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UAF teams up with Finland school University of Alaska teaming up with University of Lapland in Finland to offer graduate degrees from University of the Arctic Robinson Duffy Fairbanks Daily News-Miner/AP
The University of Alaska Fairbanks will be teaming with the University of Lapland in Finland to offer graduate degrees to students across the northern hemisphere through the University of the Arctic.
“The idea is to get different cultures to interact and to add that to a more interdisciplinary graduate program,” said Larry Duffy, the interim dean of UAF’s graduate school.
The University of the Arctic already offers a bachelor’s degree in circumpolar studies. Over the next few years, officials at UAF and the University of Lapland also will be working together to develop some sort of master’s degree program. The exact nature of the graduate program still needs to be worked out, Duffy said, but will likely focus on climate change or indigenous studies.
The University of the Arctic is a school without a campus.
Founded in 2001, with UAF as one of the founding institutions, the university is a cooperative network of 110 universities, colleges and other organizations committed to higher education and research in the Arctic.
Students from across the world are able to take Internet-delivered classes from various different universities and apply those credits toward a degree. For example, a student in Russia could take a class taught by UAF professors, a class taught in Finland, and another in Canada all from home. Ultimately, that student could graduate with a degree from the University of the Arctic.
Since the University of the Arctic was founded, more than 3,500 students have taken distance classes through the program with nearly 50 so far having earned undergraduate degrees. That high level of interest is what spurred the decision to expand the program.
Rural students benefit The distance-learning setup is especially beneficial, Duffy said, for students in rural areas of the north who may not have easy access to a local university.
The education network also allows students to study under the top experts in various fields without regard to international boundaries or barriers of distance. Students are able to pull from a wide pool of experts in a number of areas of study, Duffy said, rather than simply having to settle with the pool of experts at one particular school.
“At the University of Lapland, their strength is in the social sciences and the political sciences, whereas, obviously, at UAF our strength is in science and engineering and climate change,” Duffy said. “Not only can we work together with common interest but also with complimentary talents.”
By collaborating with other universities and setting up relationships between students and researchers across the north, UAF Chancellor Steve Jones, who also serves as the chair of the UArctic Board of Governors, said he hopes important breakthroughs in climate change can be made.
“We certainly don’t have all the answers here, nor all the resources,” he said.
Taking a lead role in developing the graduate program UAF can also help encourage students here to expand their studies beyond Alaska while staying in Fairbanks, he said, making them more well-rounded and experienced researchers.
“We can send students to (UArctic institutions) to get an experience they can’t get from being at just one university,” Jones said.
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