Development of vocational continuing education in the Russian forest sector

Background of the project
In 2003 the University of Joensuu started an education project in cooperation with the All-Russian Institute of Continuous Education in forestry (ARICEF). ARICEF is constantly training directors and specialists of regional forest authorities, and therefore plays a key role when new concepts and thoughts should be introduced and adapted in the Russian forest management. This training is very important because the Russian forest sector will meet radical structural change within the next few years, since the reform has not taken place during the last decade of transition. This has led to low productivity and lack of investments. In this work ARICEF needs highly qualified staff, modern teaching methods and materials. The Barents forest sector cooperation can support the work by offering the possibility to utilise existing western experience. This project aimed to answer to this need by educating the teachers of the institute.

The aims and the main results of the project
The aim of the project was to develop the possibilities and methods of continuing education in forestry in Russia. The most powerful tool in this is to improve the knowledge of forestry and educational skills of the teachers in Russia. In this project 20 Russian forestry teachers were trained in the years 2003-2004. This included two educational excursions to Finland, publishing a text book on forest communication, advising and training in technical aspects in long-distance learning and providing some equipment for this purpose.
 
During the two excursions the Russian teachers were familiarised with Finnish practises in forestry teaching, different learning methods and different forestry subjects. These subjects were agreed with the teachers to ensure that the subjects covered the branches they are teaching in Russia. The latest research results were introduced. The practices in Finland and Russia were compared in order to be able to evaluate the success and failures of teaching in each country.

During the first education excursion the participants were introduced to Finnish practises in forest policy, economics and forestry teaching. The second excursion included the professional subjects that are important in the forestry teaching: legislation, forest planning, ecology, forest technology, etc.

Since the ARICEF provides education to authorities and specialists in all of Russia, distant learning will be a crucial tool for the institute in the future. This aspect was supported by the project in two ways. Two experts on the field of learning technology from the University of Joensuu visited the institute. They studied the technical resources in the institute in relation to the needs of distant learning. Based on this study they helped to plan what is needed and what should be done in order to be able to advance distant learning. In the project a small budget was reserved to purchase the equipment needed. But of course this was only a start for the material purchases that should be made by the institute itself.

The third important field in the project was the training of the teachers in teaching methods and in communication. During the first excursion to Finland one day was spent in the North Karelia Polytechnic. During that day the teachers were familiarised with the Problem Based Learning method in forestry teaching and how it is used in teaching in forestry. Forest communication got its own teaching day during the second excursion. During that day the teachers had few exercises on the subject and the text book of communication was delivered to them.

Conclusions of the project
According to the participants, the project was very useful for their work. It came out that educational skills and development in that field are very important. In Russia the participation in professional education is obligatory so the motivation of the students and ability to teach in interesting way is very important. Also the latest development in the different subjects is important to take into account in teaching. The international contacts were considered very important as well. These aspects should be kept in mind also in the future.

After this project we believe that the development of the ARICEF is easier for the personnel themselves. The aim must be that the foreign contacts are needed and we can consult when needed and share experiences, but the real development of the institute comes from their own resources and the most valuable cooperation is to support them in this process.

Text by:
Dr Sari Pitkänen
University of Joensuu, Continuing Education Centre
e-mail: sari.pitkanen@joensuu.fi

Photos by:
Mr. Lasse Reijonen (University of Joensuu) & Mr. Fedor Samaylov (ARICEF)

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