Sastamala Community College

Sastamalan Opisto (Sastamala Community College) is a non-profit Finnish open adult education centre. The college welcomes all learners, young and old and offers opportunities for a wide variety of recreational activities and study. Learning is largely self-motivated and, as a rule, not aimed at achieving a formal qualification.

Sastamala Community College’s mission is to provide opportunities for lifelong learning, to equalize educational inequality and to promote the well-being and inclusion of the citizens in society. Studying is more affordable for unemployed job seekers and for low-income pensioners, and income level is not a barrier to participation. Most of the courses are organized as face-to-face teaching, but the college also offers online and hybrid teaching.

Sastamala Community College delivers more than 1.000 courses for 4000 learners each year, with about 20.000 teaching hours within the rural town of Sastamala, hiring about 160 hourly paid teachers each year. The permanent staff consists of five educational and administrative coordinators, two administrative staff and a principal as well as a part-time regional manager.

Curriculum

The college is responsible for designing its own curriculum to ensure that it best reflects the demand in its local area. Some of the courses are planned for special groups, such as people with intellectual disabilities and people with reduced mobility. The course planning has focused on accessibility, e.g. through the selection of teaching premises and the availability of online teaching.