The FutureEdu project group met our international partners in Bulgaria during 17.-23.11.2019. The meeting was hosted by Dimitar Marinov and his colleagues from Yatrus Foundation from Ruse. The Finnish participants in the meeting were Jaana Heiskanen from Savo Vocational College and Anssi Mähönen, Paula Puhilas, Tommi Kinnunen and Sirkka-Liisa Halimaa from Savonia University of Applied Sciences.
Our objectives of the meeting were to clarify the implementation of the project action plan and learn more about the activities done by our Bulgarian partner. We also aimed to share the best practices of using virtual technologies in education and of implementing the satellite education –model, as well as to strengthen the collaboration with different stakeholders such as the University of Ruse, University hospital of Ruse and some authorities like the Ministry of Education in Sofia.
The first three days of the week were spent at the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. We visited several offices working with educational institutions, e.g. The Business Initiative Union, The Ministry of Education and The National Agency for Vocational Education. We gave presentations about the educational system of the university of applied sciences and the vocational colleges in Finland and about our Future Technologies in Education –project. We had many interesting conversations about the state of education in both countries.
On Wednesday 20th, we travelled to Ruse. The trip itself was very nice indeed. We had the opportunity to see many historical places, which we probably wouldn’t have seen without the travelling day organized by Dimitar Marinov and Nikolai Tonchev. Our sincere Thanks for this experience!
The rest of the week was spent in Ruse. We had the possibility to visit the University of Ruse and Ruse University Hospital. We visited the operating rooms, pathology unit, dialysis unit and the central sterile services department. We also met people from the administration of Ruse University and Ruse Municipality as well as teachers and students of the University. We had the possibility to discuss with the students about the XR-education module, which will be kept in Kuopio in February 2020. We found out that the content of the module is very good and suitable for them.
As a conclusion, we can say that the vocational education and its’ implementation is quite similar in both countries. However, there are some differences in vocational education. In both countries, the Ministry of Education set the framework to implement educational measures. In Bulgaria, many educational issues are decided at the regional level. From our perspective, the educational institutions in Finland have more independence than in Bulgaria.
The program of the week was very tight. Nevertheless, it was very interesting and rewarding! We had enriched discussions about the education, virtual reality, satellite education model, university studies and vocational education. We were so happy to spend some leisure time with our Bulgarian friends! We have so many wonderful memories from our visit. Thank you, Bulgarian partners!
You can read and see more at: https://sway.office.com/dQ5yZ6rnF8JAL6w
