Organised by the Finnish National Agency for Education, the hybrid event brought together projects working across teacher education, sustainability, health sciences, and innovation partnerships. Rather than functioning simply as a closing event, the seminar became a space to reflect on how international higher education cooperation can continue beyond individual project cycles. All the presentations were broadcasted to an open audience on the YouTube channel of The Finnish National Agency for Education.
Inclusive and Future-Ready Teacher Education
HEP-TED participated in the seminar’s thematic session on inclusive and future-ready teacher education together with the BERT, FUTE, and TIPOTE projects.
The session highlighted experiences from cross-institutional collaboration around learner-centred pedagogy, digital education, inclusion, and teacher education reform. Across the discussions, a common theme emerged: sustainable educational change requires long-term institutional cooperation rather than short-term interventions.
For HEP-TED, the seminar also offered an opportunity to reflect on the broader impact of the project’s collaboration between Finnish and Rwandan partner institutions, particularly around inclusive pedagogy and the development of teacher education practices.
Beyond Individual Projects
One of the strongest messages of the event was that many partnerships created during the HEP programme are expected to continue after the projects officially end.
Throughout the seminar, discussions moved beyond reporting activities and outputs toward questions of sustainability, institutional ownership, and future cooperation. Several projects highlighted how networks built through the programme have already led to new collaborations, joint events, curriculum development processes, and research initiatives.
In this sense, the final seminar did not only mark the conclusion of a funding programme, but also demonstrated how higher education partnerships can evolve into longer-term academic and institutional relationships.