International work-related travel is not just about hopping on a plane and “seeing what happens.” Oh no—it's a delicate dance of meetings, delegation dynamics, unexpected surprises, and perhaps a suitcase full of goodwill (and hopefully, snacks). Here are some “theses” for surviving, thriving, and occasionally laughing your way through international travel.
During our trip to Namibia as a part of the Circular Economy Models in Namibia: Capacity building project we had an opportunity to visit a local training centre in Swakopmund. In our visit we discovered a circular economy ecosystem which appears as a good example of strong sustainability covering environmental, economic and social elements. We also learned a punch of good practices on how to create value for local actors and communities from circular economy.
Ulla Häggblom and Piia Kanto were invited to present the concept of the working life-oriented concept “Talent Factory” in July 2024 in the BioTech Tunisia Project Closing event in Tunisia. The presentation got excellent feedback because of the interesting topic and the captivating way of presenting.
On November 11th and 12th, 2024, the EU Interreg Central Baltic project Succeed in Business started with a dynamic two-day event in Riga, Latvia. The Succeed in Business project aims to encourage young people to become entrepreneurs by providing them with practical skills, international networks, and continuous mentorship. This project offers a platform for students to turn their business ideas into reality, supported by coaches, mentors, and an engaged network of peers from across the Baltic region.
The first implementation of the AntofaEDUCA program has come to a successful conclusion, marking a key achievement in advancing education in the Antofagasta region. This ambitious initiative, the result of shared efforts and international collaboration between TAMK, Fundación Entrepreneur in Chile, the Regional Government of Antofagasta, and other partners, is designed to drive a transformative educational reform across all public schools in the region, including primary, secondary, and vocational education. By fostering innovation and collaboration among teachers, educational leaders, and students, the program aims to create lasting improvements in teaching practices, leadership, and school environments.
The collaboration between Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), Finn Church Aid (FCA), and Kenyan Technical and Vocational education and training (TVET) institutions is creating new opportunities for youth employment and education in Kenya. This partnership aims to improve vocational education and address youth unemployment by combining Finnish expertise in education with local Kenyan needs where the emphasis on collaboration with workplaces is expressed in the notion of “Dual TVET”. Project called Youth Employment and TVET in Kenya is funded by the German development cooperation organization Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The May 16th to 17th 2024 Learning, Teaching & Training (LTT) activities of DigiSTEM project took place in Bratislava. Over the course of two days the attendees learned much about the use of technology in math teaching, and got a special treat, too!
In the picturesque setting of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from 6 to 10 March 2024, the Barceló Bávaro Convention Center played host to a significant gathering of minds focused on education reform in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Among the delegates were Sanna Ruhalahti and Virpi Heinonen from Tampere University of Appled Sciences (TAMK), representing Finland alongside a delegation comprising authorities, companies, and education sector participants. Their presence marked Finland's commitment to collaborating with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its affiliates to address pressing challenges in education across the region.
We have had a lot of exciting events and opportunities in the Arts&Media/Music production path this autumn.
It is said that travelling broadens the mind – all the stress with packing, tight schedules, and lack of sleep vanishes when you finally get on the spot, sense the enthusiasm of exhibitors and visitors, and start your adventure.
Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) participated in DIDAC 2023 exhibition in India together with Education Finland delegation in mid-October 2023. Didac 2023 is Indian’s only and Asia’s largest exhibition in education and skills. Along with another nine organizations from Finland, TAMK has presented in the exhibition and promoted our educational services to Indian market.
Three Textile and Material team staff members participated in the international textile and garment technology exhibition, ITMA, in Milan, Italy on 8.-11.6.2023. Marja Rissanen, Senior Lecturer, was interested in sustainable textile materials and manufacturing methods. Minna Varheenmaa, Project Engineer, was more focused on smart textiles and innovations, and Maria Änkö, Laboratory Engineer, was interested in testing devices.
The question above was posed at the conference Applied Sciences as drivers for regional innovation ecosystems in Africa, organized by German Academic Exchange Service DAAD in Brussels. TAMK participated the conference to find synergies and to share knowledge. To sum up, quite many of the practices discussed in the conference can be utilized also for regional innovation ecosystems elsewhere than in Africa; feel free to grasp ideas!
Bonding with partners takes a lot of effort, no matter if we are in an analog or digital world. For organisations such as universities of applied sciences, networking with local, regional, national and global settings has always been a natural task. The local and global competition for talents and resources gets harsher while at the same time expectations for effectiveness and pace for impact creation grows.
University-Industry Innovation Network (UIIN), where TAMK is an organisational member, offers a great platform to share good practices, exchange views and debate on forward-looking topics on university-industry collaboration. One of the themes discussed among the more than 400 participants in the annual UIIN Conference 2023 in Budapest concentrated on knowledge valorisation. Building the bridge between academia and business should be facilitated to achieve more effective and efficient value creation of research results.
A modern food system is in crisis. FUSILLI Project is addressing food system challenges at the city-level. City of Tampere is one of the FUSILLI Cities and we at Tampere University of Applied Sciences are supporting the city in this task. But why sustainability transition is such a wicked challenge – making us, even the most optimistic ones, sometimes hopeless?
In May 2023 HUBS Sustainable Entrepreneurship team took part in Entrepreneurship Experience, a Blended Intensive Program (BIP), created in collaboration with Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart and Amsterdam UAS. Entrepreneurship Coach Kaisa Kokko and ten students with multidisciplinary and multicultural backgrounds travelled to vernal Germany to learn how sustainable business ideas could be transformed into viable business ventures. In this blog, Kaisa is summarising the key benefits of the learning experience implemented in not-so-traditional surroundings.
“Nopeasti Töihin” (Quickly to Work)- is a project funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture to develop a model of cooperation for supporting new university graduates in the Pirkanmaa region in Tampere. The purpose of the project is to create a guidance cooperation and service model between the higher education communities such as Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) and the City of Tampere Employment Services.
Green transition is the agreed objective of European Policies. Also, the need for workforce that has the knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable the change is widely acknowledged. We need teachers who can teach the students these skills. This is a crucial element of achieving the goals of green transition. Presently, the models of teacher’s competences on ESD have been quite abstract, which has caused great variation in the interpretations of these competences between countries and even within educational organisations.
Talent Factory from Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) is a success story for companies, students, and university by implementing a new learning environment based on team learning and coaching pedagogy. Ulla Häggblom and Piia Kanto proudly presented the Talent Factory concept at UIIN Conference in Budapest 9.-11.5.2023.
