University Reform in Finland

1
University Reform in Finland

• 10th Baltic Seminar of University Administrators
• 14 May 2009
• Ilkka Turunen
• Special Government Advisor
• Ministry of Education, Finland

2
Priorities in Finnish Higher Education, Research
and Innovation Policies

• Structural development of HEIs
• Action Plan on Structural Development adopted in
  February 2008
• Aalto University in the field of technology,
  business and art and design private foundation
  (foundation capital public 500 Meuro private
  donations 200 Meuro)
• New Universities Act
• National infrastructure policy
• Strategic Centres of Excellence in STI (Energy
  and Environment, Forest Cluster, the Metals and
  Engineering Cluster, the Information and
  Communication Industry and Health and Well-being
  )
• Research career system
• Internationalisation of HEIs
• Reform of sectoral research
• National innovation strategy

3
Structural development of higher education

• According to the Government Programme, structural
  development will continue
• The reform forms part of the European higher
  education reform
• Communication of the European Commission
  "Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for
  Universities Education, Research, Innovation" of
  May 2006
• Development targets for higher education
  recommended in the thematic OECD review
• Internationalisation, clearer institutional
  missions and positions, and diversification of
  the funding structure

4
Structural development of HEIs- main objectives

• Enhance the HE network in order to create more
  prominent institutions with higher standards
• Ensure the quality and effectiveness of HEIs
  research and teaching
• Allocate resources to top-level research and
  strategic priority areas
• Strengthen the role of HEIs within the innovation
  system
• Improve the prerequisites of HEIs to cooperate
  with foreign partners and to compete for
  international research and other funding
• Strengthen the adult education function of HEIs
• Safeguard the availability of skilled workforce
  in changing operating environment
• Improve the position of HEIs in the international
  education markets
• Diversify the funding base of HEIs
• Improve HEIs attractiveness as a competitive
  employer in order to recruit the best personnel

5
The Finnish HE system

• An extensive network of institutions covering the
  whole country
• all institutions internationally oriented with
  special regional features
• University sector
• 20 research universities, including Universities
  of Arts
• Student enrollment 170 000
• all institutions are run by the state
• Polytechnic sector (established in the mid 1990s)
• 26 institutions
• Student enrollment 110 000
• Regional development tasks
• Bachelor degrees (vocational and professional
  degrees)
• (Professional) Masters degrees
• The whole HE system provides study places for
  65-70 of a age group
• Tuition free system

6
Vision 2020

• No more than 18 polytechnics
• Intake in youth education 22,500
• Flexible and profiled higher education units and
  structures
• Strong and dynamic interaction with the region
  and with the world of work
• Well-established, high-quality RD in priority
  areas
• No more than 15 universities
• Intake 17 500
• Strong units and profiles clear priorities in
  research
• Internationalisation and world-class research
• Four to five strategic university-polytechnic
  alliances
• Secured access to education and diverse education
  provision in the area
• Joint RD and stronger (regional) impact

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The Finnish university network
8
Polytechnics
9
Universities Bill
10
Aims of the university reform

• In order to give the universities a stronger
  financial and administrative status, they will be
  made independent legal persons and supplied with
  sufficient capital.
• As legal persons, the universities will be better
  equipped to respond to their own needs and to the
  expectations of society than as State accounting
  offices.
• As legal persons, the universities will be better
  able to operate with the surrounding society.
• Universities will be able to pursue their own
  human resources policies, geared to their
  specific features, independently of government
  human resources policy.

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Means - status as legal persons

• The universities are legal persons separate from
  the State, either as corporations under public
  law or foundations under the Foundations Act.
• Corporation under public law (public university)
• A legal person under the Universities Act whose
  organs and their functions are laid down in
  legislation.
• Foundation under private law (foundation
  university)
• A legal person under the Foundations Act which is
  assigned the university mission in the
  Universities Act.

12
University organs - public university

• The statutory organs of a university under public
  law are the board, rector and university
  collegiate body.
• The board decides on the main aims of the
  activities, the strategy and the principles
  governing the steering of operations and adopts
  the university regulations governing the
  organisation of the university.
• The board is responsible for the finances of the
  university.
• Half of the board members are elected from
  amongst three different groups in the university
  
• professors,
• other teaching and research staff and other
  personnel, and
• students
• Half of the board members must be persons
  external to the university elected by the
  university collegiate body. The chairperson of
  the board is elected from amongst the external
  members.

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University organs - public university

• The rector leads the day-to-day operations of the
  university, presents matters to the board, sees
  to the implementation of the board decisions and
  decides on the hiring of personnel.
• The rector is elected by the board. The
  qualification requirements for the rector are a
  doctorate degree, competencies and professional
  skills required to discharge the duties and
  proven leadership skills.
• The university collegiate body is an organ
  composed of the university community as a whole.
• The university collegiate body determines the
  number of members in the board to be appointed
  and its term of office elects the external board
  members and approves the board members elected by
  the university community relieves a board member
  from his/her duties selects the university
  auditors approves the financial accounts of the
  university and decides on the board members' and
  the rector's freedom from liability.

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University organs - public university

• The units set up for research and teaching in a
  university under public law have multi-member
  administrative bodies, which have the
  representation of the university community
  groups.
• In its regulations the public university
  determines independently its organisation, its
  organs dealing with academic matters and
  procedures.

15
New Universities Act will change

• Autonomy will strengthen universities will have
  an independent legal status (corporations under
  public law or foundations under private law)
• Universities will take the place of the State as
  employers civil-service employment relationships
  will become contractual employment relationships
• Community relations will strengthen half of the
  university senate members (including the
  chairman) will be persons external to the
  university community (professors, other
  personnel, students) defined in the act
• Greater latitude with finances donations, income
  from capital and business activities
• New universities Aalto university (HUT, HSE,
  UIAH), University of Eastern Finland
  (universities of Kuopio Joensuu) and the new
  Turku University (University of Turku, TSE)
• Performance agreement procedure will be lighter
• Charging tuition fees on a trial basis for
  separate masters programmes from students from
  outside the EU/EEA

16
The proposal will not change

• The freedom of research, art and education
• Self-government and academic decision-making
• Research and higher education remain as the main
  tasks of the universities
• The State will guarantee core funding, taking
  into account the development of costs external
  financing will not decrease State funding
• Education leading to a degree will continue to be
  free of charge
• Students will continue to be regarded as full
  members of the university they are automatically
  members of the students union and are
  represented on the governing bodies.

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Timetable of the university reform

• The Government has submitted its Bill to
  Parliament in February 2009.
• The reform is projected to take effect on 1
  August 2009.
• After this, the public universities may organise
  and set up the new organs of the legal person.
• The current operations of universities as state
  accounting offices will stop on 31 December 2009.
• The personnel and students transfer to the new
  universities on 1 January 2010.

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Innovation performance 2008
Colour coding matches the groups of countries
green are the innovation leaders, yellow are the
innovation followers, orange are the moderate
innovators, blue are the catching-up countries.
Average annual growth rates as calculated over a
five-year period. The dotted lines show EU
performance and growth.
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Global Innovation Scoreboard 2008

• Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, the US,
  Singapore and Israel are the global innovation
  leaders.
• The group of next-best performers includes
  Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, the UK,
  Republic of Korea, France, Iceland, Norway,
  Belgium, Australia, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg
  and New Zealand.
• The group of follower countries includes the Hong
  Kong, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Italy, Spain,
  Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary and
  Malta.
• The group of lagging countries includes
  Lithuania, Greece, China, Slovakia, South Africa,
  Portugal, Bulgaria, Turkey, Brazil, Latvia,
  Mexico, Poland, Argentina, India, Cyprus and
  Romania.

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Finnish innovation system/policy SWOT

• STRENGTS
• Education
• Commitment continuity
• Co-operation competition
• Industry share of RD investments
• Proactive and client-oriented public innovation
  services (funding, expert)
• Public RD funding with strong incentives for
  co-operation and risk-taking

• WEAKNESSES
• Small absolute volumes in RD
• (3,5 GDP 5,5 bn , lt 1 global RD)
• Dependence on global developments
• Low foreign direct investments
• Low international researcher mobility
• Small number of growth-oriented enterprises
• Small venture capital volumes for start-up and
  early growth-phases

• OPPORTUNITIES
• More coherent and strategic national policies
  (foresight?insight?policy)
• Stronger focusing of public RD resources
• Going beyond industrial innovation Promotion
  of innovation in private and public services
• Market-pulled innovation stimulation
• Active participation in major EU RD programmes
  and platforms
• Going beyond EU Active linkage with global
  innovation hotspots

• THREATS
• Dominance of one sector (ICT) and one company in
  business RD
• Risk of declining business RD expenditure
• Businesses increasingly move their operations
  abroad, including RD
• Loosing focus Participation in too many projects
  with scarce resources

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GOVERMENTS REPORT ON INNOVATION POLICY

• Sent to Parliament in October 2008
• Contains the views of the government as to the
  future development of (knowledge-based) broadly
  defined innovation activities
• Focus on demand- and customer-driven innovations
• Ministry of Employment and the Economy occupies a
  key role in preparing the implementation phase
• The Science and Technology Policy Council was
  renewed to a Research and Innovation Council
• The Parliament debated on the Report in March
• Evaluation of the Finnish National Innovation
  System to be completed in autumn 2009.

24
National Innovation Strategy

• a more extensive, broad based approach to
  innovation policy gt horizontality
• non-technological and non-RD based innovations
  gt a shift of focus in the research agenda
  towards demand led and user driven innovation,
  service innovation, low tech innovations,
  learning by doing, using and interacting
• open innovation environment

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Finlands Innovation Strategy 2008

• Drivers of change
• Globalisation ? the most favourable operating
  conditions, competition for talent
• Sustainable development ? climate chance, energy
  and raw materials
• New technologies ? ICT, bio- and nanotechnology,
  huge potential
• Aging of population ? Finland is one of the first
  countries to face reducing workforce volumes

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Expanding innovation activities new interactions
between players and functions.
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Finlands Innovation Strategy 2008Ten key sets
of measures

• The central governments corporate steering will
  be renewed for the purpose of becoming a
  worldwide pioneer of systemic reforms.
• Content-oriented and regional centres of
  innovation driving renewal will be formed in
  Finland.
• The financing and service system promoting growth
  entrepreneurship will be renewed into a clear
  entity, operating with entrepreneur and investor
  orientation.
• New competitive and market incentives activating
  enterprises and other communities in innovation
  on a broad basis will be created and exploited.
• The national ensemble of expert and financing
  services will be updated to meet the needs of
  demand- and user-oriented innovation activity.

• A learning environment motivating innovation on a
  broad basis will be developed for Finland.
• Finnish research and higher education system will
  be developed into an internationally competitive
  development environment for expertise and
  innovations.
• Personal taxation and other key factors
  essentially weakening Finlands attractiveness
  will be revised to a competitive level.
• Finnish management training will be developed to
  meet international top standards.
• The strategies and operations of parties
  implementing innovation policy will be adapted so
  as to be in line with the basic choices of the
  national innovation strategy.

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Higher education institution internationalisation
strategy 2009-2015

• Sets five primary aims for internationalisation
• A genuinely international higher education
  community
• Increasing the quality and attractiveness of
  higher education institutions
• Promoting the export of competence
• Supporting a multicultural society
• Promoting global responsibility

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Why now? (2007/2008/2009)

• A need for a change/adaptation (Challenge of
  China and other emerging economies experiences
  from the recession in 1990s)
• Universities as a part of public sector gtThe
  Finnish Competition State (New Public Management,
  budgeting by performance, assessment, managerial
  approach)
• Continuity consolidation of profiles, structural
  development centres of excellence, graduate
  schools, strategic research, national innovation
  system, Corporate Steering ("valtiokonserni")
• Consensus (further investment in education and
  RD, STPC resolution 2005, STPC Reviews 2006 and
  2008)
• Comparisons rankings, league tables, "world
  class university", political peer pressure (MS,
  European Council, Commission)
• New types of networks University rectors and
  civil servants (budget negotiations, steering)

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Why now? (2007/2008)

• Interim Review of the Lisbon Strategy reports
  (André Sapir 2003, Wim Kok 2004, Esko Aho 2006)
  gt Universities, ERC, EIT, JETs, Broad-based
  Innovation Policy
• Commission's Communications on Universities 2003,
  2005, 2006
• Erasmus gt Bologna gt Education and Training 2010
  and European Research Area
• OECD work on tertiary education 2004-2008
  Finnish Country note 2006gt autonomy,
  internationalisation, broadening of financial
  base, private investments
• Education/Science Patriotism ltgt competitiveness,
  self-confidence (benchmarks, Scoreboards,
  comparisons, PISA)
• New "blue-green" government (departure from
  "old" market and customer driven innovation,
  creativity, excellence)
• Stimulus Aalto repercussions of the idea and
  implementation of "private" innovation university
  
• Resources increase in RD budget
• Support of HEIs University rector's Red
  Manifests gains of autonomy

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Thank you!

• ilkka.turunen_at_minedu.fi
• 358 40 5664716