HAMK in Africa
Partnerships for education, research and innovation
HAMK is building knowledge and competence together with African universities and partners.
In this age of globalisation, there is a great need for collaboration, new ideas and innovations, and shared resources. Häme University of Applied Sciences is actively involved in international cooperation in education and research, which will shape the future of the world. Collaboration with African partners has an impact on all HAMK’s levels:
- Collaborative research is the tool for producing solutions suitable for local realities to create jobs and wealth. Collaborative research will also lead to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.
- Students are in the centre of all we do. Students at HAMK as well as at African partner universities will have possibilities to enhance their international competences and to strengthen their global citizenship. Through HAMK’s collaboration in Africa, students will have more opportunities for short exchanges in multidisciplinary groups.
- Our staff also have opportunities to increase their global through teacher exchanges, both by visiting African partner universities and by welcoming colleagues from African countries to teach at HAMK.
- AgrGROW Project aims to contribute in diversifying skills of graduates in Malawi and Uganda27.10.2023
- Development of sustainability and competence for Africa – experts gather at HAMK and Aalto University in September15.09.2022
- Building industry-university collaboration in Zambia13.04.2022
- HAMK students arrived to Zambia07.04.2022
- Big things happening in Kenya30.03.2022
- Co-creation and innovation program in Zambia20.02.2022
- Kick-off Event for the new Africa-related Student Projects 1.-2.2.202204.02.2022
- Student Info Session about Africa Projects gathered interest among students and staff03.02.2022
- The first Pilot Student Challenges successfully finished28.01.2022
- HAMK and Fida collaborating for accessible quality education in Kenya08.11.2021
HAMK’s ongoing projects in Africa
21st Forestry TVET-TZ
Active pedagogy and modernised professional skills in technical and vocational forestry education in Tanzania
The 21st Forestry TVET-TZ project advances Tanzanian forestry sector’s ecological, economical and social development through educational capacity building. The main focus is on promoting climate-smart, circular and sustainable forest resource management and forest sector entrepreneurship, employment and economic growth.
The project offers concrete support to strengthen Tanzanian forestry technical and vocational institutions’ (TVETs) and extension officers’ capacity to provide working life relevant and inclusive forestry education and training.
Duration: October/ 2022 – September / 2023
Funder: Indufor Oy / Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland
Budget: 154 904 €
Partners: Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Forest Industries Training Institute (FITI), Forest Training Institute (FTI), Forestry and Wood Industries Training Centre (FWITC), Participatory Plantation Forestry Programme (PFP2)
AgriSCALE
AgriSCALE is a joint initiative for reforming agri-entrepreneurship education in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. The project includes real-life PBL cases for international student teams both online and in the field in Africa.
Duration: 2020–2023
Funded by: Erasmus+/EACEA
View project video (YouTube) and brochure (PDF)
FOREST21
FOREST21 is a joint project for strengthening capacity in South African higher education in forestry entrepreneurship. Through curricula reformations and promoting student-centred learning and teaching, graduates will be equipped with 21st century skills to solve problems, create jobs and improve climate-smart forestry.
Duration: 2021–2024
Funded by: Erasmus+/EACEA
PBL-BioAfrica
PBL-BioAfrica is a collaborative project for strengthening the capacity of bioeconomy education and promoting PBL methods in Kenya and Zambia. A large number of students will be equipped with practical skills and an entrepreneurial mindset through team projects with real companies and NGOs. Promoting circular economy, climate-smart agriculture and gender equality are also in the heart of PBL-BioAfrica.
Duration: 10/2020–5/2024
Funded by: HEI ICI/Edufi/MFA (the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland)
View project brochure (PDF)
RAJO
Duration: 2021–2022
Funded by: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA)
Water Hyacinth Project
The water hyacinth Co-Creation project in Kenya examines different management and valorization options of water hyacinth biomass and their value chains. The alternative value chains are compared by different aspects: economical, societal and environmental. The main focus will be on the research needs and business potential for involved Finnish companies. During the Co-Creation phase local context will be analyzed, piloting sites in Kenya selected and a joint Co-Innovation project between consortium partners will be developed.
The project is coordinated by Häme University of Applied Sciences Bio Research Unit and implemented in collaboration with Finnish and Kenyan companies, Egerton University, ADRA Finland Foundation and Community Initiative for Development in Kenya.
Duration: 2022-2023
Funded by: Business Finland
Zambia for agroforestry, biodiversity and climate (Z4ABC)
Duration 4 years (48 months) April 2022-March 2026
Project is funded by EU: GCCA+/DeSIRA joint initiative on climate change & sustainable food systems
AgrGROW
Climate-Smart agropreneurship Education for Livelihood and Sustainability in Eastern and Southern Africa.
AgrGROW capacitates HEIs in student-centered learning, in network-based learning ecosystem building and practices of climate-smart agropreneurship. The project undertakes PBL- and climate-smart agropreneurship trainings and the methodology is piloted and contextualized through students online and field works.
Project Website: https://agrgrow.org/
Duration: 2023-2026
Funded by: Erasmus+/EACEA
Global Sustainability Module – Join Field Work in Africa
Building a sustainable world – this is what Global Sustainability studies is about. Learn about intercultural communication and why we need to care about others’ cultures or beliefs. Learn to understand the global economic and socio-cultural processes connecting the rich and poor of the world. Learn about the global inequality challenges, discuss sustainable and respectful global development and link this to your own studies. As a HAMK student, you have an opportunity to deepen your experience through joining a real-life development project in Africa.
In total, we plan for 75 HAMK students to travel to our African partner countries between 2022–2024. Join our field challenges by taking Creating Sustainable Solutions/ Global sustainability course, open to all HAMK students.
Join our courses!
We offer three courses consisting of a full 15-credit module:
- Cross-cultural communication
- 5 ECTS, online
- It’s open in Learn, you can do it in your own time and schedule: https://learn.hamk.fi/course/view.php?id=9144
- Sustainable Society and Global Economy
- 5 ECTS, online
- It’s open in Learn, you can do it in your own time and schedule: https://learn.hamk.fi/course/view.php?id=10713
- Creating Sustainable Solutions
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- 5 ECTS, field work in Africa or project work in Finland, https://learn.hamk.fi/enrol/index.php?id=11398
- This part is built around student challenge. In the student challenge, you learn in co-operation with multicultural teams. You will be a member of HAMK team of 5 students, and you will work in collaboration with student teams from African universities.
- If you are interested to join, submit a motivational video. To qualify, you first have to pass Cross-cultural communication 5 ECTS and Sustainable Society & Global Economy 5 ECTS courses prior to field work.
- The HAMK projects covers the flights, in-country travel, accommodation and the stay in the partner university. Students’ self-funding includes personal travel, insurances, vaccinations and visa costs.
NOTE: You don’t need to wait for the teachers approval in Pakki to start the courses.
Upcoming Student Challenges/Projects
- 1. Mango Value Chain Challenge , Kenya (PBL BioAfrica Project)
- 2. Tc Banana Value Chain challenge , Kenya (AgriSCALE Project)
- 3. Opportunities along the forestry/agriculture value chain for climate-smart practices, South Africa (postponed to Feb.2024) (Forest21 Project)
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Deadline for submitting application; 25th August 2023
Before travelling, the international teams work online to familiarize themselves with the case. The field work in an African partner university is 14 days. International teams share ideas and develop innovative solutions to the identified challenges. In Student projects, each project team is mentored by the client organisation as well as a staff member of HAMK and partner universities.
After the field work, the teams can continue discussing together, analyzing their cases and finding possible alternative solutions to their challenge.
The global sustainability module is open to all HAMK students.
This is a great opportunity for real-life learning and experiences with students in Africa!
Global Sustainability Module structure
- HAMK students may register on Pakki (search by course names)
Do you have questions or need more information about the Global Sustainability course?
HAMK Sustainable Development Degree Programme
Nina Nygren, Lecturer
nina.nygren@hamk.fi
More information about the projects:
Teija Lehtonen, Senior Advisor, HAMK Bio
Tel. +358 400618 328
teija.lehtonen@hamk.fi
- Annukka Pakarinen
- Director, HAMK Bio Research Unit
- Tel. +358 503001 827
- annukka.pakarinen@hamk.fi
- Martti Majuri
- Director, HAMK Edu Research Unit
- Tel. +358 405879 883
- martti.majuri@hamk.fi
- Eija Laitinen
- Principal Research Scientist
- Tel. +358 505853 933
- eija.laitinen@hamk.fi
- Maaret Viskari
- Director, Global Education
- Tel. +358 505745 943
- maaret.viskari@hamk.fi
Blog
- The land where Mountains meet the SeaRead more
By Iida Taavela, Emma-Kaarina Uusitalo, Erja Eskelinen & Saara Junikka Our team consisting of 4 people plus our mentor left from Helsinki on 14th October and 24 hours later we were in George, […]
- STUDENT POST: Digitalizing Cooking in Rural AfricaRead more
We are pleased to introduce our student challenge in Zambia in this blog but first let’s introduce our team. We are four students representing HAMK in this collaborative challenge with Aalto, […]
- STUDENT POST: Our first impressionRead more
We are students in the Global Sustainability course and participating in the student project of Forest21, which is joint project for the strengthening capacity in South Africa higher education in […]
