Institute of Rehabilitation

The Institute of Rehabilitation is a pioneer in rehabilitation. We are reforming and strengthening rehabilitation know-how to meet the changing national and international needs by means of degree programmes in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation counselling and social services and by utilising continuous learning, research and business.

We have a group of more than 50 experts working for us, consisting of senior lecturers, lecturers, researchers as well as experts in international activities, business and entrepreneurship.

The Institute of Rehabilitation is well-networked, and its operations are in close cooperation with JAMK’s different areas of strength and experts from different units. We want to create new partnerships with education and research organisations for multidisciplinary rehabilitation, service providers and rehabilitation technology companies. The Institute of Rehabilitation serves as a platform for competence, research and business development where companies, researchers, developers, students and trainers meet!

Our activities focus on active life and excercise rehabilitation, client/service guidance and rehabilitation processes as well as rehabilitation technologies and environments. We invest in the introduction of remote and simulation rehabilitation and various digital solutions. One of our aims is to reform home rehabilitation and work ability rehabilitation know-how. We see preventive and early stage rehabilitation as important in terms of e.g. maintaining study and work ability or supporting the independence and functioning of the ageing population.

Let's build global action and partnership!

Mirja Immonen, Director, Institute of Rehabilitation

The Institute of Rehabilitation is increasingly globally known expert organization related to multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Our strong focus is on development of education, continuous learning and research, development and innovation activities that create impact, not only in Finland but globally.

Traditionally our international focus has been more at European level and in selected locations globally mainly in Japan and North America. However, as we continue looking new ways to contribute towards Sustainable Development Goals, we are also developing new strategic partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central- and Southeast Asia.

It is estimated that 2.4 billion people in the world today would benefit from rehabilitation but access to quality of rehabilitation is limited. As a leading institute for multidisciplinary rehabilitation in Finland we are excited to share our expertise, learn from partners, and together address rehabilitation worker shortages as well as co-creating new evidence-based innovations around rehabilitation.

Digitalization is transforming our lives and work. Looking the increasing global need for rehabilitation, no health or social, system will be able to respond at needed scale. Thus, we strongly advocate the 21st century rehabilitation model to be digital first, empowering people to manage their own health, wellbeing, and rehabilitation needs. Digital guidance- and rehabilitation is an expertise area that is a strategic focus in our global efforts and area where we continuously invest into.

The Institute of Rehabilitation is actively engaging in international cooperation and dialogue between different higher education institutions in European level. Work is done to through continues exchange and sharing between rehabilitation professionals and supporting mobility of students, teachers, and other staff. JAMK is also actively leading and partnering different Research and Development projects. These include several Erasmus+ Capacity building and strategic partnership projects.

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Research activities of the Institute of Rehabilitation focus on the development and effectiveness of new rehabilitation methods and rehabilitation services. Research themes includes, but are not limited to, rehabilitation technology, gerontological rehabilitation, social rehabilitation, and work-related rehabilitation. Research is conducted in collaboration with rehabilitation professionals and with a national and international research network.

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The multidisciplinary expert network of the Institute of Rehabilitation will plan and execute development projects closely together with national and international collaboration networks. Our aim is to develop and renew the approaches of rehabilitation.

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The Institute of Rehabilitation offers high-quality, renewable and truly multidisciplinary expertise in response to future national and international working life needs. The design of enrollment utilizes diverse networks and educational policies to enable the content goals of the new generation of higher education as a learning environment and in lifelong learning. The planning, implementation and development of education is based on collegiality across educational fields.

The Institute of Rehabilitation educates nearly 200 solid experts in multidisciplinary rehabilitation each year: physiotherapists, occupational therapists and rehabilitation counsellors. We also offer master’s degree studies in multidisciplinary rehabilitation and sport and exercise physiotherapy.

We also provide diploma courses and specialisation studies in the form of continuing education to address the evolving needs of working life.

One of the important goals of the Institute of Rehabilitation is to develop cooperation with companies and create versatile partnerships within education, research and development activities and business development.

JAMK and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences have already engaged in cooperation as a centre of excellence in the field of rehabilitation for a couple of years, funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The centre of excellence renews, strengthens and develops rehabilitation education for the benefit of the rehabilitees.

The centre of excellence will grow into a cooperation network for institutes of higher education that provide education in rehabilitation to address the competence needs in the field on a national level. The centre of excellence will engage in close cooperation with upper secondary and university education. The centre also aims at expanding international cooperation in education. The educational offerings in foreign languages and double degrees will be increased by, among other things, strengthening the jointly planned online studies. There are also plans to put together a national education export consortium in the field of rehabilitation.

The centre of excellence also serves as a research and development centre for the rehabilitation field. A cooperation network for research, development and innovation projects can be created around it to generate solutions that support functional capacity and participation among rehabilitation clients. The network efforts are centred around updating the operating models of rehabilitation, prevention, rehabilitation as a multi-party process, and producing digital and technological solutions. The network participates in social debate to strengthen the role of rehabilitation in the reform of healthcare and social welfare services and in educational activities at different levels of education.