Sami Language in Higher Education in Suburban Areas

HEI-SAMI - Sami Language in Higher Education in Suburban Areas -project concentrates on promoting Nordic network building of universities working with endangered Sami language education. The aim of the project is to develop collaborative conditions for Sami language in higher education in suburban areas. The main coordinator is the University of Lapland, and the partners are University of Helsinki, Umeå University and the Arctic University of Norway. These higher education institutions have worked with Sami language education already for decades but have not built network for to collaborate in suburban contexts, outside the core Sami areas, which have low support for Sami languages. The project seeks through collaboration building resources for strengthening Sami language and answers to urgent call to make practical solutions and suggestions for teachers and students in this regard. This collaboration as a pilot project concerns North Sami language which is a common working language of these institutions. The project aims to enhance the situation of Sami language by helping to discuss and share experiences about joint concerns and best practices when teaching Sami in suburban context. Teachers in these institutions normally work alone and network building is a form to increase resources in a field. This funding is aimed for institutional visits to conducts workshops to start practical collaboration between the institutions, teachers and students. As a result, the project has increased institutional collaboration and promoted teachers and students pan-Sami network building.