The Partnership Campus is a joint project with the Haapavesi Folk High School, Haapavesi High School, Jokihelmen Opisto and the Jokilaaksojen Musikkiopisto (Music school). The Haapavesi Folk High School is the project’s principle coordinator and the Oulu University is a part-time coordinator. The target of the project is to create a mode of operation for the partner schools, a Partnership Campus, which aims at bringing cooperation over school boundaries and to answer the challenge of digitalization as well as to increase cooperation with businesses. During the project, two operational environments will be started up in the partner campuses which are “Digimajakka” – a digital Learning Environment and “yrittäjyysmajakka” – a business environment, hereafter Business Environment.

The project goes beyond the borders of the sub-regions of the Oulu South (the sub-regions of Ylivieska, Nivala-
Haapajärvi and Haapavesi-Siikalatva), and will be carried out in the area of Haapavesi, Haapajärvi, Kärsämäki,
Merijärvi, Nivala, Oulainen, Pyhäntä, Pyhäjärvi and Siikalatva.

The main target groups of the project are
The teaching and guidance staff of schools as well as the administration of the schools.
Students who are over 15 years of age who study general education, liberal adult education, basic education in the arts or vocational education (not for primary education)

A digital pilot works in the Learning Environment, whose main job is to create a quality manual for producing digital teaching material and to train teachers in creating digital teaching material and in digital teaching. In addition, the goal of the digital pilot is to bring culture and music lessons to people living in remote areas using digitalization. The Learning Environment strengthens the teachers’ skills with digital tools and thus improves the completion of degrees, the guidance of studies, in arranging courses as well as promotes developing smoother learning processes.

The Business Environment enhances the business know-how of the teachers and students as well as creates a
positive image of entrepreneurship and in this way strengthens the possibilities of employment. This increases work life skills at a practical level. As a result of this project, a pedagogical cultural business cooperative will be established in the Business Environment. This work life related environment supports learning, teaching and entrepreneurship and with which we can carry out multidisciplinary common projects beyond school boundaries. The Business Environment’s goal is also to get culture operators to participate in business projects. A business pilot will be hired by the Business Environment whose goal is to strengthen internal entrepreneurship, teaching entrepreneurship, starting businesses, networking and partnering with all schools, municipal development managers, and business services and with workshops. The purpose of the cooperative is to act as a cooperation network for students and professionals. It offers the members a framework for learning about business, setting up businesses, productizing and commercializing services as well as marketing and sales. The cooperative is a stepping stone towards entrepreneurship where you can test your own business ideas and to carry them out as your
own projects.

The novelty and added value of the project is made up in the development of the operations which are based on broad cooperation. Regardless of the fields of study, local, areal, national and international cooperation between different operators is more important than developing efficiency, financial or new ways of learning. These Environments promote cooperation between schools, students, business, work life and cultural operators. The Environments are designed so that they support one another in planning work, pedagogical development, intensifying cooperation, as well as serving target groups and profile the actions and activities of the region’s schools and cooperation partners into one large entity.

The gender aspect of the project has been evaluated based on the staff and student information of the different
schools. In education with the emphasis in arts and culture the gender breakdown is 70% majority female. The actions of the project have been planned equally for both sexes. Special attention is paid in the project to strengthening men’s participation with the help of guidance, education and marketing. The purpose of this is to get men who are at risk of social exclusion to get involved in active operations.

The effects of the project’s sustainable development have been evaluated and noticed in such ways that the project schools are carrying out a joint sustainable development plan that covers the development in ecological, economic, social and cultural ways. The project strengthens the use of digital solutions, teaching and learning online as well as communication. The development of business cooperation, culture cooperation and entrepreneurship supports the strengthening of business life especially in the field of creative arts. The development goal of culture cooperation of the Business Environment is to increase the interaction between studying, work life and cultural activities and to increase the cooperation between these operators. The growth of know-how and educational levels as well as supporting creativity all support the development of cultural and societal equality. The goal of the project is to build a new action culture in which lifelong learning is supported by local business and culture operators.