Finnish Virtual University- lessons learned from

the developmentStavanger 24.2.2003

NVU-konferansen 2003Pekka Kess

• Information Society– Virtual Finland

http://virtual.finland.fi/

Country Score Networked Readiness Index Rank

Finland 5.92 1

United States 5.79 2

Singapore 5.74 3

Sweden 5.58 4

Iceland 5.51 5

Canada 5.44 6

United Kingdom 5.35 7

Denmark 5.33 8

Taiwan 5.31 9

Germany 5.29

Finland Tops Rankings in IT ReportGlobal Information Technology Report 2002-2003 Now AvailableThe Report is the most comprehensive, cross-country assessment of the state of information technology, covering 82 economies around the world. Global Competitiveness Programme Competitiveness Reports http://www.weforum.org/

ADMINISTRATION

By the year 2004 a high-quality, ethically and economically sustainable network-based model of organising teaching and research will have been consolidated.

Education, Training and Research in the Information Society;

A National Strategy for 2000-2004

There will be set up a virtual university by 2004 based on a consortium of several universities, business enterprises and research institutes. It will produce and offer internationally competitive, high-standard educational services.

Information Strategy for Education and Research 2000-2004; Implementation Plan

THE FINNISH VISION

ADMINISTRATION

• Founded in January 2001• Consortium of the all (=21) Finnish universities• A service organisation for the member universities - not a new university• Not awarding credits or degrees – the right for that retained within the

member universities• All funding from the government plus universities themselves – funding for

the development phase secured until the end of 2003• No fees for students

THE FINNISH VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY PAREMETERS 1/2

ADMINISTRATION

THE FINNISH VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY PAREMETERS 2/2

• Quality control by the members themselves - No external accreditation

• Portal, services and the complete concept in full operation in 2004

• Portal 1/4 - Finnish Nov 2001

• Portal 1/4 - Swedish Jan 2002

• Portal 1/4 - English Mar 2002

• Portal 2/4 - Finnish Jan 2003

• Portal 2/4 – Swedish/English Mar 2003

• Portal 3/4 Jan 2004

• Portal 4/4 Oct 2004

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 1/9

Guiding values:• trust between each of the members of the consortium

• academic critics

• creativity

• value of academic expertise

• ethically sound soltions

• equality in terms of location, size, etc of the members

• international

• sustainable development

• high quality

• econimically sound solutions

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 2/9

Strategic goals to:• utilise the stenghts of each member university

• enable each university to concentrate better on the basic tasks of research, education and related services

• enhance the collaboration

• strenghten the international position of the member universities

• improve the attractiveness of the member universities among students, teachers and other stakeholders

• save resources in the long run

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 3/9

Services supporting teaching and learing:• teaching based on academic research is the task of the

member universities

• FVU services are those produced by the members of the consortium and used widely covering areas of:

– tutoring,

– guidance,

– administration,

– information management

– training and advising these services

• In the FVU framework following projects will be carried out: – projects for joint services,

– projects for regional actions

– projects for interdiciplinary national networks

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 3/9

Services supporting teaching and learing (cont…):

• The goal of the development of teaching and learning platforms is in such environments where the collaboration between the teachers and academic experts is at the center point. These systems will in time replace systems where ICT is used primarly in storing, copying, combining and delivering data.

• The goal is that the universities will get a great number of new educational modules, programms and parts of degrees produced by themselves or with network collaboration. The objective here is promote student enrollment to these studies.

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 4/9

Services supporting research:• Services and platforms for students as well as the

supported network type work of the teachers are key services for the reaserach activties as well

• Services supporting contract administartion

• Digital information management together with the academic libraries and other ’owners’ of digital materials

• Meta data management development for the needs of academic research

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 5/9

International issues:

• international activities are a key element of academic research and education – this will be supported by helping in

– recruiting student and staff from abroad– designing and delivering education in other languages

• participation in selected international network activities to support the strategic goals

• international dissemination of the Finnish approach and knowledge

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 6/9

Organisational issues:• Key actors are in the project phase (>> 2004)

– FVU Consortium– University networks– University internal projects– FVU contact person network– FVU Development Unit

• Key actors are in the established phase (>> 2004)– FVU Consortium / board– University networks– FVU Center

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 7/9

Marketing issues:• services are disseminated widely to all potential users

• PR, training and related activities are used

• FVU portal will be the most used marketing tool

ADMINISTRATION

STRATEGIC ISSUES 8/9

Quality issues:• Goals are that the services:

– meet the needs of the universities,– are technically well designed,– can be maintaned economically– can be accepted in international collaboration and evaluation

• Evaluation phases:– Portal and connected services: usability– Peer evaluation of networked production – Teacher ICT knowledge level evaluation – FVU external (International ) evaluation in

collaboration with FHEAB

ADMINISTRATION

Strategic approach summary

Less friction to study in other universities (in Finland)Distributed developementCentralised standardisation

STRATEGIC ISSUES 9/9

ADMINISTRATION

FUNDING

• Budget for 2003

– Ministry of Education (MoE): total ca. 9 M € split between

• individual universities (½)

• University network projects (½)

– ESF + private funding: : 0.7 M € for the portal building, PR and training

– plus resources as synergy from other national initiatives and intra-university projects

• Anticipated MoE and ESF funding for 2004 at least on the current level

• 2005 onwards yet open

STUDY

Connet – Cognitive Science and Cognitive EngineeringEducation of Organic ChemistryElectronic Postgraduate Studies in LawFinnish Virtual University of HistoryFinland Futures AcademyKasVi – The Virtual University of Educational SciencesMathematical ModellingMOVE – Music Education in the NetThe National University Network for East and South-East Asian StudiesOSCu – Open Source CoUrsewarePsykonet – Network University of PsychologyRussian Studies OnlineSOSNET – A National University Network for Social WorkTieDot – Distance Education of Scientific Information SkillsUniversity Network for Communication SciencesThe Virtual University of Literary Studies

STUDY

IQ-FORM – Intelligent QuestionnaireIT-Peda – Network to Enhance Knowledge on On-line Teaching and Learning in Finnish UniversitiesOVI – The Project for Developing the Virtual Environment for Assessing and CounsellingSUVI – Open University in FinlandTieVie – Information and Communication Technology in Higher Education – National Teacher Training Programme

TEACHING

Regional initiatives

Eastern Finland Virtual University NetworkHelsinki Business CampusLearning Center – Developing of New Ways of Teaching and Studying

ADMINISTRATION

IPR management•model contracts•support services

Project managementLife cycle modelProject management handbookTraining material

ICT Strategy formation•strategy process model•strategy kowledge base•virtual libarary•case histories

SERVICES

Crossing the Chasm

• Vertical niche markets • Whole product • Compelling application• Dominant position • Strong reference base• De facto standards

… then Horizontal Market Development

CROSSING THE CHASM

Project Outcome (%) Project Size in Function Points

<100 101-1,000 1,001-5000 >5000

Cancelled

> 12 months late

On time

Early

> 6 months late

15

72

9

1

3

6

53

24

10

7 13

12

35

37

3

24

18

37

20

1

SOME AMATEURS!

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

PRODUCT OBJECTIVES

THE FVU PORTAL

IT-Peda –interest group

SETTING THE TARGETS!

Mobilizing the FVU (?)

CHALLENGES

Thank you!

http://www.virtualuniversity.fi

pekka.kess@virtualuniversity.fi