The evaluation area IV assesses an area selected by the HEI where it wishes to receive feedback for the enhancement of its activities.
The audit team identified the following as the main strengths and recommendations:
Strengths
- Working life cooperation is strongly connected to VAMK’s institutional strategy, to regional companies and to the regional institutions.
- Strategic partnerships effectively capture the needs of working life and cater to the provision of qualified workforce through practice- and competence-oriented education.
- Close and varied cooperation of teaching staff with regional companies and institutions underpin VAMK’s ambition to be the main partner in expertise.
- Manifold integration of working life input into curriculum design helps to keep educational offers up-to-date and future-oriented.
- Institutional indicators relating to working life cooperation provide good orientation for development and enhancement.
Recommendations
- Working life projects should be integrated systematically into the planning of teaching and the programme development process to ensure that all students are provided with learning experiences connected to working life.
- Graduates’ competences needed for future work should be captured periodically and more systematically mapped to the needs of working life; teaching and learning should be aligned to foster the attainment of these competences.
- Cooperation with working life should be used consistently to increase proactively continuous learning offers.
- The newly installed platforms should be used diligently and consistently to make continuous learning initiatives for partners from working life more visible.
- Predictive analyses as to labour market trends should be used to provide for future-oriented education and up-skilling through continuous learning.