After the year 2022, when BUP both started to build up its face-to-face activities after the pandemic and needed to restrict, adjust, and adapt the collaboration and overall work and routines due to the war in Ukraine, the year 2023 was more predictable. Still, the situation in Ukraine continues to have a great impact on the activities in the network.

BUP Finland has continued with the annual upcoming activities. We have arranged and organized courses and activities for especially teachers within BUP throughout the year. We have made an effort to communicate with the other BUP member universities nationally and have also been involved in projects and cooperation with the BUP coordinating secretariat in Uppsala. At the Center Directors meeting in Riga in September, a workshop on the coming BUP strategies was the main focus.

We were very happy that our BUP Teachers’ Course (picture below), now running for the fifth time, this year reached a record in applications. There were over 70 applications from 8 counties. Of those, 30 were selected to participate in the course, based on their motivations, but also to get as diverse a group of teachers as possible from many BUP countries, universities, and specializations.

The same is true for applications to BUP student events during 2023. There has been a huge interest among students from almost all Finnish BUP member universities. For each event, a selection process to fill the available places was necessary.

BUP Finland was one of 21 partners in a big Horizon proposal about sustainability and climate change education in Europe. The project was rejected, even though it received high scores from the evaluators. The project consortium continues to look for new possible grants to finance the plans.

BUP has been appointed a flagship project in the policy area of education as part of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). This autumn the number of member universities in BUP has reached one hundred, with 14 new universities having joined during 2023.

BUP Finland´s activities during 2023:

Courses

  • BUP Teachers’ Course – ESD in Higher Education (corresponds to 5 ECTS), September 2022–March 2023. E-learning on Moodle, workshop I at Tallinn University, Estonia, 11.–13.10.2022, preparation of an individual change project, workshop II at Kaunas Technical University, Lithuania, 1.–3.3.2023. 25 participants from 6 countries. Information about the BUP Teachers’ Course.
  • BUP Teachers’ Day, online, 18.4. Inner sustainability, the core of education for sustainability, online workshop lead by PhD Christine Furu, Åbo Akademi University. Information about the BUP Teachers’ Day.
  • Online courses, Introduction to ESD – Education for Sustainable Development (5 ECTS), in cooperation with the Open University, ÅAU, 19.9.–8.12.2023.  Course material and assignments on Moodle (25 participants from five countries, 16 of the students through cooperation within BUP).
    Information about the course Introduction to ESD. Link to the course information in the Study Guide.
  • Online course, The Baltic Sea Environment – Challenges and Solutions (5 ECTS), in cooperation with the Open University, ÅAU, 8.10.–12.2023. Information about the course The Baltic Sea Environment.  Link to the course information in the Study Guide.
  • BUP Teachers’ Course – ESD in Higher Education (corresponds to 5 ECTS), September 2023–April 2024. E-learning on Moodle, workshop I at Riga Technical University, Latvia, 27.–29.9.2023, preparation of an individual change project, workshop II at SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland, 18.–19.3.2024. More information about the course.
  • Introduction to ESD – Education for Sustainable Development (corresponds to 3 ECTS), course material free to use (cc-licensed) for an undergraduate level course or for self-studies. Recorded lectures, films, literature, quizzes, assignments. Will be ready for publication on the BUP course platform in spring 2024.

Presentations, workshops etc.

  • Research, innovation, and student mobility: the Scandinavian approach, online presentation by professor Tapio Salmi at the Boot Camp “International Cooperation in Research and Innovation”, 25.4. Organized and hosted by the National Technical University of Ukraine within the BUP RESCUU project.
  • Annina Kainu participated in the international jury for the Boot Camp within the BUP RESCUU project, 28.4.
  • Karin Madsén presented the material/course The Baltic Sea Environment – Challenges and Solutions at the online kickoff for the BUP Course Platform, 16.10.
  • Olga Dziubaniuk from Åbo Akademi University/Tampere University participated in the bootcamp of the BUP RESCUU project with a presentation on Sustainable Entrepreneurship, 24.10.
  • The BUP 2023 Symposium, online 7-8.11. Cecilia Lundberg was a scientific reviewer and chair for the session Sustainable Literacy – Education for a Sustainable Baltic Sea Region. Farid Karimi, senior lecturer at University of Jyväskylä was reviewer and chair for two sessions: Mitigating emissions in the energy systems – Reducing climate change impacts in the Baltic Sea Region, and Future Climate Change and Renewable Energy Moderators (together with PhD student Andrew Barney, Uppsala University)  More information about the symposium.

Project proposals

  • CLIMSUSTAIN – EU, Optimising the Impacts of Sustainability and Climate Change Education in Europe in Connection with Appropriate Methods and Learning Outcomes .Coordinator: HAW Hamburg (Hamburg University of Applied Sciences), all together 21 universities in Europe. Call: HORIZON-CL5-2023-D1-01, Horizon Action Grant, rejected (9.5/10 points)

Cooperation and representation

  • BUP Finland/ÅAU is an associated partner in the project RESCUU (Resilience of Education: Sustainability and Cooperation for Ukrainian Universities), 1.1.2023-30.6.2024. Coordinator: BUP Coordinating Secretariat, Uppsala University, financed by Swedish Institute.
  • ÅAU is part of the network European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR). ESSSR is an inter-university consortium with the aim to coordinate sustainability science teaching and research at European universities. Contact person at ÅAU: Catharina Groop, CLL.
  • A new project concept is under planning, Strengthening Local Response and Resilience to Climate Change, based on the outcomes from the CASCADE and CliMALoc. Cecilia Lundberg and BUP Finland is participating in the discussions (one workshop in Stockholm 17.4., online meetings during autumn 2023). Coordinator: CBSS (Council of the Baltic Sea States)  Call: Interreg Baltic Sea Region (to open in January 2024)
  • Material from the course package Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region was used in a shorter version of the same course at the Open University of ÅAU in spring 2023.
  • Follow-up meetings for the Baltic Science Network (BSN; online 26.1., AK, SS) and the Blue BSN Task Force (online 12.6., SS).
  • Participation at the Sustainability seminar for the universities in Turku (19.9., AK, SS), and the UNIFI (Rectors’ Council of Finnish Universities) Sustainability and Responsibility seminar in Helsinki (7.–11.; AK, SS, CL). The BUP-team from ÅAU has also been involved in several internal ÅAU workshops and meetings on sustainability issues.

Communication and social media

  • BUP Finland maintains a website (bup.fi) with specific BUP Finland activities, also including information about other BUP events and several links to the coordinating secretariat’s website.
  • BUP Finland has social media accounts of its own (in addition to the accounts administered by the coordinating secretariat in Uppsala) in both Facebook and Instagram. Welcome to follow BUP Finland on Facebook and BUP Finland och Instagram.

Team and members

The BUP Finland team
Cecilia Lundberg, Centre director
Sinikka Suomalainen
Annina Kainu
Mia Henriksson
Karin Madsén (fee paid by the hour)

ÅAU member of the BUP Board
Tapio Salmi, prof

BUP members in Finland 2023
Åbo Akademi University, Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Novia University of Applied Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, University of Turku, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, and Åland University of Applied Sciences.

Turku University of Applied Sciences returned as a member in December.

For more information on the activities at BUP as a whole, visit the coordinating secretariat in Uppsala’s website.