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.
- 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
- Research is needed in improving cocoa sustainability18.10.2021
HAMK’s ongoing projects in Africa
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)
AGS co-creation and innovation programme
The co-creation and innovation programme in Zambia empowers companies, universities, public sector, and individual citizens, to join an inclusive community that supports local SMEs.
Duration: 2021–2022
Funded by: AGS Programme (Accelerated Growth for SMEs in Zambia)
View or download the project brochure (PDF).
Cocoa business development
The Cocoa business development project is implemented in collaboration with the Kultasuklaa company and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. The goal is to create a sustainable business model that provides a reasonable income level to the farmers and utilizes cocoa by-products in environmentally and socially sustainable ways. Team challenges of students from HAMK and UCC are one of the key methods for investigating the opportunities.
Duration: 2021–2022
Funded by: Finnpartnership
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
Global Sustainability studies – 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 course this summer!
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
- 5 ECTS, field work in Africa or project work in Finland
- 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.
Field work in Africa is planned to happen during 15.-30.10.2022. We are planning to have 4-6 student challenges in Zambia, Kenya, and South Africa. The list of student challenges is updating, you can follow the situation on this web page.
Current student challenge projects are:
- Digitalizing Cooking in Rural Zambia_Afstor
- Blood waste student challenge
- Resilient landscapes plan_ South Africa
- Water Hyacinth_Kenya
Before travelling to Africa, the international teams work online to familiarize themselves with the case. The field work in an African partner university is 10–12 days. The international teams share ideas and develop innovative solutions to the identified challenges. Each project team is mentored by the client organisation as well as the staff 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 field courses are open to all HAMK students who are interested in working with bio-economy linked business and development challenges.
What does this mean for students?
If you are interested in participating in the student challenge and this course, you first have to pass Cross-cultural communication 5 ECTS and Sustainable Society and Global Economy 5 ECTS -courses.
There are few assignments in those courses that are related to the country you are about to visit, so you can wait with those assignments, until you get that information.
You can find the two courses ( Cross-cultural communications and Sustainable Society and Global Economy) from Learn.
NOTE: You don’t need to wait for the teachers approval in Pakki to start the courses.
SCHEDULE
August 2022
- You can apply to participate by writing and submitting a motivational letter by 25.08.2022. There will be a course in Learn for this, and you can see the instructions from there.
- Selection of students to each case and formation of HAMK teams; 26.08.2022
September – October 2022
- Kick off meeting ; 1.09.2022, online
- Face-to-face team building & meeting with mentors; 9.09. 2022, HAMK Visamäki, Hämeenlinna. (mandatory day)
- Forming mixed teams (HAMK+African partners); 15.09.2022
- Teams working virtually; Weekly, every Wednesday
- Mentoring meetings with mentors; Biweekly on Mondays
- Communication plan
October–November 2022
- Workshop on ethnographic research methodologies,
- Face-to-face meetings of students before travel
- Mid-term presentations 12.10
- Video workshop
- Field visits/14 days/team
During 15.10–30.10
- De-briefing one week after the field visit (f2f)
- Mentoring of students continue
- Mentoring of mentors continue
- Communication continues
-
December 2022
- Virtual team work continues
- Report writing
- Final seminar presentation; 7.12.2022
- Final report; 18.12.2022
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)
- Registration for the students of the Open university of applied sciences
- Students of other universities of applied sciences (no cost): register on CampusOnline
The HAMK projects will cover the flights, in-country travel, accommodation and the stay in the partner university. Students’ self-funding includes personal travel, insurances, vaccinations and visa costs.
To learn about the field course schedule and to apply to the courses in the future, follow the information on Tuudo and the International Office.
Do you have questions or need more information about the Global Sustainability course?
HAMK Sustainable Development Degree Programme
Ulla-Maija Knuutti, Senior Lecturer
ulla-maija.knuutti@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
- STUDENT POST: HUJAMBO!Read more
As fall arrives, so begins the new student challenges as part of the Global Sustainability studies. We started our journey a couple of weeks ago when we got the confirmation that we were chosen for […]
- Our experience- Laura & TaruRead more
As a student, you can acquire knowledge in many ways during studies in a Higher Education Institution. We had the opportunity to experience a new way of learning during our field trip to Zambia/ […]
- Creating Sustainable Solutions for Global Sustainability – Spring 2022Read more
Artikkeli Creating Sustainable Solutions for Global Sustainability – Spring 2022 julkaistiin ensimmäisen kerran HAMK in Africa.
STUDEN POST. TEAM KENYA. For Team Kenya our AGRIScale-project is coming to an end and now we can reflect on the whole journey as we are finishing our deliverables. Our project was a collaboration between three universities: HAMK, Aalto and Egerton. We started our journey through workshops in Zoom and it concluded into a trip to Kenya from where we returned with great memories.
Problem-based learning was a great method for this project. Identifying the problem, researching it and finding possible solutions together really got us thinking about the subject: promoting the production and usage of biofuel made from invasive species in Kenya. Our workshops during our trip helped us see the issue from different perspectives. For example, during these exercises we were encouraged to find the hidden costs of biofuel or look for untapped potential in the market. All of these were very eye-opening and gave us plenty of ideas. It was crucial to work in teams that had people from all the three universities. Without this kind of collaboration and the local knowledge from the Egerton students, our understanding of the subject would have been pretty thin.
It was also a unique experience to get to meet the people affected by the water hyacinth: the people working at CIST Africa producing bioethanol, the local craftsmen and -women using the plant for all sorts of products and also the fishermen who are catching less tilapia but have found a way to utilize water hyacinth as a raw material for crafts, items and biogas.
All of the information we gathered from the people we encountered couldn’t have been gathered from the internet. All the moments we shared on the trip wouldn’t have happened via Zoom. So one could say, that for us, the problem-based learning turned out to be people-based learning in this project. Thank you for our friends at Egerton University and Aalto University for an unforgettable experience!
Asante sana! -Team Kenya #hamkinafrica #agriscale #pbl #egertonuniversity #kenya #njoro #teamwork
STUDENT POST: Team South Africa 🇿🇦🇫🇮
Our team, Team South Africa, is looking for climate-smart forestry solutions and long-term carbon sinks for carbon markets in South Africa. Beside getting to know the local culture and work environment, we need to be aware of the future climate change impacts in the project environment to be able to make long lasting and sustainable business models.
During this project, we have learned that the solutions that work to slow down climate change and storage carbon in Finland are not very easy to directly copy and implement to South Africa. Our team has spent many hours doing background research and interviewing specialists.
It’s been a very interesting spring with this topic. Our report for the project is slowly coming together, but the work is not nearly finished. This project will go on the next semester with a new team who will continue towards the final goal 😊
Mirva / Team South Africa
STUDENT POST
🇿🇦 Team South Africa / Katarina
Did you know that in South Africa, only 0.5% of the total area is covered by natural forests? We have prepared for you a few facts focused on our sector that we are working on during this project called Hamk in South Africa.
An infinite number of facts and information are interesting in this industry, and we have also selected some of them for you:
💡 most of the dense vegetation grows along the southern and eastern coasts and on the southern and south-eastern slopes of the inland mountains
💡 the forestry sector employs around 165 900 workers and of which it provides 62 700 direct jobs and 30 000 indirect jobs
💡 the forestry research infrastructure in South Africa is world-class
💡 there are a number of research projects aimed at the sustainable management of forest resources
Also among the main institutes that serve the research needs of industry are:
🏫 Institute of Commercial Forestry Research in Pietermaritzburg
🏫 Forestry and Agriculture Biotechnology Institute
🏫 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria
Katarína / Team South Africa
#southafrica #teamwork #greencarbon #co2 #hamkinafrica #forestry #interestingfacts
STUDENT POST, Team Zambia:
Last day, after 3rd intensive workshop day, we had a closing ceremony of the AGS workshop. All participants received a diploma. Her Excellency the Ambassador of Finland in Zambia, Mrs. Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury honored the closing ceremony of the AGS workshop in Lusaka with her presence. Thank you Zambia, until next time!
#hamkinafrica #universityofzambia #mulungushiuniversity #ags #industrycollaboration #workshop
STUDENT POST, Team Zambia:
Did we have fun in Zambia? Oh yeah, we did indeed! In addition to meeting all friendly Zambian people, we had an opportunity to explore Zambia's beautiful nature. We drove 8 hours from Lusaka to Livingstone to see one of the world's seven natural wonders, Victoria falls. After walking the trails around the falls and relaxing swimming session 😱, we experienced one of the most beautiful sunset during the cruise on Zambesi river. Next morning we got to see white rhinos, zeepras and giraffes at safari in Mosi-oa-Tunya National park. Absolutely an amazing trip!
Check the latest HAMK in Africa blog text about our visit to Zambia: https://bit.ly/3xOUCqZ The text is written by HAMK student Meryem.
#hamkinafrica #beatifulzambia #victoriafalls #safari #zambesiriver
📸 Jukka Niemi
STUDENT POST, Team Zambia:
As part of our trip to Zambia, three of us HAMK students visited Mulungushi University. We were shown around the campus and later had the priviledge to hear interesting presentations on agriculture as well as university-indusrty collaboration. It was also great to chat with very friendly Mulungushi students. A good day indeed.
#hamkinafrica #mulungushiuniversity #collaboration #teamwork
📸 Eija Kurki and Nasim Rahimi
STUDENT POST, Team Zambia:
Before travelling to Zambia we had two virtual 3-day workshops with student teams and Zambian companies. We got a lot of things done virtually but nothing to compare to 3rd workshop where we were able to work F2F. Finally we met our Zambian student colleagues and they all were super nice! It's all about the people!
HAMK student Minnamari interviewed Daisy, Niza and Rodgers from UNZA and asked what they think about workshops and working with HAMK students. Turn the sound on!
#hamkinafrica #universityofzambia #mulungushiuniversity #ags #industrycollaboration #workshop
STUDENT POST, Team Zambia:
Intensive teamwork in an international environment has many challenges. Foreign language, cultural differences, and environmental conditions emphasize the importance of listening and careful communication. There is also a need to set aside more time than usual. Fortunately, the situation is the same for all parties and usually teamwork is very rewarding 🏆
#hamkinafrica #teamwork #zambia #pbl
📸 Jukka Niemi
STUDENT POST, TEAM ZAMBIA:
Our team spent an interesting and intensive week in Zambia just before Easter. The trip was full of different experiences, discussion, hard work and joy! We will share our feelings and experiences from the trip to Zambia during this week, follow us here!
During the first week students from University of Zambia and HAMK were brainstroming and discussing different ways and models to develop collaboration between industries, univerisities and students. A model is really needed to reduce graduate unemployment. We also met a few local companies to get an idea of how the collaboration could be developed.
#hamkinafrica #universityofzambia #mulungushiuniversity #ags #industrycollaboration
📸 Jukka Niemi, Taru Karlsson
STUDENT POST. TEAM KENYA. Greetings from Kenya. #Kenya #Njoro #pbl #AgriScale #EgertonUniversity
Mingling at AgriTech Expo
Today students from Unza and Hamk joined together to attend AgriTech Expo, the biggest agriculture event in Zambia.
In this 3-day outdoor event agribusinesses and organisations showcase their latest innovations along the value chain in terms of machinery, solutions for livestock, irrigation, new varieties of seeds, fertilizers and crop protection systems. And one of the main topics is education in the field of agriculture.
Hamk and other partner universities are presenting at the event, among many other presenters and around 13 000 visitors, including the president of Zambia, mr Hakainde Hichilema!
Hamk and partners were visited by high-ranking guests as the Ambassabor of Finland and the Undersectary of Finland came to discuss about educational issues.
#hamkinafrica #hamk #unza #mulungushiuniversity
Brainstorming day
After long travel and a bit of rest, students continued with their planning for the next days. They will visit local innovation hubs with the guidance of Unza students.
Unza students and their lecturer Mr Chewe Nkonde had a long and interesting discussion with Hamk students about the workshops they have had and the experiences within them. They also talked about the curriculas of their universities and compared the diffrences and similarities they have.
What a wonderful and eyeopening afternoon for all!
#hamkinafrica #unza #hamk #studentprojects #agsprogramme
