VAMK Strategy 2035 – Towards a Wellbeing Economy
Vision:
Your main partner in expertise
Our vision is to be the main partner in expertise for the working life, students, and our collaborators. We promote best practices strongly based on the needs of the working life in education as well as in research, development, and innovation activities.
Mission:
We create competitive advantage for working life stakeholders by training future experts and providing pioneering insights to find solutions towards a wellbeing economy.
Our Values
Empathetic
Empathy is our superpower. The VAMK community is sympathetic and warm. At the core of our operations are understanding, respect, and kindness.
Pioneering
Together, we dare to be excited, inspire, experiment, and be creative. We develop our skills and expertise in a goal-oriented and future-focused manner.
Customer-driven
We anticipate and listen to the needs and expectations of students and working life. We develop our own operations and innovative solutions for regional, national, and international challenges.
Open
We are an engaging higher education institution and we know each other. Our community is open and diverse. Our openness fosters societal dialogue and interaction.
VAMK – Promoter of the Wellbeing Economy
Vaasa University of Applied Sciences builds expertise through its education, research, development, and innovation activities, which enable finding solutions to societal challenges towards a wellbeing economy.
VAMK combines expertise in the fields of Technology, Business, Health Care and Social Services, and Design. The synergy between different fields generates innovation and creates interdisciplinary learning environments for students, enhancing their ability to meet the challenges of the future working life. We add value through multidisciplinary and international cooperation.
At the heart of wellbeing economy expertise are:
- Energy transition, smart digitalisation and clean transition
- International business expertise and logistics
- Solutions for the wellbeing transition
- Design thinking and system design
The goal of the wellbeing economy is to achieve an ecologically and socially sustainable economy by investing in people’s wellbeing, such as in their skills and knowledge.
Areas of Expertise
We are an international leader in sustainable development and energy transition. Our goal is to provide the best work-oriented solutions in education and in research, development, and innovation activities. By addressing societal challenges, we strive towards a wellbeing economy.
Energy Transition, Smart Digitalisation, and Clean Transition
- Robotics, new production technologies, and project management are at the core of our operations, along with smart electrical engineering, digitalisation, and clean technologies.
- The engineering degrees support the work-oriented expertise needs of local businesses.
International Business Expertise and Logistics
- We specialise in sustainable and innovative business expertise in an international operating environment, crucial for our region.
- Our special expertise in business economics focuses particularly on developing solutions in international trade logistics.
Solutions for the Wellbeing Transition
- Through quality education, we address the needs arising from workforce and demographic changes in a multilingual region.
- The training of social and health care professionals focuses on the rapid development of digitalisation in welfare services.
Design Thinking and System Design
- With responsible design thinking, we create sustainable systems that can address global challenges.
- Key areas of expertise at the Design Centre MUOVA include industrial service design, sustainable product conceptualisation, and ecosystem design.
Strategic Goals
1. Student Success Supports Integration into Work and Society
Our goal is that the majority of our students are pursuing their first higher education degree. We address the challenges of young age groups through interdisciplinary support for studies and the need for their development.
Our students are satisfied with the quality of education
- They are physically and mentally well, and engaged in their studies and our university, both on campus and in online education.
- Our programs offer smooth pathways and routes, and our graduates have excellent employment prospects.
- International students have a high-quality experience at our university, and our studies support their integration into the region and society.
- The student union plays a significant role in the development of university operations.
Quality Guidance and Student Support
- Our multidisciplinary, individualised guidance activities and learning support services sustain our students during their studies and prepare them for the changing needs of the workforce.
- Our teachers and guidance experts possess strong expertise in implementing lifelong learning and engaging in online pedagogy.
- Our educational support and development services enable the continuous professional development of teachers and support bold pedagogical experiments.
An Attractive, Well-Known, and Thriving Learning Community
- We are an attractive and well-known learning community that people want to join and collaborate with.
- Our community is equal, wellbeing-oriented, safe, and diverse.
- Our operations are based on an ethical code of conduct, which is grounded in responsibility, shared values, and inspiring, goal-oriented, and fair leadership.
Follow-up indicators
1: Number of first-time applicants (%)
2026: 80 | 2028: 82 | 2030: 84 | 2035: 85
2: Number of completed degrees (BA & MA)
Annual degree targets in accordance with the agreement with the Ministry of Education and Culture
3: Graduation on time (%)
2026: 70 | 2028: 72 | 2030: 78 | 2035: 85
2. Increasing the Volume and Impact of RDI activities Revitalises and Creates Vitality
Our RDI activities focus on strategic areas, closely integrated with regional, national and international innovation ecosystems.
Phenomenon and Needs Based Dynamic Development
- Research platforms with research groups enable phenomenon and needs based dynamic development by fearlessly combining expertise and actors from various fields.
- We actively influence global development through our pioneering RDI activities and by serving as the primary partner in work-life expertise with high-quality continuous learning offerings.
Leading Insights into Work-Life Needs
- We strengthen our RDI and service business strategically and sustainably, responding to the needs of customers and work-life in a rapidly changing environment.
- We significantly increase collaboration with businesses and work-life, bringing leading insights and emphasising the impact of results in companies and society.
Open and Responsible RDI Activities
- We are committed to open and responsible research, development, and innovation activities.
- We invest in high-quality publishing as well as multi-channel open communication.
Follow-up indicators
4: Amount of RDI funding (€)
2026: 3 milj. | 2028: 4 milj. | 2030: 5 milj.| 2035: 6 milj.
5: Number of publications
2026: 250 | 2028: 280 | 2030: 300 | 2035: 320
3. The Main Partner in Expertise Now and in the Future
Our unique position at the heart of the largest energy cluster in the Nordic countries gives us excellent capabilities to create pioneering expertise and innovations towards a wellbeing economy.
Enabling and Supporting Continuous Learning
- In line with our continuous learning strategy, we train nationwide in themes related to our areas of expertise.
- We address the development needs of a diversifying workforce and support the renewal of businesses.
- We build complementary knowledge packages to enhance the expertise of professionals already in the workforce.
Responsible Utilisation of Digitalisation and AI
- We create smooth pathways from secondary education and work-life to degree studies. We open our formal and non-formal offerings to the Digivisio Opin.fi platform and as cross-study opportunities.
- The utilisation of digitalisation and AI in teaching and applied research are examples of concrete ways in which we support Finland’s ability to benefit from the global wave of green transition investments.
Supporting Students in Integrating into the Job Market
- We further improve students’ integration into the regional job market.
- Our studies are developed and implemented in strong collaboration with work-life.
- Work-life projects included in our studies, increased offerings in domestic languages, and internship opportunities enhance interest and employment possibilities in Finland after graduation.
Follow-up indicators
6: Amount of ECTS in Continuous Learning
2026: 8000 | 2028: 10 000 | 2030: 12 000 | 2035: 15 000
7: Graduates’ employment rate (%)
2026: 89 | 2028: 90 | 2030: 91 | 2035: 92
8: Number of tuition fee paying students
2026: 400 | 2028: 450 | 2030: 600 | 2035: 800
9: Amount of corporate funding in RDI projects (€)
2026: 0,2 milj. | 2028: 0,4 milj. | 2030: 0,5 milj. | 2035: 0,6 milj.
4. Strengthening Regional Growth as Part of a Higher Education Consortium and Networks
By deepening domestic and international cooperation as part of a higher education consortium and multidisciplinary networks, we bring new expertise and increase the region’s attractiveness. The goal is to strengthen growth and development in the region’s export coast, the largest energy cluster in the Nordic countries, and thereby throughout Finland.
Enhancing the Region’s Knowledge Base
- The goal of deepening education and research cooperation is to strengthen the region’s expertise and the availability of skilled workforce.
- Deepening cooperation between higher education institutions strengthens our region’s knowledge cluster.
- Joint studies aim for synergy benefits, pedagogical diversity, and excellence. Collaboration is planned to be expanded in the fields of Technology and Business.
Growing Expertise
- Through closer cooperation, it is possible to develop smooth study paths between higher education institutions. The overall package is more attractive and creates conditions for an increase in student numbers and strengthening RDI activities.
- High-quality and up-to-date learning environments and our diverse educational offerings promote our students’ more flexible growth as experts.
Increasing Internationalisation
- Closer collaboration in international student recruitment aims to enhance Vaasa’s visibility and attractiveness and address the region’s talent shortage challenges.
- Plans include increased collaboration, especially in developing the international education portfolio and RDI activities.
- Additionally, the collaboration aims to develop advanced and skilled support services.
Follow-up indicators
10: Joint studies (ECTS)
2026: 10 000 | 2028: 12 000 | 2030: 13 000 | 2035: 15 000
Also, familiarize yourself with
Communication strategy
The communication strategy supports the achievement of VAMK's strategic goals. The communication strategy defines the mission and role of communication, strategic goals and objectives, as well as key messages and communication values. The communication strategy also explains how the impact and results of communication are measured and summarises the desired target image.
Annual Report 2023
Vaasa University of Applied Sciences remained committed to purposeful development in 2023. Several development themes were advanced in both education and RDI activities. All these efforts support VAMK's vision of being the main partner in expertise. We create competitive advantage for key industry stakeholders by coaching future professionals and providing cutting-edge insights.
