Highlights 2021

2020 was an exceptional year with a transition to distance learning during the ongoing pandemic. Even so, a record number of students graduated from Arcada during the year. A total of 507 students completed their studies.

Arcada and Åbo Akademi/Experience Lab work together on project MäRi (Human-Robot interaction) (in Swedish) which studies the way clients and students experience social robots in the context of care services. In February the project was well under way and an intensive phase began to develop an application for the robots acquired by the respective organisations.

Arcada was the first university of applied sciences to join Funidata Oy as a shareholder. As a stakeholder, Arcada gains access to a new digital support system for teaching and studies, Sisu, which was developed by Funidata.

The Department of Culture and Media received EU Horizon 2020 financing together with a large consortium. A new project will create a model for sustainable world heritage management through a digital European network.

In a comparison at Finnish universities of applied sciences, Arcada’s health care students were those most satisfied with their education. This is shown by the AVOP survey 2020, a response survey for students at the universities of applied sciences who are in the final stages of their studies.

A new career centre was launched in Arabianranta. Karriärcenter Arabia, launched by Arcada, Prakticum and Sveps, will offer versatile counselling services in Swedish for young people and adults.

Professor Roberto V. Zicari, the founder of Frankfurt Big Data Lab at Goethe University and the Z-Inspection® initiative, became an affiliated professor at Arcada. With this appointment, Arcada intends to further strengthen the focus on research in artificial intelligence, especially knowledge of the ethical issues related to the field.

Arcada began the development and testing of algorithms designed to identify different Swedish dialects in Finland in a new research project. A speech recognition research project developing and testing AI algorithms that will recognise some of the different dialects across Swedish-speaking Finland has been launched by Arcada in cooperation with Åbo Akademi University/Experience Lab and StageZero Technologies.

A film team at Arcada received a Finnish Film Foundation PITCH2021 award (in Swedish) for the pitching of their short film DE VA DE. Production was headed by Arcada student Tomas Linders von Kantzow.

Arcada launched the Job Portal – a new online recruitment service offering a number of opportunities for students at the UAS. The portal gives employers a broader scope to make their company visible through their own profile. It also serves as a place to store career-related material.

Arcada celebrated ten years of Green Office. WWF's Green Office certification, which Arcada was granted as early as 2011, is a tangible result of Arcada's work for sustainability. Ten years later, the work for increased eco-efficiency continues with an annual follow-up.

Beginning in autumn, Borgå folkakademi (People’s Academy) began a joint project with Arcada, Prakticum and Arbis. The transition from language education to vocational training and later on into working life will get easier for those who are integrated in Swedish. Education will take place on Arcada’s premises in Arabianranta and is an augmentation of the Swedish sphere provided by Arcada and Practicum.

Arcada launches a new study package for future engineers. The UAS offers a new set of courses to meet society's demand for engineers with a competence in circular economy and sustainability.

The 17 UN sustainable development goals are emphasized in Arcada’s operations. Arcada will increase the visibility of the global goals during the academic year. Beginning this year, the Arcada website will show what sustainability goals the various Arcada research projects are linked to.

The beginning of the academic year 2021–2022 also signals the opening of Arcada’s 25th anniversary celebrations. The opening of the academic year, with a celebratory speech by the Minister of Education, Li Andersson, was arranged entirely online this time.

The drama series Fejd was one of 15 projects chosen for the Nordic Talents Pitch Competition (in Swedish), which was organised online on September 8 and 9.

A film by Arcada students was awarded at the Love & Anarchy film festival. The short film Death of a Boy received two awards, the Audience Award and a Special mention from the Judges.

Arcada's simulation centre has received an award for exemplary work in improving patient safety through simulation learning and activities from the Finnish Society for Patient and Client Safety (SPTY).

Arcada and Åbo Akademi participate in the new HaSuRiski project where a prototype of a mobile application, which can be used to prevent problems posed by sulphate soils, is created. The app uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to model risk maps and will help experts plan land use in high-risk areas.

During 2021, Arcada broke the all-time record again with 534 graduates.

Project VAKEN is designed to let Arcada students develop their soft skills. The project is a collaboration between institutions in the Nordic and Baltic regions.