Arcada is one of only two Swedish-language Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland, where Swedish holds the status of the second official language. Located in Helsinki’s Arabianranta district, Arcada’s single-campus setup fosters a strong sense of community by bringing students and staff together in one central location. The university has approximately 3,000 students and an academic staff of 120 people.
Arcada offers a wide range of Swedish-language degree programs in various fields, such as social and health care, technology, culture, media and business. The university also offers international undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in several fields, also in English.
itslearning has been used at Arcada since 2011 and has proven to be a very valuable and critical tool for Arcada. The platform is deeply integrated into the structures of the educational institution, offering many benefits.
Arcada originally decided to choose itslearning because of its user-friendliness, which is still seen as one of the platform’s greatest advantages. The platform is also reliable and flexible, with minimal disruptions and readily available support. It makes learning more accessible by removing the need for physical classrooms and enabling fast, easy communication between teachers and students.
For many years, Arcada used a self-built student information system. However, in 2021, the university decided to replace it with the SISU student information system. The decision was made after careful analysis and comparison, where key factors such as SISU’s SaaS (software as a Service) model, information security, accessibility and the possibility of integration with itslearning played a major role. The SaaS model allows for continuous updates and outsourced maintenance, reducing the need for Arcada’s internal IT staff. Previously, the university’s own data center handled system maintenance, making the transition to SISU a significant improvement in efficiency.
The integration brings data from SISU to itslearning about teachers, students, courses and course registrations, making processes easier and reducing manual work. The project was implemented in three different phases over the course of a semester. It was important for Arcada that itslearning appeared the same to end users at all times and remained a stable system. By running both the new and old integrations in parallel, the university was able to implement changes without disrupting the user experience.
Krister and Carl-Johan describe the integration project as easy and successful overall. Throughout the process, the itslearning project manager Tapio Janasik provided quick and reliable support whenever needed. Tapio himself found the project both challenging and interesting in a positive way. He praised Arcada for having a skilled project lead and clearly defined goals, which contributed to a well-executed process. In the end, the project successfully met the expectations of both parties.
Automation and system compatibility are key themes in Arcada's development work. The university continuously strives to improve the user experience for teachers and students by standardising and simplifying processes.
One example is that the integration automatically removes inactive accounts from itslearning, eliminating costs for unnecessary users. Additionally, the integration between the learning platform and the student information system provides a quick and accurate overview of the number of users.
From the students' perspective, the integration eases their learning process. All essential information, such as courses, schedules, assignments and assessments, is easily accessible in one place. The unified user interface supports students in focusing on their own learning. Teachers also benefit, as manual tasks like the management of learning materials, student assessment and course registrations are now automated, reducing their manual workload.
Arcada has had a long and successful partnership with itslearning. The platform is a key part of the university’s operations, and its role will only grow as learning analytics and automation become more effective. Arcada continues to develop as a modern, multidisciplinary University of Applied Sciences, where digital learning and seamless system integrations support both teaching and administrative goals.
Campus:
Arabianranta, Helsinki
Staff:
120
Been using itslearning:
Since 2011
Students:
3000