BIOECONOMY

ENGINEERING –
How do we do it?
Development process of the Curriculum
and practical implementation of the
Degree Programme

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Jari Mustajärvi
Head of ICT Degree Programme, HAMK
jari.mustajarvi@hamk.fi
+358 040 829 3710
 Prerequisites

• The degree programme trains engineers for roles in the bio- and
circular economy
• The programme will be carried out in the ICT-Engineering
programme
• The degree programme combines competences in technology and

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bioeconomy into a new type of expertise
• The programme will be carried out in HAMK’s Forssa Campus
Essential in the Programme
• Orientation in problem solving based and phenomenons of bio- and
circular economy
• Solutions for the problems in bio- and circular economy are sought
with the help of digital technologies
• The programme will encourage students to entrepreneurship and
co-operation with the enterprises in new ways

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• The key profiles in the programme will focus around the research
themes of Bioeconomy and Smart Services research units
• The programme will be carried out in close co-operation with LUKE
(Center of Natural Resources in Finland) and HAMK’s strategic
partner Universities (University of Feevale / Brazil, VIA University
College / Denmark)
”Curriculum
development is just one
part of starting a new
degree programme, but Organisational Learning
it also outlines many Culture Environment
other activities in the
programme”

Future Curriculum
RDI
Image

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Internatio- Regional
nalisation Development

Personell Development
(motivation, commitment, flexibility for change)
Curriculum Development – the Process

• Former leader of the bioeconomy unit Tapani Pöykkö was

dominated as the coordinator for the curriculum development
• Tapani gathered a group of key persons to make the first dratfs of
the programme, e.g. representatives from the bioeconomy and
smart services research units and various degree programmes

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• The group had a few face-to-face meetings and exchanged ideas by
email and sharepoint
• The participants of the development group utilised their contacts to
the companies and other partner organisations
Curriculum Development – the Product
• First version of the curriculum combined existing modules from ICT
and bioeconomy degree programmes

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Curriculum Development – Industry 4.0
• In the second version Industry 4.0 was selected as the starting point
of the development

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Curriculum Development – Second Version
• As a result of applying Industry 4.0 Framework of key technologies
we ended up to the current version of the Curriculum

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Module Teams
• Module Teams consisting of experts from various degree
programmes and RDI-units were nominated to formulate the goals,
content and evaluation criteria for each module

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Implementation
• The programme is run in close co-operation with the companies
• In practise we carry on projects that origin from the companies and their
representatives participate in the teaching, guiding and evaluation process
• The projects combine expertise from both disciplines, bioeconomy is the
platform where digital technology will be applied
• Examples of projects carried out in modules:
• Data analysis and visualization
• Innovating new business ideas and business plans

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• Developing IoT –based solutions + related cloud services and
applications
• Small research tasks
• Internationalisation
• Connections to partner organisations in Germany, Denmark and in the
Netherlands are being established
• A new international education in Circular Economy will start in January 2020
Lessons learned
• Starting a new Degree Programme requires many kind of expertise
• The hardest part is finding a new way of doing things, not
transferring the old contents, methods and customs to a new
programme – sometimes it is good to start from the scratch!
• Also important is to find the right, motivated and committed, people
from various diciplines, get them working together and find them
the time for that

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• The future success of the program will depend on how well the
graduated students will find their places in the economic life:
• Will there be suitable tasks
• Will they have the skills required in order to fulfill the requirements
Comments & Questions?

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