Prof Stanley Mukhola, TUT’s DVC: TLT with Prof Teemu Kokko, President: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science, after signing three global agreements to empower academic staff at the University.
In 2015, TUT entered into a strategic partnership with the Haaga-Helia Vocational School of Teacher Training to train academic staff on Finnish pedagogy. Since then, four groups of academics have received training in Pretoria and the fifth teacher training programme is underway.
On Wednesday, 6 March 2019 TUT and Haaga-Helia signed three agreements to extend the Vocational Teacher Training Programme for another five years. In addition, the Education Management Masters Programme and the Train-the-trainer Programme were added to the mix.
The Masters in education Management is aimed at academic leaders. The train the trainer will target those who excelled in the vocational teacher training to become facilitators for the upcoming cohorts earmarked for 2021.
The TUT delegation, led by Prof Stanley Mukhola, DVC: Teaching Learning and Technology and acting DVC: Student Affairs and Extracurricular Development, also visited the Metropolia University of Applied Science to explore future collaboration in the fields of Automotive and cybersecurity. The delegation went on to visit the Laurea University of Applied Sciences for a discussion on the module of service design that was delivered to MBA students in 2018. The plan is that another group will attend the same module in August 2019.
Ms Carmen Smidt, South Africa Ambasador to Finland and Estonia, who witnessed the signing ceremony, was very excited about TUT taking the issue of quality vocational teacher education to a higher level. Committing the Embassy’s support to ensure the success of the collaboration she said: “Education is one of the pillars to improve quality of life in South Africa.”
Teemu Kokko, President and Rector of the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, commented: “Investment in education is an investment in the future. This thinking is the common denominator for our countries.”
In conclusion, Prof Mukhola said: “Education is important to empower our people. The South African economy is dependent on better educated people. Since TUT started working with Haaga-Helia, we have seen an improvement in our teachers’ interaction with students. The student success rate for staff who have undergone the vocational teacher training is also improving. We certainly look forward to next five years and reaping the success of our collaboration.”