Strong universities are Finland’s advantage

Dear members of the University community, friends and partners, you are warmly welcome to the Opening Ceremony of the academic year 2023–2024 of the University of Turku. It is great to see you all here today.

The autumn semester has already been kicked off before today’s official Opening Ceremony, and the new students have arrived to the faculties and campuses. This year, I have again had the opportunity to meet our new students face-to-face and welcome them to our University community. These encounters have been inspiring and rewarding. I have encouraged the new students to share their thoughts and hopes openly and boldly from the very beginning of their academic journey, and I received good questions at the orientation sessions. Among other things, the new students asked about the future and appreciation of university education. What will the situation be in five years when the new students graduate? I responded that the University will still be here and that jobs are available for university graduates. University education always opens doors.

These encounters with the students led me to reflect on the great significance of having an active campus. It is essential for the well-being of us all – both students and personnel – that we are there for each other. Requesting and offering support services is of course important, but how we act in our everyday lives makes a big difference. Are we there for others, do we support our colleagues and fellow students? We need a more human perspective on how we approach well-being. Do we expect for someone else to take care of it or could each of us do more? This is not a question of juxtaposing remote work with working on campus or remote studies with contact teaching, but whether we can find new ways to return to campus in order to improve our coping, well-being, and sense of community.

I believe that we need to join our forces. Small, everyday tasks become important matters to the whole community when we work on them together.

***

Spending time and working together is also related to the openness of our community. We are concerned about the current problematic climate when it comes to internationalisation. I want to stress that there is no room for racism at the University of Turku: we are a community that is open to everyone. We have strategic goals and actions that aim for internationalisation. We need experts and students also from abroad. In this, the Finnish universities form a united national front. The Rectors’ council of Finnish universities UNIFI just issued a statement: the universities do not accept discrimination or racism.

Many of us are currently wondering what kind of a country Finland is for the people who are already here and for possible future citizens. We need education- and work-based immigration and we need top experts for universities, businesses and organisations. International talents are most definitely needed to reach our national RDI objectives.

Are we still able to attract students and employees from around the world? We have to understand and accept that we are not the top country of destination anywhere in the world. How about in the future? We need to strengthen our position and certainly not begin to create new boundaries or tighten existing criteria. Three months is a short time to find work for anyone.

***

As a university, we want to support the positive objectives in the government programme and to demonstrate how these goals can be reached. It should not be left to anyone else. Universities have to be pioneers, always.  It is important for the universities to drive Finland’s advantage in the EU policy by influencing the EU’s research funding programmes. Horizon Europe is the EU’s most significant funding programme for research and innovation for 2021–2027. Its budget is nearly €100 billion. At the moment, the EU is developing its 10th funding programme. We have to be part of influencing the programme and its contents for the benefit of the University of Turku, all the Finnish universities, and the entire Finland. At the University of Turku, we have lately increased our presence in Brussels in order to strengthen our impact. In this, we collaborate with the other regional higher education institutions.

Our European University Alliance EC2U received funding for a second term this summer. The Alliance develops European higher education and research as well as collaboration with stakeholders. The continued funding strengthens the EC2U activities also in the University of Turku, and EC2U is becoming one of the most concrete channels of internationalisation for us in Europe.

We also want to propose workable solutions for the national RDI funding scheme – especially for the division of funding. Finland is seeking to increase the RDI funding to four percent of the gross national product, but a significant part of the growth must be directed to the universities as basic funding. We will not reach the RDI goals if we do not have experts, and it is not enough to just pilot a shorter doctoral training with three years instead four, even though it is a great new initiative. This is also connected to the fact that we need experts from abroad. It is important that the increased RDI funding is used sensibly so that it strengthens long-term positive development. Therefore, it is crucial that a large part, at least 60 percent, of this important increase in RDI funding goes specifically through the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The same applies to increasing the national level of education in Finland. The objective is commendable, but increasing the Finnish education level is a very extensive and long-term project and therefore it has to be approached from a wider perspective than just by increasing student intake. In this as well, the fundamental question is the sufficient basic funding of universities so that we can respond to society’s need for expertise and the security of supply in national competence. Additional study places with temporary funding are not a sufficient answer. Not in the least.

We at the universities can do a great deal to boost Finland’s competitiveness, productivity and security of supply in national competence as well as to secure the well-being of our people. We have the opportunity and the duty to discover the means and solutions to promote the positive objectives in the government programme, and this is what we aim to do. This should happen by respecting and strengthening the universities’ autonomy. Each day and each year, and by each government. This is how we create and strengthen Finland’s advantage.

***

A strong University of Turku, and strong higher education, are Finland’s advantage. A strong university, on the other hand, needs a strong community that is open to everyone. I wish you all a great new academic year!

Jukka Kola, Rector of the University of Turku

The text is Rector Kola’s opening speech at the Opening Ceremony of the University’s Academic Year 2023–2024.