The Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) supports cooperation projects between higher education institutions in Finland and the developing world that are designed to enhance higher education provision in these countries. The projects support the higher education institutions in developing their subject-specific, methodological, educational and administrative capacities.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides funding for the programme through its development cooperation funds. The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) administrates the programme.

Men walking on a bridge

Supporting education in developing countries helps them to promote skills development, establish a well-functioning, efficient and equal society, encourage entrepreneurship, drive sustainable development and reduce poverty.

The HEI ICI programme is thus in line with Finland’s foreign development policy objectives, however, the projects are all designed to reflect each individual country’s specific development aims and must be based on the needs identified by the higher education institutions themselves.