Education for working professionals

Programme summary

• Development and implementation of business-relevant educational activities at at least second cycle level for working professionals
• Close collaboration between academia and the business sector
• Strengthens the long-term capacity of the universities to manage educational activities tailored to the competence development of working professionals
• The programme is offered in two versions – Mini and Maxi
• Funding amount: SEK 2.5–5 million (Mini) or SEK 8–12 million (Maxi)
• Maximum project duration: 2–3 years (Mini) or 4–5 years (Maxi)

Background of the programme

Sweden faces a series of complex societal challenges, at the same time as a rapid technological development leads to a comprehensive transformation of the business sector. Altogether, this contributes to changed and increasing needs for relevant knowledge and competence, needs that can no longer be solely met through the addition of newly graduated individuals. An increasingly important contribution will therefore be competence development of already working professionals and recurrent education during the working life.

To many universities, working students are a newly added target group that prompts adaptations of the educational activities in order to be able to meet the group’s needs and conditions for education in an appropriate manner.

The programme’s contribution to strong research and educational environments

The Education for working professionals programme contributes by enabling the research and education environment to start up or renew educational collaboration with the business sector through competence-enhancing educational activities for working professionals. The programme also contributes by strengthening the relationship between academia and the business sector in areas related to the environment’s research orientations, thus contributing to profiling.