Good practice:

Regional Higher Education Network cooperation in Tampere Region

Small municipalities are fighting against lack of skilled labour force and educational opportunities. Young people born in small towns often move to larger places to get better job or education possibilities. How can the attractiveness of municipalities be improved?

Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) has established a Regional Higher Education Network cooperation in Tampere Region. It is a networking and operating model offering multidisciplinary education, innovation and development expertise comprising of a wide range of tools for the benefit of the whole region.

TAMK’s multidisciplinary team of agents is looking for solutions to the development needs of the regions. These needs often consist of challenges in the availability of skilled labour force, the introduction of new methods for regional development involving all stakeholders, strengthening business cooperation, and providing opportunities for further training and capacity building.

The roles of higher education representatives have been agreed in partnership agreements with municipalities, cities and towns, and development companies in the region. Agents have become acquainted with municipal organisations and are regularly touring and meeting companies in the region to identify their needs. They work in close cooperation with the top management of the towns and municipalities, as well as with the business and developer actors in the region.

Activities are based on partnership agreements with municipalities and towns, which also agree on the financing of the activities. There are currently 8 municipalities or towns involved in the Tampere Region. A primary contact person has been appointed for each area of activity in TAMK.

The Network has contributed positively specially to connect companies and SMEs from the outskirts of the region with the university and also other educational institutions (e.g. VETs) in the Tampere Region.
In addition, roadshows have been organised for all manufacturing stakeholders in Upper and Northwest part of Tampere Region. Representatives of the municipal decision-makers, project actors and active companies discussed projects and cooperation in education and innovation.

The main challenge is to find the right people to work together and to be able to provide them with the necessary time and other resources to carry out the jointly agreed measures. Additionally, information flow across organizational and regional boundaries must be guaranteed.

One kind of potential for learning and transfer would be to gather together those who may have taken similar measures in their own region and to exchange experience and information on the measures taken by different parties in a spirit of good practice. Cooperation could also be extended so that national level activities, cooperation and actors in regional level interact more efficiently and can also be networked internationally.

The Regional Higher Education Network as an operating model was originally established by Tampere University of Applied Sciences to address the openly communicated needs of the regional actors in Tampere Region, especially those located farther away from the City of Tampere as a powerful regional centre for education and business. During the InnoHEIs project funded by Interreg Europe, the model has been revised and transformed in co-creation with the regional stakeholders to better meet the needs of the 2020’s.