Current Trends in International Engineering Education in Finland The Case of Degree Programme in IT at Rovaniemi Polyt

1. Current Trends in International Engineering Education in Finland The Case of Degree Programme in IT at Rovaniemi Polytechnic Authors: Piotr Krawczyk, Markku Taipale, Taisto Arkko, Rovaniemi Polytechnic, Rovaniemi, Finland

2. Background • Rovaniemi Polytechnic started its engineering degree programme in IT (DPIT) with English as a language of instruction 18 months ago • at the same time the polytechnic underwent major curricula redesign process across all the existing programmes • over the last 12 months, major shift towards well defined and aligned R&D efforts has been annaunced and developed in form of a comprehensive strategy across all the campuses • the faculty members are non-native speakers of English

3. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsInternationalization/Globalization • students adapt to the quickly evolving new global order by actually experiencing it through living, studying, and perhaps working, in a foreign country as part of their polytechnic education at the undergraduate level • flexibility is the key word and should be placed in the context of serving community, serving the nation, and serving human diversity • DPIT has benefited from years of experience of Finnish IT programmes at Rovaniemi Polytechnic • we seek to offer well balanced curriculum with hard-core engineering modules complemented by many courses focused on universal soft skills advocated by the ICT industry

4. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsConvergence e.g. Bologna Declaration Impact • DPIT programme has been transferred to ECTS in early 2005 • effort has been made to make it easily readable and comparable across Finnish system and abroad • DPIT programme promotes internationalisation as well as increased mobility for its Finnish and foreign students • course is offered for the engineering students to learn about the regional and European dimension of our education • quality asurrance is emerging as vital issue across all the processes

5. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsIntegration with the existing Finnish Programmes e.g. Staff Recruitment • the curriculum was built based on the core competencies of the existing staff in Finnish programmes • this significantly reduces the amount of the additional resources required • new staff is recruited to fit the curricular and language requirements of both DPIT and Finnish IT programmes

6. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsStudent Recruitment • there is a legal requirement for the admission process to be transparent, predictable, clear and objective • admission criteria and exam evaluation process are defined and approved by the Rector • programme has certain autonomy to calibrate the criteria on a yearly basis • once approved by the Rector, they are frozen well in advance before the overall admission process starts • yearly quota of 25 students has been established for DPIT

7. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsStudent Recruitment

8. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsCurricula Development • recently updated curricula content • special English language courses for students and lecturers • heterogeneity among the applicants • candidates are coming from different cultures and educational backgrounds • “math problem” • entry exams in math and English are designed to assure the minimum level of skills to benefit from the engineering education • entrepreneurial skills for the engineering graduates entering the global labour market • many courses enabling our graduates to initiate and engage in effective interdisciplinary dialogue

14. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsTeaching and Learning • lecturers are encouraged both financially, and in terms of further career • prospect, to complete 3 year teacher’s education • similar incentives are used to promote academic progress including PhD studies • for both activities time is budgeted in lecturers yearly work plan • appraisal meetings of the faculty members are arranged annually • pilot initiative launched with regard to course content and lecture evaluation • questionnaire was developed to facilitate feedback from students on lecturer’s performance and course content • evaluation is voluntary and, as of yet, not included to lecturer appraisalprocess • learning to learn course is offered to students at the early stage of their education at Rovaniemi Polytechnic

15. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsResearch and Development • Rovaniemi Polytechnic offers to its students and faculty members integrated • teaching and learning environment • research experience is of great importance not only to lecturers but it also • serves as vehicle to enhance education of DPIT undergraduates • research experiences allow engineering technology students to carry out • in-depth study of engineering concepts, while emphasizing hands-on approach • i.e. • in the field of algorithmic mathematics, DPIT students participate actively in the International Mathematica Symposium, an interdisciplinary conference on applications of Mathematica in research, education, industry and commerce • at the end of the first year of their studies, some students have been granted access and offered guidance in our 3D/VR research and development facility called pLAB • similar scheme was applied towards the DPIT freshmen at our Cisco lab in the area of network security

16. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsTraining/Industry Placement 30 ECTS credit units are allocated for industry placement on average - one month of full time work during each academic year

17. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsTwo Specialisations IT/System Security System Engineering/Embedded Systems

18. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsThesis following documents assure uniform approach to the process across the entire organisation: short guide, thesis agreement, project plan, thesis plan specifics, bibliography model, review memo, opponent guide, evaluation form option of combining training and diploma work already in the first year of the programme in the absence of an industry placement this provides opportunity for students to earn the credit units allocated to training by working with a faculty on a research topic of mutual interest with possible contribution to eventual diploma work

19. Programme Development, Environment, and ConstrainsQuality Assurance • DPIT is a subject to local regulations and procedures aiming • at the polytechnic-wide quality assurance • at the programme level we would like to work out • equivalent TQM – total quality management approach • ABET criteria are among many good examples to follow • we are working on custom made version of • Taxonomy-Based Questionnaire to identify and evaluate • major threats and success factors in our programme • development efforts.

20. SWOT analysis - Strengths 1. Faculty a. Stable and reasonably adequate number b. Fair academic and industrial backgrounds 2. A curriculum designed to meet local needs and comply with international standards (i.e., Bologna) a. A clear focus on IT Security and Embedded Systems b. Strong engineering science component c. Availability of a good variety of general education courses d. A well structured laboratory experience e. A strong professional component 3. Well equipped laboratory, library and IT Facilities 4. Adequate funding support (publicly funded) a. Research b. Available faculty development opportunities (sabbaticals, teachers education, personal academic progress) c. Hiring adequate human resources d. Maintaining and upgrading facilities, new campus projects e. Stable environment with medium and long term planning capabilities f. Tuition free education

21. SWOT analysis Weaknesses 1. Concerns in certain outcomes in graduating students a. Need for improvement in English oral and written communication skills b. Need for more integrated learning experience and real world applications c. Need for more creative and independent laboratory experience 2. Quality and quantity of current students a. The lack of motivation to excel among local students b. Insufficient language preparation c. Inadequate training in critical or analytical thinking d. Insufficient number of high quality applicants 3. Large proportion of faculty with limited research experience 4. DPIT cooperation with industry at the planning stage 5. Low commercial awareness (publicly funded), promotion not aggressive enough to effectively compete nation-wide and globally

22. SWOT analysisOpportunities 1. Assessment and accreditation (internationally recognized accreditations e.g. ABET) 2. Security cluster in Rovaniemi 3. New trends in multi-disciplinary professional education and new teaching methods a. Possibility of re-designing curriculum and by-laws to allow multi- disciplinary teaching and learning b. Possibility of utilizing e-learning and distance education 4. Dynamic society and culture a. Readiness to accept changes 5. Location a. Next to Oulu, second largest ICT cluster in Finland 6.Up-to-date Polytechnic wide R&D strategy 7. External funding by EU, TEKES, etc. 8. Possible commercialization through introduction of tuition fees

23. SWOT analysis Threats 1. Quality of incoming students (language, analytical thinking, motivation) 2. Due to public funding, low commercial awareness, 3. Declining enrollment (interest) in engineering among local students a. Lack of sufficient number of quality students with strong interest in engineering b. Limited public awareness 4. Competition (local, regional and global) a. Emerging English degree programmes in other Finnish polytechnics and abroad b. Accessibility of international schools via distance education c. Fast pace of developments in technology (e.g. IT, emerging new fields) d. Programmes in IT both at Polytechnics and Universities in Oulu and other parts of the region. 5. Lack of globally recognized accreditation (i.e. ABET) 6. IT/IS security in-house competence not fully established, local security cluster in a planning stage

24. Conclusions a structured and repeatable approach to programme development is necessary for consistent management effective programme management must cover all key development and support areas the programme development process must create and sustain a non-judgmental and non-attributive problem elicitation environment so that tentative or controversial views are heard no overall judgment can be made about the success or failure of a programme based solely on the number or nature of the problems uncovered