Currently our department offers two kind of expert and adult education courses, Open University courses and tailored courses for private companies and other organizations which are usually arranged in co-operation with university faculties and departments. These two client groups have different goals, individuals participating in the Open University education usually want to improve their general knowledge level, to upgrade their basic education or to work toward self-development. Private companies, public and private organizations in other hand want to fill some perceived gap in their knowledge base which is formed by their employees or individual experts.

Currently our practice with the course and education planning is already collaborative and incremental process where constant discussion and evaluation is going on to ensure the high level working life relevance and meeting the perceived customer needs of the offered educational services. However still more flexible and lean method for planning and executing the expert and adult education is needed. In software and hardware production the agile methods have been one of the popular answers to similar problems (AgiES, 2014). These methods have also found their way in the field of education. Emiliani (2004 & 2013) has used and promoted the use of Kaizen thinking for improving education in higher education. Goldman (2009) in turn, has applied more specific tool, Kanban, from agile methodologies to improve education in medical field. Both of these have a common background and goals, and both cases have promising results.

Both the Kaizen thinking and Kanban method could be used together, as Kaizen is a wider way of thinking about continuous process and product improvement, whereas Kanban is a specific tool that is used to produce the selected product or service. In this research proposal paper we will examine how these methods can be used in expert education in higher education institutions in the Nordic countries. The current situation will be reflected towards the future aiming to continuous improvements in education services. The aim of this research is to target to more focused and flexible planning and education practices within the field of academic expert education.