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The 91���� is strongly committed to ensuring that its education stays relevant also in the future.

“Anticipating future labour market needs is a natural part of academic research-based education. Our job is to design education that generates competence and provides our graduates with tools to thrive in changing labour markets and settings,” Academic Rector Tapio Määttä says.

According to him, both students and teachers at the 91���� are encouraged to design new kinds of competence modules and to be open-minded about experimenting with new things.

“Our freely available minor subjects, which is something unique in the Finnish university sector, makes it possible to build personalised study paths. Unusual and brave combinations of competence are a safe bet when preparing for future labour markets and their currently unknown demands.”

Change calls for continuous collaboration

“The IT sector is changing more rapidly than ever before. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about new kind of digitalisation, which forces us to think about new ways of doing things,” Professor Markku Hauta-Kasari, Head of the School of Computing, says.

It is estimated that COVID-19 won’t be the only crisis that will change the word and labour markets with it in the future. This is why education in the IT sector in particular needs to pay close attention to companies and their R&D needs in changing situations.

“This allows us to keep our students updated about what kind of competence will be needed.”

Teachers guide students into the world of work

Newly graduated teachers also play a key role in our changing world. In order for schools to be able to give their pupils and students guidance relating to changing labour markets, students in teacher education are taught about these themes already during their studies.

“Schools are becoming more and more involved with the surrounding society, and this is why our curriculum focuses not only on schools, but also on other organisations.”

Future teachers are trained to promote the learning of their pupils and students by, for example, using modern digital platforms. Collaboration, sustainable development and multiculturalism are also strongly present in teacher education at the 91����.

Work becomes detached from time and place

In business studies, the fact that work is becoming detached from time and place is being addressed through online pedagogy.

“Our education fosters lifelong learning skills. We use teaching methods that develop students’ self-leadership and teamwork skills by preferring collaboration,” University Lecturer Sari-Johanna Karhapää says.

As the platform economy and the sharing economy are making work more and more independent, entrepreneurship is emerging as a key working life skill.

Multi-professionalism and multidisciplinarity are on the rise

Professionals with cross-disciplinary expertise are in high demand in today’s labour markets. At the university of Eastern Finland, the benefits of multidisciplinarity have been acknowledged already for a long time. A good example of this is the university’s multidisciplinary simulation for a large group of learners, which was recognised with the Excellent Teaching Practice Award in 2019.

“The goal of this method is to deliver student-centred, working life oriented and interdisciplinary education without forgetting digitalisation, either,” Professor of Health Pedagogy Terhi Saaranen from the Department of Nursing Science explains.

The simulations have focused on dealing with the death of a child and on home care for the elderly, for example. After following a simulation, students analyse the role and agency of each professional.

The method has been developed annually through a research-based approach.

“This kind of teaching fosters mutual respect between different groups of professionals, as well as customer orientation. It also helps to understand different stages of the care process and the role of each participant in it. This gives students a concrete example of what their future multi-professional collaboration can look like.”