Finnmark University College has achieved great success with its Bachelor of Northern Studies degree program and its close cooperation with Russian universities in the Barents Region, especially Murmansk State Humanities University (MSHU). The program and the cooperation represent a following-up of the college’s High North strategy.
The BNS degree program started in 2010 and by the end of 2012 close to 30 graduates have received their bachelor diplomas and more than 300 students from different parts of the Barents region are studying the program. The rapid growth of students documents that there is a strong interest for this kind of cooperation.
The BNS BA program is rooted in some core courses developed by University of the Arctic and supplemented with modules on the Barents region in cooperation with MSHU. These courses are taught online and give the students insight into the circumpolar north, land and environment, peoples and cultures, economy and politics and with additional modules on the Barents region, results of a project funded by the Barents Secretariat.
Students can choose among different specializations for the advanced part of the program. Three of the four specializations being offered, are taught at the campus of Finnmark University College for students being able to go to Alta and attend campus based teaching for the following specializations:
• Arctic Innovation and Entrepreneurship ( Autumn/30 credits)
• Management of Local and Regional Development ( Spring/30 credits)
• North American Studies and Intercultural Communication (spring/30 credits)
One specialization in High North Politics and Barents Cooperation (30 credits) is being offered online. Russian partner institutions have been invited to take part and academic faculty at Murmansk Humanities University and Finnmark University College are presently in the process of developing courses on the Nordic and Russian political system as well as on cross-border cultures and communication. Also a course on High North politics seen from both the Russian and the Norwegian perspectives will become developed in cooperation with Russian colleagues.
The college has regarded it important to include our Russian university partners in the development of the BNS degree program. Cooperation agreements have been made with universities all over the Barents region, recruiting students for the BNS degree program. Besides of MSHU in Murmansk, which has included BNS courses in local educational programs, Murmansk State Technical University and university departments of other Russian universities located in Murmansk have taken an interest in the program and recruited students. But also university departments in Apatity, universities in St. Petersburg, in Komi republic and as far away as in Sakha are cooperating with the college on this program.
Russian students are doing the program as a double degree together with their Russian program as in economics, history, language and culture, journalism or others. But there are also students from other nations who take a special interest in Northern issues, contributing to make it into a real international program. These students acquire knowledge and insight into a broad range of northern issues; environment and global warming, natural resources and sustainable development, indigenous people of the north, northern economy and politics and how democracy is organized and working.
Finnmark University College has a special focus on the border cooperation with Russia by its department in Kirkenes and the short distance to Murmansk, facilitating cooperation with our Russian partners in Murmansk. Kirkenes or “Campus Kirkenes” as we like to call it, is a natural hub for cooperation on higher education with Russian universities. We are hoping that both Norwegian and Russian political authorities are willing to back this development in the years to come. The vision should be a common Barents Region for higher education and research.
