While much has been said about the EU4Dual Winter School 2026 from the perspective of students and programme outcomes, the foundation of it all may be less explicitly visible. It is the work and reflection of the teachers behind it, which lies at the heart of learning and deserves to be given a voice to inspire others.

The Winter School was not simply delivered; it was constructed, tested, and continuously adapted by an international group of educators from Savonia, ESTIA and Mondragon University. Together navigating the intersection of pedagogy, collaboration, and real-world complexity. This perspective reveals something deeper than what the programme is: it shows how it is made.

Designing for Integration, Not Just Delivery

In the description of the Winter School, the emphasis is placed on dual learning, real company challenges, and regional impact. From a teacher’s perspective, however, the central challenge was not simply bringing these elements together, but making them function as a coherent learning experience. One of the organising teachers, Matti Laitinen, captured this succinctly when asked how he would describe the experience, calling it “integrative… because it brought together learning, real company challenges, international collaboration, and regional development into one experience”.

This integration required deliberate design choices. It was not enough to include companies or international students as separate components—the real task was to ensure that each element actively shaped the others. As Matti Laitinen reflected, the presence of real company cases fundamentally changed the nature of student engagement, noting that “the work was not simulated only… that created a different level of engagement, responsibility, and quality in the outputs.”

From a teaching standpoint, this meant relinquishing control over predictable outcomes and allowing learning to emerge from authentic complexity. It also required recognising early in the planning phase that “the value does not come from the international setting alone, but from how well the experience integrates students, companies, and learning objectives into a meaningful whole” (Matti Laitinen), a principle closely aligned with the broader aims of EU4Dual.

Teaching as Orchestration

One of the clearest distinctions between this Winter School and more traditional teaching formats lies in the role of the teacher. As Matti Laitinen explains, the role “shifts more clearly into a facilitator and orchestrator rather than a content provider,” emphasising a move towards guiding processes rather than delivering content. This shift is not merely methodological—it is conceptual. Teachers are no longer the primary source of knowledge, but designers of environments where knowledge is created collaboratively. For some, this required stepping outside their usual professional routines, as Veli-Matti Tolppi noted that their typical work involves remote supervision and assessment, whereas here, teaching became immediate, interactive, and situational. Visiting teachers recognised this transformation as well, reflecting on how collaboration across institutions has evolved and how working together and answering students’ questions collectively now “sounds so natural.”

At the same time, working across cultures is not without its challenges. Differences in schedules, working styles, and even grading systems can create obstacles that require negotiation and mutual understanding. Yet, as reflected throughout the week, the benefits of collaboration far outweigh these difficulties, reinforcing the value of initiatives like EU4Dual. What once required coordination now feels like shared practice—something that sits at the core of EU4Dual’s ambition to foster seamless collaboration between partner institutions.

Balancing Structure and Uncertainty

A recurring theme among the organising teachers was the tension between structure and openness. As Matti Laitinen reflected, “the process needed to be structured enough to guide teams in a short timeframe, but not so rigid that it limits creativity”. This balancing act is largely invisible in student-facing narratives, yet it is central to the success of such programmes. Too much structure risks reducing innovation to a checklist; too little leaves students without direction.

In practice, this meant designing a framework that could hold multiple variables simultaneously, including different academic backgrounds, varying levels of experience, cultural differences, and real stakeholder expectations. At the same time, coordination extended well beyond teaching itself, requiring ongoing alignment between companies, partner institutions, schedules, and practical arrangements, while still maintaining the flexibility needed to adapt to changing circumstances.

When Learning Becomes Tangible

For teachers, the most meaningful moments were not necessarily the final outputs, but the points at which learning became visible. One such moment was the testing day, where Matti Laitinen observed that “seeing international students experience the services for the first time and then immediately reflect on them… made the value of the whole concept visible”. This was not just a pedagogical milestone, but a validation of the entire design approach. Another key moment was the final pitching session, which Veli-Matti Tolppi highlighted as particularly memorable, offering a clear view of how students articulated and developed their ideas in an international setting.

At the same time, the exchange was not one-directional, as one visiting lecturer reflected on how students quickly overcame initial concerns about language barriers, explaining that “one hour in and it was gone,” and highlighting how effectively they collaborated both inside and outside the university. This mutual recognition reinforces the idea that collaboration is not about replication, but alignment—an essential principle underpinning EU4Dual cooperation.

The Value of International Perspective For Teachers

While students are often the primary focus of mobility, the Winter School also functioned as a learning experience for teachers themselves. Matti Laitinen reflected on gaining “a clearer understanding of how to design learning environments that genuinely integrate education, industry collaboration, and regional development,” while also highlighting how the experience provided “insight into how international perspectives can accelerate service development in a way that is difficult to achieve locally”. Veli-Matti Tolppi similarly emphasised the value of the experience, noting it strengthened their “confidence that it is worthwhile to offer students these kinds of opportunities.”

Visiting teachers, in turn, observed and compared institutional approaches, recognising both shared educational values and new ideas drawn from Savonia’s ecosystem model and entrepreneurial mindset. They also highlighted moments outside formal teaching settings, with one describing how arriving on the Savonia campus for the first time still felt like entering their own university. Such experiences point to an often-overlooked dimension of international education: not just mobility, but familiarity and continuity across institutions. This is especially relevant within EU4Dual, where shared experiences contribute to building a common European dual studies identity.

Beyond Student Experience: Building a Shared Practice

Student reflections often focus on teamwork, cultural exchange, and personal growth, but the teacher perspective reveals a broader ambition: the gradual construction of a shared European approach to education. One visiting teacher articulated this clearly, describing how “we are building up a European university… and this is maybe one of the first times that I felt it.”. This sense of a shared system was reinforced through everyday interactions, including co-teaching, informal discussions, and joint problem-solving. Another teacher emphasised that this applies not only to students, but to staff as well, noting that it is not just students working together, but also teachers collaboratively preparing materials and experiences. In this sense, these Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP), developed within EU4Dual, operate as both a learning environment and a prototype for future collaboration.

Is It Worth It? A Teacher’s Answer

Designing and delivering such a programme requires significant effort, coordination, and willingness to operate in uncertain conditions, making the question of value unavoidable. For the teachers involved, the answer was clear—but nuanced. When asked if he would recommend planning a BIP to other teachers, Matti Laitinen responded that he would, “with the condition that it is built around real challenges and a clear process”. Veli-Matti Tolppi was equally clear in their recommendation, stating that they would “absolutely recommend it,” especially having seen its impact across multiple iterations. Visiting teachers were equally direct, encouraging others not to hesitate, as the experience had been valuable not only for students but a learning experience for them as educators as well. Perhaps the most telling reflection, however, was about continuity rather than completion, with one visiting teacher noting that he was already wishing to return even before leaving Finland.

Towards More Intentional International Education

What emerges from the teachers’ perspective is not simply a successful programme, but a set of insights into how international, practice-based education can be designed more intentionally within alliances such as EU4Dual. The EU4Dual Winter School demonstrates that impactful learning does not happen by combining elements, but by carefully integrating them, requiring teachers who are willing to move beyond traditional roles, embrace uncertainty, and collaborate across institutional and cultural boundaries.

For educators considering similar initiatives, the message is both realistic and inspiring: this kind of teaching is demanding—but it is also where education begins to resemble the complexity of the world it prepares our students for.

A very special thank you to the coaches for inspiring this article with their valuable insights:

Matti Laitinen, RDI-expert, Savonia University of Applied Sciences
Veli-Matti Tolppi, Lecturer, Savonia University of Applied Sciences
Jérémie Faham, Lecturer, ESTIA Institute of Technology
Ane Eizmendi Garin, Lecturer, Mondragon Unibertsitatea
Jonathan Fontán Álvarez, Lecturer, Mondragon Unibertsitatea

Sources and further information:

• https://eu4dual.education/
• https://eu4dual.savonia.fi/
• https://www.savonia.fi/en/articles-pro/eu4dual-winter-school-2026-at-savonia-university-of-applied-sciences-an-international-learning-environment-at-the-intersection-of-service-development-and-regional-innovation/
• https://www.savonia.fi/en/articles/what-did-the-eu4dual-winter-school-teach-us/
• https://www.opiskelijakuntasavotta.fi/en/home/
• https://sakky.fi/en/sakky
• https://www.hubpanostamo.fi/
• https://www.estia.fr/en/
• https://www.mondragon.edu/en/home

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Author

Zainab Elgundi, International Relations, Savonia University of Applied Sciences