1/2008

Editorial

Change is constant – only the speed of it varies

Kerttu Pellinen
Chairman of the Association of the Finnish University and Research Establishment Staff (YHL)

Reform of the Universities Act has reached a stage where the first preliminary draft prepared by civil servants can now be commented. Work on the proposal continues and the time for formal advisory opinions will be probably in late summer or early autumn. Planning of the Innovation University continues as scheduled; the charter of foundation for the university
foundation is under preparation in order to have it approved in May or, at the latest, before summer holidays begin in earnest in June. The timetable is problematic, as the universities act will outline the duties of academic operations based on foundations only after the approval of the charter of foundation. The contents of the legislation concerning all Finnish universities must be given priority despite timetabling problems.

The Ministry of Education published a press release on a plan for developing Finnish university structure on 15 February.
The plan will be considered in more detail during this spring’s performance agreement negotiations. In addition to the projects already under way, the plan outlines continuing structural reduction of the number of universities and polytechnics. As soon as at the beginning of the next decade, there would be at the most 15 universities in Finland instead of the current 20 universities. We applaud the decision to secure regionally extensive higher education in different parts of the country, also the decision to maintain the present division of functions between universities and polytechnics is welcome. However, clinging on to rigid target numbers once again much same way as in the efficiency programme does not seem sensible. As experience shows, both small and large can be beautiful; results and operations depend on duties and the extent of operations on the needs of each discipline and the surrounding
society. The applied personnel policy has a decisive impact on how well targets can be met with the financial and functional
resources available.

Each and every task and member of staff contributes to the results achieved in both universities and other working places of our members. Dividing work into core duties and supportive duties without understanding the complexity of the work carried out is a typical mistake made by outsiders building organisational charts with boxes. The expertise of university staff must be put to use in both planning and decision making concerning Finnish universities of the future. This is the right way to achieve sustainable and efficient results now and in the future.