Towards Individual Study Paths in Master Degree Studies

Abstract

Digitalization, global networking and work tasks are becoming increasingly complex and diversified. Thus, there should be investment in the development of wide-ranging capabilities at work. The change also sets a challenge to education providers to develop their offerings in an increasingly personalized way. In addition, adaptability, desire for lifelong learning and continuous acquisition of new skills are prominent issues in today’s working life. This article aims to introduce how higher education can be developed to enable individual study paths for students. The development work has been carried out under the ‘Lapland UAS Master School’ project during 8/2018-12/2020. We have piloted our solutions with Master’s degree students in Service Management in Digital Era. Based on the pilot, we have developed an educational framework that we are now extending to all training programs of our Master’s School at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. This article introduces our educational framework from the point where students can choose their combination of studies depending on their individual competence needs based on lifelong learning and the specific skills required for their career