The UoL’s strategy for internationalization has a regional development emphasis (Lapland University Consortium, 2020). The aim has been to unite art and multi-disciplinary research expertise for regional benefit, and this has been pursued through developing circumpolar collaboration (see Jokela et al., 2015b). UArctic is concentrated on enhancing and developing educational opportunities in the Arctic region and also offer students more opportunities to build networks across its
part-ner institutions. International collaboration means more than just the mobilization of students. It also means the sharing of best practices between partner universities and among other networks and developing educational practices across institution-al and country borders, especiinstitution-ally in disciplines where there are nationinstitution-ally only a few actors (UArctic International Secreteriat, 2014).
The ASAD network (see Jokela & Coutts, 2014) is one central enabler for the students’ and staff’s internationalization and sharing of practices in the field of art education. The network was established 2012 to strengthen international collabora-tion and increase the status and visibility of art and design research and educacollabora-tion in the circumpolar area. Today the network consists of 26 circumpolar universities and art and design education institutes from eight circumpolar countries located in Northern Europe (Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design Network, 2021). By fur-thering art and design education based on research and contemporary art forms, the aim is to develop methods that can help northern and Arctic actors communi-cate their culture by analysing it from within (Jokela & Coutts, 2014). I have been involved in the network since its establishment. We have frequently organized col-laborative courses for students between the partner institutions, through which I have gradually started to formulate my research interest for this dissertation. The international collaboration through ASAD in the circumpolar area has shown pos-sibilities of broadening the horizons on how to develop art education in higher education in the Arctic.
As the main concept of my study, I chose to use the concept of art education in higher education, although finding a linguistically and culturally functioning term was not easy. I searched through different concepts used in different parts of the world. My first choice was higher art(s) education since it appeared as an umbrella term in the context of Finnish higher education. It seemed to include the training of art teachers, (applied) visual artists, designers and architects (see Löytynen, 2015) and perhaps other art fields as well. In the English-speaking world, this term appar-ently did not mean the same. The concept of art education in higher education, on the other hand, consists of only art teacher training (see Hausman, 2009), not visual artist training. My study is tied to the geographical context of the Europe-an Arctic, Europe-and none of the involved countries are English-speaking. They have a variety of English translations to expressions describing their education. To avoid ambiguity, I will use art education in higher education but broaden it to encompass both art teacher training and applied visual arts training under the umbrella of the art education field. In Figure 4, I have mapped the degree programmes comprising art education at the UoL. The relevant degree programmes in this study are art education and Arctic art and design (indicated in green).
In the Art Education Department, the development of multidisciplinary re-search projects through international collaboration since the 1990s has offered stu-dents and staff chances to build their own networks and design different types of art practices around the northern phenomena (see Jokela et al., 2015b). The teaching
1990 2021
2021
Applied Visual Arts full degree programme
1990 – (ongoing)
The establishment of Art Education department
2011-2015 piloting:
The first Applied Visual Arts Master’s degree programme
2015– (ongoing) Second pilot
The international Arctic Art and Design Master’s degree programme
2017-2020 piloting:
Applied Visual Arts and Nature Photography
Figure 4. The degree programmes that comprise the higher art education in the context of Art Education Department, UoL. Figure: Elina Härkönen, 2021.
philosophy has been based on combining contemporary art, project-based learn-ing, community-based art education and service design thinking. These are con-nected to a socio-constructivist learning paradigm, where the learner is seen as an active producer of knowledge. (Jokela et al., 2015b).
One of the departments’ development areas was the establishment of an inter-national Arctic Art and Design (AAD) master’s degree programme in 2015. The first three years were pilot funded by the European Social Fund, and after the pi-loting period, AAD became a permanent programme with an annual intake of 10 international students with art and design backgrounds. The students come from all parts of the world (mainly from Europe and Asia but also parts of North and South America). I have been involved in developing AAD and its curriculum since its inception. The AAD curriculum is built around project-based learning and each project is intended to form the basis for developing the students’ professional skills in a specific discipline in the intersection of art and design. The students are also encouraged to connect their project studies with their theses to approach the action from three different perspectives: artist and/or designer, researcher and learner.
Carrying out research alongside the practical work of the project helps students maintain the elements for well-designed processes. The principle behind this is that profound knowledge and understanding of the working context can yield per-manent positive effects (see Härkönen & Vuontisjärvi, 2015; Jokela, 2013; Coutts, 2013).