Higher Education Partnership (HEP) Programme support cooperation projects between higher education institutions in Finland and the developing world that are designed to enhance higher education provision in these countries. The HEP Programme is a continuation of the HEI ICI Programme (the Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument). 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
Photo: Jaakko Kaisto

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 HEP programmes 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.
 

This section provides information for HEP coordinators for implementing the projects. 

Documents guiding the implementation of the projects
UM vakioehdot HEP 2023-10-10 (pdf, 334.29 KB)
HEP Change Request Form.docx (docx, 83.64 KB)
HEP Admin Handbook 2024-2026 (pdf, 749.04 KB)
Reporting documents
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Teacher education, climate change and the circular economy, and food security have been chosen as the priorities of the HEP programme during the funding period 2024–2026.

Among other objectives, the projects selected to receive financing will aim to develop food security training in Nepal, enhance the use of biogas as an energy source in Zambia, continue the cooperation to develop teacher education in Mozambique and promote the educational inclusion of persons with disabilities in Tanzania. The HEP programme builds on its predecessor the HEI ICI programme by retaining a focus on developing innovative teaching methods and improving distance-teaching practices.

There are seven partner countries. A new partner, Rwanda, is involved in two projects. Other partners in Africa are Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia and Namibia, who have been partners before. The Nepalese project is the only partner in Asia. 

Projects 2024-2026
HEP projects 2024-2026 (pdf, 113.33 KB)
HEP projects on a map (pdf, 185.29 KB)
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Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted 11,2 million euros for higher education institutions' development cooperation projects with the aim to support capacity of distance learning and improved access of higher education for students in the global south.

HEI ICI programme had three main themes: Solving the global learning crises, Climate adaptation and mitigation and innovation development to increase employability at large scale. The selected projects developed digital learning environments such as MOOCs, study modules and distance courses. They strengthened teacher’s pedagogical capacity of digital and blended learning, developed digital learning platforms, improved IT skills and  working life conditions of the HEIs.

Selected projects operated in eight countries in Asia and Africa. Partner country institutions included Higher education institutions form capital regions as well as smaller institutions from other regions. Partnerships supported also thematic institutional cooperation between Finnish higher education institutions and in many projects, there was collaboration between universities and universities of applied sciences.  Moreover, multi-stakeholder cooperation was emphasized. In addition to higher education institution partners, there were non-governmental organisation, ministries of education, other government organisation’s and private companies (for example ed-tech companies) involved from Finland and partner countries.

List of the selected projects
HEI ICI on a map (pdf, 165.96 KB)
Projects 2020-2024 (pdf, 116.49 KB)
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The Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland granted a total of 12 million euros to development cooperation projects carried out by higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2017-2020. The funding was used to implement 20 projects in 16 countries to strengthen higher education in the developing world. 

The cooperation focused on the least developed countries in Africa and Asia, especially on Finland’s development cooperation partner countries. Other countries, such as Peru and Myanmar, were also represented.

The cooperation took place in HEI networks of varying size and geographical coverage. Several academic fields were covered, with a noteworthy focus on multi-disciplinary collaboration, business incubation and innovation, as well as teacher training and education.

The support was used to develop e.g. study programmes and teaching methods in the participating HEIs, to provide continuing education for the staff, and to strengthen research capacity and working life connections. The projects contributed to the development of subject-specific, methodological, pedagogical and administrative capacities in the HEIs.
 

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HEI ICI and HEP projects results have been monitored both annually and periodically since the programme's launch in 2010. Read more about the results below.
 

HEP reports
HEI ICI reports
Publications
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Please send all enquiries concerning the projects to hep(at)oph.fi. 

EDUFI programme administration contacts:

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