Junior Winter School 2025 – Transforming visions into innovations!

This year’s winter edition of INGENIUM Junior School was themed From Idea to Disruption: Transforming Visions into Innovations. It was hosted by South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, in Finland, 10–14 February. The 10 Days of INGENIUM event provided a successful and rewarding international experience in total for 160 students and staff.

During the event week Xamk showcased its learning and research environments in the Education Lab Experience section, while representatives from higher education institutions presented good teaching practices at the Staff Academy. Additionally, INGENIUM’s working groups for sustainability, educational cooperation and secondary education cooperation gathered in Mikkeli for joint planning, including visits to local facilities. In the Junior School, 48 pre-selected students worked on real-life development challenges.

Finding creative solutions

The Junior Winter School included two pre-online sessions, an on-site week in Finland, and one post-online session to finalize the projects for stakeholder use. Participants from 10 European countries also used Discord for communication and interaction. They collaborated on real-life cases, enhancing their design thinking, multicultural teamwork, entrepreneurial and communication skills. The cases focused on nature and wellbeing, smart cities, circular economy, logistics and security, and digitalization and tourism. Students also participated in team building, a workshop on courage and positive psychology and received constructive feedback on their ideas throughout the week.

–It was important to have the practical learning approach and the pedagogical approach aligned, says Project Manager Sabine Suorsa from Xamk.

Overall the students had a great time and achieved all their goals and expectations. For some students, this was the first time that they had to work so independently on a real-life case, which was emphasising their entrepreneurial mindset, plus a good motivation and self-esteem boost for their future study times.

In just five days, student teams successfully completed their projects. The teams aimed to develop the best outcomes for the clients’ real-life processes. The final results were presented to the audience and corporate clients at the end of the week.

“We wanted to activate the students’ creativity, introduce them to a solution orientated thinking and last but not least, work under pressure. Limited time was another challenge they had to overcome. Some of the learning outcomes might be visible on a later stage.” 
Sabine Suorsa, Project Manager at Xamk

New friends around Europe

– I genuinely found Junior School to be very enjoyable, satisfying and a lot of fun! I made so many new friends around Europe which is also one of the best things to come out this event. I also gained a deeper appreciation for different cultures and perspectives, says Ravindu Liyanage, first-year bachelor’s student at the University of Skövde, Sweden. 

Stronger together

During the Staff Academy representatives from each higher education institution presented the teaching methods they had developed to each other. The idea was to share best practices.  

– The Staff Academy sessions were rewarding. Many participants showcased different examples from their teaching and education contexts. We had excellent cases from our partner universities on a variety of topics. Although there was great diversity in the cases, what was good was that despite the difference in academic and professional disciplines, the participants could see how a workshop on climate change or a game about information security could be applied in their own teaching. We are stronger when we learn together, says Cai Weaver Pedagogical Specialist of Staff Academy.  

The week offered visitors an abundance of new experiences and networks across Europe. 

– I came to the INGENIUM University Winter School Staff Academy at Xamk – South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences University hoping to learn and connect, and I left with so much more! These days were a truly enriching experience of professional growth and inspiration! emphasizes teacher Mercedes Bravo Rebolledo from University of Rouen. 

“All the workshops were fantastic for sparking new teaching ideas… I’m heading back home feeling energized, with a network of new acquaintances and a head full of ideas!” 
Staff Academy participant, teacher  Mercedes Bravo Rebolledo

Experiences and opportunities

During the intensive Junior School week alongside work, there was also time to explore the culture and enjoy delightful experiences in winter conditions. Guests had the opportunity to go snowshoeing, walk in the forest with wool socks, ski on ice and enjoy sauna and ice swimming 

–The winter experience was a return to the essentials, and the activities helped to relax. I hope to take home some of the philosophy of the world’s happiest country, says communication specialist Léna Alexandre from the University of Rouen in France.