Here below you can find all master courses the University Centre offers. All courses are taught in 1-3 week modules running from August through June. See how the courses are organised in the teaching schedule for both programs. Usually 2-3 courses are taught at the same time, but students may only enroll in one course at a time.
The master courses are available to you whether you plan to pursue a degree or just take a course or courses. Please review the options for guest studies to determine how you can apply.
For further information, contact the Administrative Director of Education and Teaching.
Regional Policy Evaluation
- Summer 2026
- Instructor: Sari Rannanpaa
About the course
The course introduces the students to the hands-on practice of evaluation. The teaching is conducted through mini lectures, interactive sessions and occasional guest lectures and a field visit to a local development project. During the course, the students will get useful tips and tools for planning and conducting social research.
Instructor
is a senior evaluator working for a Regional Development Consultancy, MDI, in Helsinki. She holds an MPhil in Political Science from the Central European University, an MA in the Political Economies of Russia and Eastern Europe from University College London and a BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Her special field of interest is rural and local development policy, where she is experienced in policy planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. She also has extensive experience in planning and conducting evaluations, evaluation capacity-building and facilitation, in both a national and an international context.
In recent years, she has led several complex projects, such as the Evaluation of the Leader CLLD Principles and Administrative Model in Finland. She has also participated in national and European evaluations including the Mid-Term Evaluation of the Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2014-2020 and, as an expert for the European Evaluation Helpdesk for Rural Development, in the development of the evaluation tools and framework for the European Rural Development Programmes.
Learning outcome
The course provides an overview of the concepts, processes, and methods of policy and program evaluation in the field of regional policies. Students learn how to plan, prepare, and conduct an evaluation, as well as disseminate the evaluation findings of regional policies and development programs in various contexts.
On completion of the course, a student:
- can describe relevant concepts related to policy and program evaluation
- can define different types of evaluation stakeholders and their roles in the evaluation process
- can apply typical data collection and analysis methods used in regional policy and program evaluation
- can plan, prepare and conduct an external evaluation and self-assessment for a regional development program or a project
- can design data collection instruments (e.g. survey, interview questions)
- can design an evaluation plan and disseminate the evaluation findings effectively to the different stakeholders