Karelia University of Applied Sciences
The Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Karelia UAS) offers education leading to a polytechnic degree for young and adult learners, and takes actively part in regional development work and research and development activities. Down-to-earth co-operation extends from the regional business sector up to the active networks of international higher education institutions and various organisations.
Karelia UAS maintains an extensive international network and internationality is seen in the everyday life of students, teachers and other staff members. Karelia UAS has an official agreement for multifaceted, long-term co-operation in education, R&D and mobility (“key partnership”) with 28 organisations on 4 continents and a total of over 100 partner institutions in 25 countries.
Karelia UAS develops and offers high-quality R&D services for enhancing regional development and supporting industry and other areas of working life in North Karelia and Eastern Finland. It has two decades of experience in serving as a lead partner or partner organisation on both national and international projects.
The focus areas in R&D activities include sustainable energy and materials and modern welfare services. They are selected with the goal of gaining nationally and internationally recognised expertise and competence. The selected areas are based on regional, national and international development challenges. We search for solutions to these challenges by meeting the needs of working life through education, multidisciplinary RDI activities and actively operating in competence and development networks. The common themes of Karelia UAS are digitalisation, internationality and entrepreneurship. These are the central targets of development and will be promoted in all activities.
The focus area of sustainable energy and materials concentrates on renewable natural resources and bio-economy based sustainable energy solutions, including the development of products and services connected to them, as well as increased wood construction and the use of wood-based materials.
University of Eastern Finland – School of Forest Sciences
The strength of the School is largely a question of co-operation between different branches of wood and forest sciences.
The University of Eastern Finland (UEF) School of Forest Sciences is an internationally renowned provider of higher education and research. At the University of Eastern Finland, the bioeconomy is seen as an extensive and new way of thinking and doing things, extending to the very foundations of society and striving for sustainable development. Strategically speaking, the UEF’s bioeconomy focus is on forests, wood and land use. The strengths of UEF, and its multidisciplinarity in particular, are put to use in the development of bioeconomy research.
Our education has a solid foundation in contemporary research and we train responsible experts for global forestry and environmental issues. With Master’s and doctoral programmes, the School actively participates in a variety of wood and forestry-related networks at the national, European and international levels, and benefits from its close co-operation with European Forest Institute (EFI) and Finnish Natural Resources Institute (LUKE). Forestry education is international in nature and Finnish expertise in forestry is acknowledged and sought-after worldwide. Education in forest sciences emphasises a holistic view of the stewardship of forests, forest resources, and the benefits they provide, while ensuring their sustainable use and protection.
Study programmes at School of Forest Sciences:
- BSc in Forest Sciences (in Finnish),
- MSc in Forest Sciences (in Finnish),
- MSc in Wood Materials Science (in English),
- MSc Forestry CBU (in English)
- MSc European Forestry (in English)
- MSc Transatlantic Forestry Master (in English)
- DSc in Forest and Bioresources (in English).
Forest science research is conducted on a broad front. Forest science is an applied science, in which the significance of the natural sciences, humanities, business studies and technology can vary greatly across a number of sectors. In the last few years, the University of Eastern Finland’s scientific success stories in the field have included research on the impacts of climate change as well as on the remote sensing of forests. Investing in the bioeconomy is a way of realising the Society’s Commitment to Sustainable Development, to which the university itself is committed.
Our research themes are the following:
- forest and peatland ecology
- silviculture and forest management
- forest planning and inventory
- remote sensing and airborne laser scanning applications
- forest technology and timber harvesting logistics
- wood technology and wood materials science
- bioeconomy and biotechnology
The strength of forest sciences at the University of Eastern Finland is largely a question of co-operation between different branches of study, facilitated by the compact structure of the Joensuu campus and having the right attitude. Forest researchers have always sought international contacts on a genuine basis, because local forestry no longer exists as such.
http://www.uef.fi/en/web/forest
** Nosto: Forest researchers have always sought international contacts on a genuine basis, because local forestry no longer exists as such.**
North Karelia college Valtimo
The North Karelia college Valtimo educates professionals for the forest machine industry, e.g. forest machine operators, forestry technicians and timber truck drivers. The college has several partners, including John Deere, Ponsse, Komatsu, University of Eastern Finland, Tampere University of Technology, Natural Resources Institute Finland and Metsäteho.
Valtimo has educated a total of 5,000 operators, technicians and drivers, 40% of which are internationalprofessionals from Russia, Europe, North and South America and China. The college is a pioneer in the useof forest machine simulators in vocational education.
The development of education, methods and techniques for work, automated learning environments and supporting systems for the evaluation of learning are based on research. The teaching methods used have been proven to provide a 20% improvement in efficiency during harvesting as well as in fuel consumption, in addition to improved quality control.
Education packages are offered both locally and remotely, and range from logging manager training and assessment of expertise for forest machine operators to the training of instructors in forest machine operating.
The North Karelia college Valtimo is a part of North Karelia Municipal Education and Training Consortium