Three Universities Start a Joint Education Export Company
A joint education export company of the universities of Eastern Finland, Tampere and Turku will begin to market and sell the international education services of its owner universities.
The Boards of the Universities of Turku and Eastern Finland decided in September to join the education export company and later also the Board of the University of Tampere has made the same decision.
After this decision, the education export company is founded as soon as possible. Each partner university will invest the same amount of money in the company.
The aim of the company is to promote the business of education export in universities and to increase the cooperation in the field of education export between universities, as well as to develop the educational products the universities will sell.
– This opens up excellent possibilities for the partner universities to promote their educational offerings in the international arenas, says Kalervo Väänänen, Rector of the University of Turku.
In the beginning, the universities will sell extension studies, study modules and made-to-order programmes through their education export company. In addition, there is great potential in selling degree education, but the current legislation does not allow it.
Prospective customers include, among others, foreign companies, public sector organisations, universities, and private persons interested in extension and degree studies. Finnish companies operating abroad can also become customers of the company.
When the company becomes responsible for the marketing, the universities can better concentrate in developing the education programmes. A joint education export company will also create joint education exports.
– By combining the resources of three universities, we will be able to offer more wide-ranging and versatile education than each university could offer on its own, say the Rectors of the partner universities.
The goal is to start the education export at the beginning of the year 2014.
The Coordinator of Educational Export Has Been Chosen
The recruitment of the CEO for the education export company is ongoing and the choice falls to the board of the company. All three universities have their own Coordinators of Education Export.
Jukka Pulkkinen has been appointed as the Coordinator of Educational Exports of the University of Turku. Pulkkinen is a Master of Arts (MA) with a degree in Information Systems Science. He has worked at the University and acquired a versatile experience in the business world by commercialising innovations and combining products and sales.
The coordinator will participate in the planning and pricing of the educational products, the identification of new products and the development of joint education modules of the universities. The coordinator is a link between different universities and the units and companies producing educational export products at the University of Turku.
Text: HB
Translation: Anniina Väisänen and Jenna Sjöholm