Co-oper­a­tion in bioe­con­omy educa­tion devel­op­ment between Chile and Finland

Solving global chal­lenges needs inter­na­tional and multi­dis­ci­pli­nary co-oper­a­tion in terms of educa­tion and capac­ity build­ing. There­fore, seven Chilean and Finnish univer­si­ties have created a co-oper­a­tion network to enhance bilat­eral capac­ity build­ing in the field of bioe­con­omy and sharing the best prac­tices between Chile and Finland.

Univer­si­ties are inform­ing of collab­o­ra­tion by signing Memo­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MoU). These univer­si­ties are Univer­si­dad Católica del Maule of Chile, Univer­si­dad Austral de Chile, Univer­sity of Talca, Univer­si­dad de Concep­ción, Univer­sity of Eastern Finland, Karelia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences and Savonia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences.

Univer­si­ties are plan­ning coop­er­a­tion in terms of joint imple­men­ta­tion on bioe­con­omy educa­tion for students and profes­sion­als. This includes sharing of expe­ri­ences and best prac­tices on enhanc­ing the quality of teach­ing and learn­ing in higher educa­tion. The focus areas are sustain­able and socially respon­si­ble use of natural resources, wood construc­tion, bio and circu­lar economy, and agri­cul­tural systems. Co-oper­a­tion will start by sharing best prac­tices of bioe­con­omy educa­tion programs, e.g. Finnish bioe­con­omy special­iza­tion studies which is targeted for the profes­sion­als working in the broad field of bioeconomy.

This coop­er­a­tion is part of the Finnish bioe­con­omy devel­op­ment project called “Devel­op­ing inter­na­tional bioe­con­omy compe­tence in Eastern Finland by working life oriented contin­u­ous learn­ing”. This project aims to improve the offer­ings of the univer­si­ties in contin­u­ous learn­ing in the growing bioe­con­omy sector and to develop working life orien­ta­tion of the educa­tion, both peda­gog­i­cally and in terms of substance. Project is funded by the Euro­pean social fund and its dura­tion is 2.5 years.