Finnish university launches world’s first course on TikTok

The course examines various facets of entrepreneurship through short video lectures that are available on the massively popular social media platform. Similarly to a traditional course, the participants will also be required to complete assignments and a final assignment to earn a single credit (ECTS).

The course is open to everyone, with registrations accepted though the open university of Haaga-Helia. The deadline for completing the course is 17 May.

Haaga-Helia in March emphasised that the course is voluntary, meaning no student enrolled in the university is required to join TikTok.

The Helsinki-based higher-education institution pointed to a recent survey showing that the platform for short-form videos has established itself as the primary news source for young people in Finland. The platform has grown in popularity also among the adult population, boasting over 1.5 million adult users in the country.

The course, it stated, is an attempt to leverage the popularity for good and increase the amount of educational material on TikTok.

“Students today are spending so much time on TikTok, so why shouldn’t we do our part and produce more serious content amid the lighter, fun videos?” commented Teemu Kokko, rector of Haaga-Helia.

It is also a reflection of the university’s desire to experiment and be at the forefront of global trends.

“We don’t see change as a threat but rather as an opportunity to create something completely new,” added Kokko. “We try, experiment and try again. It wouldn’t be fun to think afterwards how we should’ve seized this. It’s easy to become stuck in old routines and ways of working, but at Haaga-Helia we want to stay in touch with the times.”