There are 14 university networks in Finland. Some of these networks focus on reinforcing interaction within scientific fields such as arts and history, whereas others seeks for contributions from established sciences to multidisciplinary approaches, such as rural studies and futures studies. The Finland Futures Academy (FFA) is a national education and research network in the field of futures studies for universities and university units. The network is coordinated by the Finland Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku, and it has 9 member universities. This paper draws from almost 15 years of experience of working for the FFA.

This paper concentrates on discussing the changes and future developments of higher education. Social media is among the key integral human competences in self-expression and interpretation. In modern information societies, the exploration of social media procedures and tools has changed the whole picture of higher education.  One of the key focuses of this paper is to show that in modern knowledge society, the rationale behind both research and education are identical. We are interested in the generation of wisdom and new knowledge in education. We see net-based interaction from the perspective of socio-cultural confrontations. We will show education in a new context of sharing perspectives with research and innovations. Further on, by introducing the concept of Networked Learning (NL) as a reflection of networked R&D and innovations, we can see education as a demonstration of arising networks and as a counterpart to R&D.