2/2009 FIRST programme in the Finnish- Russian Higher Education Cooperation West Finland HEInet FIRST Decennial Anniversary Seminar Sini Piippo, Senior Programme Adviser, Higher Education Cooperation, Centre for International Mobility CIMO

2/2009 FIRST Programme in the Finnish- Russian Higher Education Cooperation FIRST programme in the context of Finnish-Russian higher education cooperation and student mobility FIRST since 2000: summary of the experience, statistics Some future perspectives

2/2009 Finnish-Russian Student and Teacher Exchange Programme FIRST Network cooperation programme for Finnish and North-Western Russian higher education institutions Operating since 2000 Financed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture Administered by Centre for International Mobility CIMO Programme purposes promoting partership and reciprocal mobility: strengthening the existing and creating new higher education co-operation reaching balanced teacher and student mobility between the countries Annual programme budget decided on a yearly basis, approx €

2/2009 Student mobility Russia  Finland

2/2009 Student mobility Russia  Finland Degree students * 1291 * 1378 * 1595 * 1776 * 2107 * Exchange students FIRST Exchange students FIRST % of exchange students 36,659,845,660,342,233,533,250,840,8 RUSSIA  FINLAND 2011 Degree students in Finland total Incoming exchange students 9172

2/2009 Student mobility Finland  Russia

2/2009 Student mobility Finland  Russia Degree students Exchange students HEIs FIRST Exchange students FIRST % of exchange students 12,432,541,133,529,728,527,738,634,8 FINLAND  RUSSIA 2011 Degree students from Finland total 5848 Outgoing exchange students 9931

2/2009 Finnish-Russian Student and Teacher Exchange Programme FIRST Supported programme activities: Bilateral student and teacher mobility between Finland and North-Western Russia New: also practical training/internships Intensive courses in Russia Accessibility grants networks, of which 10 coordinated by Finnish universities and 15 by Finnish universities of applied sciences 52 Russian and 38 Finnish HEIs involved in networks

2/2009 FIRST Programme budget

2/2009 FIRST-student mobility

2/2009 FIRST –teacher mobility

2/2009 FIRST Intensive courses short study periods providing students and teachers with an opportunity to work together in a Russian-Finnish group The minimum duration one week 5 days + travel days Participating students and teachers equally from Finland and Russia The course must take place in Russia The financial support for organizational costs only, such as travel and accommodation of participants - may not cover salaries

2/2009 FIRST intensive courses Courses Students from Finland Students from Russia Teachers from Finland Teachers from Russia

2/2009 FIRST Intensive courses For HEIs: Short-time, interesting theme with experts involved, practical orientation  efficient tools to increase international functions in HEIs  can lead to other joint projects between partner institutions Cooperation has been smooth and easy between Finnish and Russian partners For participants: Group working and visits to companies have been ”eye- openers” to many of the participants Courses have been popular among students  For Finnish students often 1st visit to Russia  Many students would like to go for an exchange to Russia for a longer period of time, but their Russian language skills are not good enough for studying

2/2009 FIRST Student mobility North-Western Russia: majority of Russian partners in St.Petersburg Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, Syktyvkar, Kaliningrad

2/2009 The role of FIRST in FI-RU higher education cooperation? Facilitating the Finnish-Russian higher education cooperation since 2000: basis for long term cooperation and mobility enhances also new openings Broad spectrum of different level cooperation and networks Small scale and large networks Almost all of the Finnish HEIs included in the networks  established cooperation offers an opportunity for students all over the country Offering possibilities for Russian students and teachers

2/2009 The role of FIRST in FI-RU higher education cooperation? Intensive courses can intensify the cooperation  joint study periods  joint degrees Level of funding modest, but for the HE- cooperation between Finland and North-Western Russia significant

2/2009 The future of FIRST? stabile with only few changes HEIs: Increased need for funding and more activities Geographical scope  other parts of Russia? The Nordic-Russian Cooperation Programme in Education and Research offers funding also for FI-RU HE-cooperation 2014: Erasmus for All will open the mobility also to and from Russia Modest volume of mobility? Need to adjust FIRST?

2/2009 CIMO publications related to FIRST Study on FIRST (2012): mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/27188_FIRST_selvitys.pdf mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/27188_FIRST_selvitys.pdf Intensive courses: experiences and best practices (2013): mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/28230_Intensiivikurssit_ko kemuksia_ja_hyvia_kaytantoja.pdf mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/28230_Intensiivikurssit_ko kemuksia_ja_hyvia_kaytantoja.pdf Study On Intensive Courses And Institutional Impacts On Higher Education Establishments In Finland (2012) mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/24818_Intensiivikurssien_v aikuttavuusselvitys_web.pdf mo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/24818_Intensiivikurssien_v aikuttavuusselvitys_web.pdf

2/2009 Thank you for your attention!