NEWS Eight higher educational institutions have signed an agreement designed to strengthen and develop mutual collaboration. “This will be a diagonal cooperative between universities from Bodø in the west to Vaasa in the east, but also society as a whole. The aim is to strengthen the region's competitiveness," says Göran Sandberg, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
The universities and colleges are quite similar to each other, but because of poor cross-transporation in the north, it still takes a long time to travel between them. Despite this, there is a vibrant student exchange, among several other areas.
“If we can we have cooperation with universities in California via the internet, we can do the same with ones within closer proximity," says Göran Sandberg.
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
Pål Pedersen, rector of Bodø University College, believes there is much that unites the universities and that they have much to gain.
“We share the challenges of being situated l in the north and we can utilise each others’ skills on many levels," says Pedersen.
The overall objective of the collaboration is to act on matters of strategic importance to the region, among others:
• to develop cooperation with industry and other sectors of society and contribute to their competence and skills • to develop basic education and the Nordic languages and culture in an international perspective • to develop research and research training in Bodø, Umeå and Vaasa in an international perspective in order to strengthen the region's competitiveness
• to improve the utilisation of common resources
“There have been previous agreements between Umeå University and Åbo Academy University, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, and the University of Vaasa. This new agreement is an extension and strengthening of the entire east-west region, "explains Göran Sandberg.
Bodø University College is one of the new partners in cooperation.
“Bodø has so much to add, and it also means an extension of this cooperative area that feels challenging,” says Matti Jakobsson, rector of the University of Vaasa.
“We have had contact with Umeå University over a period of many years and we are also collaborating on an institutional level, in areas such as teaching and nursing. For us, it is also good to interact with two EU countries especially with regards to EU integration projects, "says Pål Pedersen, rector of Bodø University College.
One result of this cooperation is the online project Nordic Knowledge that will develop into a web-based centre with lectures, debates, dissertations and more to facilitate the exchange of experience and knowledge exchange between universities.
The new agreement extends beyond Umeå University (Sweden), Åbo Academy (Finland), Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration (Finland), and the University of Vaasa (Finland) with the addition of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences – SLU (Sweden), Bodø University College (Norway), Vaasa University of Applied Sciences (Finland), and Novi University of Applied Sciences (Finland).
Novia University of Applied Sciences is the largest Swedish-speaking polytechnic institute with operations in seven locations.
The agreement was signed February 2.