Gallery: Introduction to the different events to which IPFE has contributed

1. Chairman Hosny El-Lakany's visit to Joensuu, Finland, 21 st -24 th August 2007

The chairman of IPFE visited the University of Joensuu to meet the secretariat and to familiarize to the working conditions in Joensuu. In the meetings held at the university the different guidelines for activities were also agreed. The event was organized by the Secretariat.

Image by Varpu Heiskanen

2. First Global Workshop on Improving Forestry Education 25 th - 27 th September 2007, Nairobi, Kenya

The First Global Workshop on Improving Forestry Education under the auspices of IPFE was held in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2007. Forest management is becoming increasingly complex and it has changed a lot during the recent years. This has created a gap between what is being learnt in forestry schools and the new societal expectations. Designing forestry education that is responsive to the social, economic, and environmental challenges is an emerging complex issue. Concerted efforts are needed particularly at global and regional levels to design, coordinate and link relevant institutions and stakeholders to help transform forestry education. This is the scenario that led to the convening of the workshop. During the workshop also the first meeting of Executive Office was held.

3. Secretary meeting 12 th - 17 th November 2007, Vancouver, Canada

The IPFE Secretariat is shared between University of Joensuu and University of British Columbia (UBC). In November 2007 the Secretary General of IPFE travelled to UBC to meet director Jorma Neuvonen and chairman Hosny El-Lakany. In Vancouver in different meetings the Charter of IPFE was created and the agreement of the shared secretariat was negotiated.

4. CONFLAT 2 th - 5 th April 2008, Mérida, Venezuela

The IV Latin American Forestry Congress was held at 2 nd April 2008 and end 5 th April 2008, in Mérida city ( Venezuela ). 320 papers dealing with different issues of forestry were accepted for presentation. Four Side Meetings, two Courses and 6 Working Parties were also included to the program. The vice-chair of IPFE Osvaldo Encinas was a member of the organizing committee.

The Working Party in Forestry Education in Latin-American was held during the congress. The main purpose it was to describe how the actual situation of the forestry teaching and learning is in Latin America, discuss some aspects to improve the teaching capacity in the LA region, change ideas and suggestions to share capacities and experiences, and discuss he convenience to built the Latin American Network in Forestry Teaching, guidance and objectives and other matters proposed by assistants. During the workshop also a meeting of IPFE was held.

5. Asia Pacific Forestry Week 21-25 April 2008, Hanoi , Vietnam

During the Asia Pacific Forestry Week in Hanoi , Vietnam also the educational issues were discussed. The aims of the meetings were to discuss the current state of forest university education in different regions, identify common challenges, to develop ideas for the new, proposed network for Asia Pacific and to have a conversation about how it could facilitate the improvement of forest education and new approaches for professional education to meet future challenges of forest management in the region

This activity aims to build a strong supporting network for forestry skills in the Asia Pacific region and for training future leaders in managing forest resources, under the umbrella of the International Partnership for Forestry Education. The establishment of the Asia Pacific cooperation and network is organized by Professor Peter Kanowski from the Australian National University who is a member of the Steering Committee of IPFE.

6. Erasmus Mundus Workshop 5-7 November 2008 Valencia, Spain

The Ghent Univeristy, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering arranged a workshop for universities belonging to the Erasmus Network. In this workshop the strengthening of both research and education cooperation between universities was discussed and tools for meeting the strategic objectives were consired. The Secretary General participated to the workshop to strengthen the connection between the different networks and partnerships.

7.Beijing Symposium on Forestry Education December 2008 Beijing, China

The International Symposium on Forestry Education and the 1st Training Forum on Forestry Education in China was held December 7-11 2008 in Beijing at the Beijing Forestry University. This symposium was jointly organized by the China Forestry Education Association, the Beijing Forestry University, the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Forestry and the International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE). The symposium brought together senior level administrators (presidents, deans and department heads) from more than thirty Chinese universities, five Canadian university forestry schools and representatives from other universities internationally (USA, Finland, Australia, Malaysia, Venezuela, Indonesia). The aim was to discuss problems facing post-secondary forestry education, issues of mutual interest, venues for potential collaboration among universities, and possibilities to share our combined expertise. A follow-up symposium will be organized for May 2010 in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia.

8. Forestry education development work

During year 2009 IPFE has participated to planning of education development projects. The role of IPFE is to offer expertise in forestry and contacts to other education institutions and networks. These projects are aimed to develop forestry education in East-Africa and in Latin-America.

9.Erasmus Thematic Workshop: Forest and Nature Management April 2009

As an university sharing the secretariat of IPFE the University of Joensuu hosted an Erasmus Thematic Workshop: Forest and Nature Management in 23 -24. April 2009 in Joensuu. This was really important event for improving cooperation between different educational networks. Erasmus Network is an European network to support for example student exchange and development of education. In the workshop the possibilities to increase international cooperation in forestruy education was discussed.

10.Forestry education survey at Europe in 2009

FTP (Forest-Based Sector Technology Platform) wants to carry out a survey concerning university level education in forestry at Europe. Secretary General of IPFE was nominated as a chairperson of the Forestry group in the Education and Training group of FTP to carry out the survey.

In that survey the important question is: is higher education in forestry able to answer to new and challenging situation in forestry sector. There is a need to be able to train and educate professionals for the modern forestry and also for forest industry. This task is very important due to the huge changes in economics and structure of forestry. These economical problems have caused for example unemployment into forestry also among highly educated people.

The results of the survey have been published: Arevalo, J, Pitkänen, S., Gritten, D. and Tahvanainen, L. 2010. Market-relevant competencies for professional foresters in European graduate education. International Forestry Review Vol. 12 (3), 2010

11. XIII World Forestry Congress - Buoenos Aires, Argentina 2009, Education session and IPFE meeting

IPFE organised together with IFSA a Forestry Education session at XIII WFC. Following the thematic session a meeting was organised by IPFE to further discuss forestry education and activities of IPFE since the last meeting. 35 participants attended the meeting which was chaired by Hosny El-Lakany, Chairman of IPFE.

12. International Symposium on Forestry Education May, .2010 Vancouver, Canada

The goal of the follow-up symposium in Vancouver was to discuss progress with issues and themes that were identified at the Beijing Symposium (December 2008). The symposium provided a forum for reporting on joint educational programs and initiatives, and will explore future synergies and collaborations. The symposium had four topic areas: promotion of forest education globally, regional forestry education networks, e-learning / distant education in forestry / course based masters graduate programmes in forestry and incorporating global issues in a universal core curriculum.

The Chinese State Forestry Administration, the Canadian Forest Service, the Chinese Education Association of Forestry, the Association of University Forestry Schools of Canada, the UBC Faculty of Forestry, the Beijing Forestry University, and the International Partnership for Forestry Education jointly organized the “Olympic Forestry Education Symposia for 2008 and 2010” in Beijing and Vancouver respectively. In Vancouver it was decided that IPFE will organize the next International Symposium on Forestry Education in 2012.

13. IUFRO World Congress 2010 : "Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment" Seoul, Republic of Korea , August 2010

The chair Hosny El Lakany participated to the IUFRO World Congress 2010 and organised a small side meeting discussing about the forestry education development. The development of WELAN and GFIS systems to support education were further discussed in the meeting.

14. SLU Research School Sustainable Management and Utilization of Forests Autumn Meeting, Roserberg Castle Sweden, October 2010

The Secretary General Sari Pitkänen gave a presentation about IPFE and the forestry education survey and it's results in a Research School: Sustainable Management and Utilization of Forests Autumn Meeting of Swedish University of Agrcultural Sciences. Total of 33 students and their supervisors and coordinators of the Graduate Schools participated to the meeting.

15. The Forestry Leaders' Summit, April 2011 Vancouver Canada

In celebration of the 2011 International Year of Forests, and in recognition of concerns about forestry education and research worldwide, senior representatives of education and research institutions, international organizations and students convened at the University of British Columbia for the Forestry Leaders Summit. IPFE was one of the organizers of the Summit. The meeting focused on concerns about the need to improve the skill sets of forestry graduates in order for them to be able to effect forest policy decisions and the need for forestry research to be responsive to global forest policies. In particular, the meeting examined how better and more collaborative partnerships among education and dedicated research institutions could advance effective and more relevant forestry education and research for the benefit of society and attract even more students to international forestry.

16. Starting the project Improving of Forestry Education in Kenya, 3-7.10.2011 Joensuu, Finland

International Partnership for Forestry Education (IPFE) is participating to a forestry education development project “Improvement of Forestry Education in Kenya”. The project is coordinated by University of Eastern Finland and IPFE and ANAFE are participating to the project in information dissemination and expert position. In addition the chair of IPFE professor Hosny El Lakany is a member of the Project Board.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance the management and conservation of forests and other tree resources in Kenya for sustainable environment and socio-economic development as stated in the Kenya Forestry Policy through improved forestry education in the country.
Project Purpose is capacity building of forestry education at Moi University utilizing the expertise in forestry and ICT of the University of Eastern Finland through training of teachers on new learning methodologies including improving educational materials and practices, and providing support and training on the use of ICT in education.
On 3.10 - 7.10.2011 dean Moses Imo, Dr Rosemary Bargerai, Dr Joel Laigong and Dr Balozi Kirongo visited University of Eastern Finland (UEF) to start the project and to meet the staff of the School of Forest Sciences (UEF).