions. PIONEER’s activities focus on supporting the sustainable development of future cities through research, development, innovation, teaching and service ventures, as well as through multidisciplinary network and ecosystem collaboration. For Laurea, internationality is a prerequisite for providing competence-based education and producing skilled experts for the labour market both in Finland and abroad. This, in turn, will help significantly improve the quality and societal performance and impact of all Laurea activities.
94% of Laurea stakeholder survey respondents were satisfied with Laurea.
Laurea’s degree programmes have enhanced their international impact through, for example, BIPs (Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes), three of which were organised at Laurea in 2023. During the BIP weeks, nearly 100 students from Laurea’s partner institutions attended Laurea’s study units together with Laurea students. Laurea also arranged many other studies in collaboration with its international partners.
Laurea’s education exports as commissioned education expanded to new countries and degrees. In 2023, 131 new students from Nepal and India have begun or are about to begin their commissioned education studies. The new student groups consist of Bachelor of Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Business Administration, Nursing, and Master of Business Administration students.
Studies offered as continuous learning include Open UAS studies, continuing education, and specialisation studies that have been planned jointly by Finnish universities of applied sciences. In 2023, Laurea arranged study opportunities for those aiming for the early childhood education and care sector in the form of competence modules. During the year, 52 English-speaking students and 24 Finnish-speaking students participated in the modules. Laurea also launched a so-called path group whose admission requirement was a secondary-level degree in the social welfare and health care sector and at least one year of work experience. In addition, Laurea is one of the educational providers of the eligibility studies for Bachelors of Social Services in Early Childhood Education and Care, produced with funding from SECLE (Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment).
Laurea organised the national UAS Days event in 2023. The event is one of the most important annual events in the university of applied sciences sector, attracting nearly 400 visitors to Laurea’s Leppävaara campus between 3 and 4 May. The themes of the event were digitalisation, well-being, and internationality.
Examples of impactful partnerships and networks
Good practice: The JobFest Event
The JobFest Event brings together Laurea’s students, key partners, and companies from various fields. The event provides concrete opportunities for those who wish to receive personal and group support in their quest to find employment. In addition to encounters with workplace representatives, students can attend topical lectures, learn how to make the most of LinkedIn, take a CV photo, and receive a great deal of other versatile support for furthering their employment. The event’s schedule runs for several days, focusing on actors from specific fields each day to maximise the event’s impact. In 2023, JobFest was awarded the Service Act of the Year at Laurea. Read more about the JobFest event.
Key partner collaboration with Bookers: students learn from the top sellers in the business
“The best course in my study programme!” This is one example of how Laurea students felt about the Expert Sales 2 study unit, which was arranged in collaboration with Bookers, a leading sales service company in Finland. The study unit involved a group of sales-oriented business management students. The starting point for the joint study unit between Laurea and Bookers was increasing the profile of sales work. During the study unit, the company’s sales professionals introduced Laurea students to the world of expert sales, and they were also given the opportunity to see how the salespersons worked in practice.
A group of Nepalese students have started their studies in Hospitality management & service design at Laurea
A group of Nepalese students have started their studies in Hospitality management & service design at Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Espoo, this autumn. A high-quality internship and the support of the teaching team are critical factors on the way to adapting to Finnish society. One important factor is seen as helping students to find a high-quality internship as part of their studies. During the autumn, Nepalese students started their internships at the restaurants of Laurea's key partner, the restaurant chain Factory. Learn more.
Key partnership between Caverion and Laurea: long-term collaboration in security management placements
Laurea has collaborated extensively with Caverion Finland, a provider of building technology services. One of Caverion’s most important and constantly growing areas is security solutions, which are also at the core of Laurea’s and Caverion’s key partnership. Caverion’s collaboration with Laurea’s Bachelor of Business Administration in Security Management programme began back in 2014. Since then, over 20 security and risk management students have completed their work placements at Caverion, with around a third of them staying at Caverion after graduation.
Target Partners’ and Laurea’s educational collaboration helps address the demand for digital competence*
At the beginning of October, Laurea launched a new education module that focuses on digital and service development. The module in question is the Digital Service Developer F.E.C. labour market training, implemented by Laurea’s key partner Target Partners with Laurea responsible for the module’s contact teaching. The newly launched training is provided as a six-month, recruitment-oriented module by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Uusimaa. The module’s objective is to promote encounters between jobseekers and companies, and 14 jobseekers have been selected by the companies participating in the training. Target Partners helped match the jobseekers with the companies, which all have a need for expertise in digital services.
Micro-courses provide precise information on topical entrepreneurship issues
Micro-studies are concise courses that take only a few minutes to complete. Micro-courses offer brief yet effective packages of information on limited topics. They are compiled by experts to meet the needs of current and future entrepreneurs in particular. Laurea’s micro-courses offer solutions for the learning and development needs of working life in small, easy-to-learn educational bites. The studies can consist of, for example, short podcasts, videos, and various assignments. Micro-study modules that meet the competence needs of companies have been developed in various projects, such as the Green Transition, Capacity for Change and Digitalisation of Companies (REACT, Southern Finland) project.
MAPA® training provides tools for managing threatening behaviour
Threatening behaviour can manifest as harassment, intimidation, shouting and, at worst, physical violence. Threatening situations often occur in fairly ordinary workplaces and scenarios, such as at store checkouts and in schools, hospitals, social and elderly work, public transport – in other words, in any situation where people come face-to-face with other people. MAPA® (Management of Actual or Potential Aggression) training provides tools for addressing challenging individuals and situations. At its core are interactive skills and tools for encounters where you must look after your personal security or protect a person in crisis. As the only MAPA® Approved Training Centre (ATC) in Finland, Laurea acts as Finland’s MAPA® Centre with its base of operations in Laurea's Hyvinkää campus.
Laurea’s international partners gathered at Laurea’s International Week 2023 “Co-creating International Learning”
Laurea’s International Week brought together 74 partners from around the world to Laurea’s Tikkurila campus in March. In addition, each day saw around twenty partners participate virtually in the day’s programming. The event’s guests included teaching staff who taught at Laurea’s different campuses, as well as support service staff, such as international affairs coordinators. The International Week event offered versatile workshops, opportunities to network, plan collaboration, and learn and share best practices. Read more about the Laurea International Week 2023.