Audit of the Karelia University of Applied Sciences 2024

Karelia University of Applied Sciences passed FINEEC's audit – using information produced by the quality system in management regarded as a strength

Karelia University of Applied Sciences passed the audit conducted by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC). Karelia UAS received praise from the audit team for its quality system. The quality system is widely known in the UAS community, and the information produced by it is used diversely, especially in the management of Karelia UAS. In addition, the audit team regarded the strong link of education programme planning and RDI with Karelia UAS’s strategy and regional development as one of the UAS’s strengths.

The higher education community of Karelia UAS is managed by information 

The information found in Karelia-Vipunen, Karelia UAS’s information portal, is monitored and used as a tool for management, development and evaluation at all levels of the UAS.

• Karelia UAS's quality system is widely known throughout the entire higher education community. The staff’s, students’ and stakeholders’ commitment to developing Karelia UAS is an important resource for its activities and development. Karelia UAS has a strong Karelia-spirit, notes Riitta Rissanen, Rector and CEO of Lapland University of Applied Sciences.

The information obtained from Karelia-Vipunen is utilised for strategy work and the Board’s decision-making, and this up-to-date information enables the UAS to update its strategy. With the help of annual forecasts, the management can respond promptly to potential needs for changes. To enable more systematic collection of foresight information on changes in the environment over a longer term, the audit team noted that Karelia UAS should clarify and describe the processes, procedures and responsibilities relating to foresight as part of its quality and management system. 

Degree programme planning has a strong link with strategy and regional development

Karelia UAS has an important role in educating the workforce and experts for the region and providing opportunities for continuous learning. In Karelia UAS, cooperation with working life supports the planning of the education offered. The planning of education is guided by the regional strategy, the city's vitality strategy and the strategies of key partners. Good examples of education programmes responding to the development needs of employers and the region include a language-supported nursing programme for students with a foreign background and new programmes in geriatric social work and drone operation.

Promoting education-based immigration is one of Karelia UAS’s strategic priorities. Karelia UAS has also planned international degree programmes together with employers to address regional needs. An example of this is the Industrial management programme that began in autumn 2020.

More ambitious goals for societal impact

At Karelia University of Applied Sciences, societal impact is created through successful strategic choices and fulfilling the mission well (degree education, RDI, and continuous learning). Societal impact is created when the results of Karelia UAS's activities are disseminated to society as competence and innovations, with a wide effect on society in terms of the region’s vitality and sustainable development. According to stakeholders, Karelia UAS's RDI activities play an important role in promoting regional development and expanding the competence. The audit team was convinced that Karelia UAS’s strategic choices regarding education and RDI lay a good foundation for developing regional impact. 

• Karelia UAS manages its core tasks and evaluates its societal impact based on information that is collected and used diversely, which is reflected in the results of the activities. In order to achieve more ambitious goals of societal impact, Karelia UAS should engage in bold new initiatives with stakeholders and develop more versatile ways of showing its successes when seeking societal impact, Rissanen encourages.

Karelia University of Applied Sciences passed the audit conducted by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) and was awarded a quality label for six years. Passing the audit shows that the activities and the quality system of the university of applied sciences meet both the national criteria and the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. The audit focuses on the higher education institution’s procedures for maintaining and enhancing the quality of education, research and societal interaction. The audit criteria have been published in FINEEC's Audit manual for higher education institutions.

The audit report is available on FINEEC’s audit platform.