Educationalists Networking In Brussels
The Faculty of Education took part in the international SciTech Europe event in Brussels. The faculty’s stand was busy, and the Masterclass lecture on Finnish education and education research gathered a record audience.
At the SciTech event. From the left: the Dean, Professor Marja Vauras, Researcher Johanna Kallo and Academy Professor Erno Lehtinen.
This was the fourth time the SciTech Europe event was organised. The aim of the event is to bring together representatives of universities, EU and sponsors. One Thursday and the Wednesday evening before it, offered a chance for networking, introducing research as well as brainstorming and marketing future EU projects.
Thursday’s programme provided Keynote lectures on cooperation and the future of European science as well as 12 Masterclass lectures, which presented in more detail the on-going research and innovation operations in Europe. The faculty also had their own stand where the audience could meet lecturers and faculty representatives.
Out of all the organised Masterclass lectures, University of Turku’s had the biggest audience according to the event organisers: out of over 600 attendees almost 80 participated in the lecture. The Dean, Professor Marja Vauras says that the success exceeded all expectations.
- This is the first year for us and we didn’t really have any expectations. That’s why the attention and interest towards our faculty’s research and the Finnish education came as a pleasant surprise, Vauras says.
Vauras, together with Academy professor Erno Lehtinen and Postdoctoral Researcher Johanna Kallo, held the lecture on the faculty’s areas of strength and research. Lehtinen also introduced computer games developed for teaching mathematics.
Conversation was lively especially when talking about the equality and quality of the Finnish education, higher education based teacher training and school selections.
- We hope that our presence here will bring new partners and possible sponsors to our future projects, Vauras says.
At the end of the lecture, Vauras called for interdisciplinary cooperation between universities as well as with the business world:
-The biggest challenge in education is to keep up with the quickly changing demands of work life and technology. We need close cooperation between different fields’ top researchers and innovative business.
The Faculty of Education’s lecture, Educating for equity, social justice, citizenship and literacies in the 21st Century, collected a record audience in Brussels.
The Faculty of Education’s stand: the Head of Research Affairs Kirsi Klemelä, the Head of Administration Meri Louhi and the Dean, Professor Marja Vauras.
More information about the event: SciTech Europe
Text and photos: Kati Kaarlehto
Translation: Sini Mäentaka