The visit aimed to give the delegation an overview of the services Aalto University Lifewide Learning provides, the landscape of lifelong education in Finland, and how Aalto targets potential learners at different stages of their lives.
Presentations were held by Tom Lindholm, Head of Lifewide Learning at Aalto University and Managing Director of Aalto University Executive Education, Katri Ventus, Head of Lifewide Learning Services, Laura Kitinoja, Program Director at Aalto University Summer School and Johanna Fagerström, Marketing Specialist at Aalto University Summer School.
Aalto University and Aalto University Executive Education have had a strong collaborative partnership with South Korea for a long time. Alongside Finland, Aalto EE MBA and EMBA programs are available in South Korea and Taiwan, and the countries have thousands of Aalto EE alumni.
During the visit, both parties agreed that the changing working landscape and digitalisation create a need for new competencies and that the demand for upskilling and reskilling, both on individual and organisational levels, is increasing immensely in the following years.
Additionally, Aalto University Summer School offers customised academic short-term study programs for universities and schools worldwide, tailor-made according to their requests and needs. Student groups from South Korean UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) have taken part in customised study programs at Aalto several times. The Summer School has also welcomed many students from Korean universities each summer.
Jin-deok Oh, Senior Education Researcher at Ulsan Research Institute, was one of the participants from the Lifelong Education Development Foundation. He found it particularly eye-opening that universities and various regions in Finland collaborated on lifelong education in ways similar to those in South Korea.
“In Korea, the Ministry of Education and regional lifelong education promotion agencies develop annual implementation plans for lifelong education. They conduct research and create standards for lifelong education projects, collaborating with lifelong learning city institutions and village lifelong education centres.”, says Jin-deok Oh.
“It was interesting to learn about the organic collaboration between universities and regions in Finland. For example, Aalto University caters to a wide variety of learners by emphasising social integration and reducing economic disparities. They achieve this by offering lifelong learning opportunities in various formats and price ranges.”, Jin-deok Oh concludes.
Continuous learning and digital skills will be among the most crucial competencies in the coming years
During the visit, both parties agreed that the changing working landscape and digitalisation create a need for new competencies and that the demand for upskilling and reskilling, both on individual and organisational levels, is increasing immensely in the following years.
“Lifewide learners often need flexible and effective learning solutions, where time and place are not obstacles. At Aalto, we are proud to be at the forefront of lifelong education in Finland, by developing new ways of learning to make lifelong education accessible for everyone, for example via micro-credentials and new digital learning innovations.”, Katri Ventus, Head of Lifewide Services comments.
“Overall, it was fantastic to see that Aalto University and the South Korea Lifelong Education Development Foundation share the same views on bridging the gap between current skill sets and evolving industry needs.”, Ventus concludes.