Sino-Finnish Double Degree Center

Center heads name, title and contact information：

Heads/ Co-heads from China：Ming WANG, Professor, Vice Dean of and Director of Teacher Training Department, Graduate School, BNU
Email：wangming@bnu.edu.cn

Heads/Co-heads from Finland：Ritva Kantelinen & Eija Kärnä, Professor, University of Eastern Finland
Email：ritva.kantelinen@uef.fi and eija.karna@uef.fi
Seppo Hölttä, Professor, Tampere University
Email：seppo.holtta@uta.fi

Missions：

Based on the actual situations of educational reform and development in China and Finland, the Double Degree Center will actively establish a platform to promote educational understanding and mutual learning between China and Finland and come up with new ideas through in-depth education cooperation and scientific research. The double degree center has four major tasks: 1. Facilitating the creation and establishment of double degree programmes both at undergraduate, master and doctoral level in the field of education, 2. providing counseling services related to double degree programmes, 3. carrying out student and teacher exchange, and 4. conducting joint research projects. The center will further accelerate student mobility to achieve the common prosperity of higher education in the two countries.

Goals of the center：

Double Degree Center works as a facilitator of the double degree programs under two paths: e.g. a postgraduate program (for example 2+1) where a graduate student obtains two separate M.S. level degrees awarded by these two universities independently, or a graduate student obtains one M.S. level degree jointly awarded by two universities. Both BNU and UEF have successful double-degree programs with other foreign, which provide good experience in developing such programs with Finland.

Specific Goals：

1. To launch the substantive double degree programs between China and Finland
In order to promote the student mobility, the Center will communicate with the universities in both sides, and launch the pilot double degree programs at undergraduate, master and doctoral stages. The Center will provide intellectual support for double degree cooperation between universities in China and Finland, and provide consulting services for other domestic colleges and universities in both countries.

2. To carry out annual exchange activities
The center will regularly hold annual meetings and other exchange activities to support the exchange of visits between the two sides, promote the close exchanges between the institutions of higher education in China and Finland and promote both sides to reach cooperation and create a greater influence in the field.

3. Building an information exchange platform for double degree cooperation between China and Finland
The center will design a website that will form a normal mechanism and a fixed work team for information release. The website will provide information on the education trend in the field of double degree school-running and release in a real-time manner the policies and the latest development trends related to double degree school-running. The website will be an important information window for cooperation between China and Finland.

4. Conducting studies in double degree
In order to promote the cooperation between universities in China and Finland in the double degree programs, the Center will provide a research foundation for promoting bilateral cooperation through carrying out scientific research in the aspects such as the double degree school-running policies of the two countries, credit conversion, market demands and cooperative school-running planning.