Browsing by Author "Jaakkola, Fiina"

This study describes the current situation and development areas of Finnish education export from experts' point of view. The aim of the study was to research what Finnish education export includes and why it's being carried out. The other aim was to research challenges and promoting factors of Finnish education export as well as how Finnish education export can be developed. In this study education export is viewed as a cross-border service or product. Education export comprehensively covers exporting of education system and education expertise that is carried out by higher education institutions as well as private companies. The development of education export has been influenced by globalisation and internationalization of education. The data collection method in this study was semi-structured interview. Interviewees were selected based on their positions within their respective organizations. Interviewees work or have worked in the field of education export. Interviews were carried out as five individual interviews and one pair interview. There were seven interviewees altogether. In the analysis of interview material and the interpretation of results a modified actantial model was used. The aim of the actantial model was to create a systematic scheme for data analysis which was used for collection and interpretation of results. Aided by the actantial model, actants, in other words various factors within in the data, were identified and their respective relations were formed. Actantial model describes the structure of education export field as well. Study results showed that Finnish education export includes various services and products and it is carried out in many ways, frequently in co-operation between different operators. Motives for education export are often commercial but they may also include desire to share good practices and make long lasting impact in the field of education. Results showed demoting and promoting factors of education export as well. In addition, following factors were identified as crucial components in the development of Finnish education export: improvement of co-operation between different agents, development of services and products, improvement of education export expertise, increase of research in the field of education export, quality maintenance and improvement of the Finnish education system and modification of university activities to better support education export.