Teaching Development, Grants, and Recognition

Each year, Hanken recognises teachers who have made a significant contribution to the development of teaching. The award highlights initiatives that demonstrate clear pedagogical impact and align with Hanken’s strategic goals. 

Nomination and Application Process
Nominations can be submitted by heads- of department, subject, colleagues, or by the teachers themselves. If a nomination is submitted by someone other than the teacher, it is recommended that the nominee contributes to describing the development work and its outcomes.

To ensure a fair and transparent evaluation, nominations must clearly outline the rationale for the award and follow the application guidelines. The Teaching Evaluation Committee (TEC) reviews all applications, and the final decision is made by the Rector.

Criteria and Application
To be considered for the Teaching Award, the application must demonstrate clear pedagogical impact and align with Hanken’s strategic goals. Applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:

•    Alignment with course-level learning outcomes and demonstrated improvement in student learning
•    Development of teaching methods that support Hanken’s strategic focus areas
•    Corporate collaboration or integration of real-world relevance into teaching
•    Evidence of broader impact, such as influence on students’ learning experience or on colleagues’ teaching practices
•    Cross-disciplinary or cross-campus collaboration in teaching development
•    Use of innovative approaches or technologies, including AI, to enhance student engagement and learning

To be awarded, the initiative must stand out in terms of quality, relevance, and impact. Applications should clearly describe the development work, its outcomes, and how it contributes to pedagogical advancement at Hanken.

Award recognition
The award is presented annually at the Rector’s Christmas Coffee. The number of awards may vary depending on the quality and number of nominations received. The call for nominations is announced via the Hanken website and the Teaching Lab newsletter.

Submit your application/nomination here by Nov 30, 2025 (form active from 1.11.2025)

Excellent teachers

Excellent teachers demonstrate genuine interest in teaching and student learning, and excellent results from this. They  perform beyond the "normal" teaching job, beyond what is included in the meritorious teacher level (such as successful development of individual courses already rewarded on the previous level). They systematically share their educational knowledge to improve the quality of teaching in general.

=>Teaching excellence is awarded with a time-bound salary supplement of 300 euros per month (for 4 years). Re-evaluated every 4th year.

CRITERIA AND INDICATORS

A. Shows educational excellence

- Extensive educational experience and commitment

- Continuously develop their teaching towards better learning (containing goals and results / impact, as well as concrete examples and references to educational literature to support the demonstration)

- Systematically deepened their pedagogical competence, min 25 cr of pedagogical studies (can demonstrate how pedagogy / education and learning have improved)

- Pedagogical leadership and development assignments (not only formal duties such as being head of subject or subject coordinator, but genuine pedagogical leadership e.g. in the subject, with goals and outcomes )

- Self-evaluation - in a constructive way, reflecting on their teaching and taking into account the students / colleagues / own responses (including references to relevant university pedagogical literature in order to motivate and anchor their own  educational choices and pedagogical knowledge)

- Demonstrated consistently high-level teaching and received positive reviews and appreciation of their skills and commitment as a teacher (excellent course evaluations, awards / appointments, etc.)

B. Shares their educational knowledge

- Acted as a teacher mentor, participated in peer-to-peer evaluation, etc.

- Initiated educational seminars, discussions, conferences, research projects, etc.

- Developed teaching materials for common use (e.g. open educational resources)

Based on one’s own application - criteria A and B must both be met (demonstrate the purpose, scope and effects of the various indicators; documentation supporting the application is appended)

Applicants should have continuous employment at Hanken.

Application form: https://forma.hanken.fi/lomakkeet/1660/lomakkeet.html

Deadlines three times a year:
- 30.4
- 31.8 
- 19.12

The applications are assessed by the Teaching Evaluation Committee (TEC) and the decision is taken by the Rector.

Criteria for revaluation of excellence

New criteria and decision to be publish soon

Project funding for the development of teaching

Funds are made available by Hanken Support Foundation to encourage and enable development of teaching.
For such important investments in the development of teaching that take extra time and are of a one-off nature. The development must be in line with Hanken's strategic goals and can have different focuses in different years (innovative learning forms and methods, teaching collaboration, business contacts, integration, outreach, a new program, etc.) and follow Hanken's pedagogical guidelines.

2025 Project funding focus is on experiential learning for creating materials and develop teaching that facilitate practical applications and real-life scenarios for students (e.g. writing cases for teaching, creating role playing scenarios, business simulations).  

Criteria for the application:
1. Project description: a detailed description of the project objectives, methodology, target group and expected results.
2. Pedagogical relevance: how the project contributes to improved teaching and learning. Are the greater benefits for other faculty members? 
3. Collaboration: if the project is a collaboration between different institutions and subjects, or between the study sites, this collaboration and the expected results should be described in detail in the application.
4. Describe how the project differs from your usual teaching and planning.      
5. Budget: a detailed budget specifying all costs, including VAT. It should also clearly state who is doing what in the work. Project funding can be granted up to a maximum of 2000€/project. 
6. Timetable: a realistic timetable for the realisation of the project.

Examples of eligible costs:
- Hiring of assistants for the development of the project.
- Purchase software, databases, literature and other material.
- Participation in courses and training directly related to the project.

The application is made in consultation with the programme coordinator/head of subject so that it reflects the needs and focus of the subject, which should also be stated in the application. 
Project funding is not granted for hiring an assistant or hourly employee to handling the applicants’ teaching tasks. 
The call for proposals is published annually in the Teaching Lab newsletter and on the website. The funds can be applied for once a year.
Applications are assessed by the Teaching Evaluation Committee (TEC) and the decision is made by the Rector.

More information and the application form can be found here: https://forma.hanken.fi/lomakkeet/2541/lomake.html (Deadline 29.4.2025)

Hanken acknowledges top evaluated courses in the previous academic year, which have received:

• at least 4 in average on all three questions included in the course evaluation form, as well as
• teacher response to the feedback received in the evaluation form, and
• at least 35% response rate to the evaluation

Academic teaching staff are encouraged to apply for seed-funding for the joint development of new courses and/or teaching formats for up to €10,000.

Funding can be used for personnel costs, travel, meetings and events, for the production of course materials, training or similar. The seed.funding call aims to attract courses and other teaching offers that are collaborative, credit-bearing and with the potential to reach a high number of students. To qualify, the proposed initiative must include colleagues from at least three partner universities in the alliance and be linked to the ENGAGE.EU mission: https://www.engageuniversity.eu/mission/

For more information, including links to register for the webinars, the guidelines and application form, please visit the ENGAGE.EU Academic Initiative Incubator website: https://www.engageuniversity.eu/academic-initiative-incubator-call-2025/

The next seed-funding call will be publish on the Hanken webpage.