University Work at a Turning Point
Serving the interests of employees has always
offered a good vantage point. Nowadays this
supervision of interests is increasingly affected
by new initiatives in university politics and the
ways in which these alter the job descriptions and career
expectations of the personnel. We are now living in
the period of turmoil following the University reform.
Autonomy introduced to universities the responsibility
of enhancing their competitiveness within
international operational environment, among other
things by diversifying their capital base. Consequently,
the new duties of the personnel often entail the
planning, development and implementation of education
export and study modules subject to tuition fee.
The education export strategy of the Council of
State (29.4.2010) makes note of the fact that Finland
has an excellent reputation for competence in matters
pertaining to educational organizations. The
strategy also points out that product development and
entering the market involve risks, which include the
potential harm done to the reputation of Finnish operatives
in cases of deficient administration of quality
and export projects. What is more, moving personnel
away from their national duties is not that straightforward,
at least before the exports begin to yield profit
— which so far remains to be seen.
The profit gained from education export by Finnish
universities has typically been academic, not
monetary. This entails the creation of staff exchange
connections and research cooperation, as well as the
enhancement of expertise through common development
projects.
Productization and quality assurance systems are
among the focal concepts in education export. Regrettably,
they are also concepts that the personnel instinctively
recoils from. Sufficient information on new initiatives
in the planning phase lessens the level of shivers
among the staff. Motivated personnel behind execution
comprises an important quality guarantee for new
projects. Such personnel can be assembled by locating
teachers and researchers who are genuinely interested
in development and implementation. The will and motivation for developing oneself through diversifying
one’s duties in a more ambitious direction serve as good
incentives. What is more, merit for teaching and acting
as international expert in new areas may enhance the
career prospects on their part.
The better universities attend to the development
of the competence of its personnel, the greater
the possibilities for acquiring new projects in the first
place and being able to implement them profitably
after the onset. For instance, those universities which
have invested heavily in their Departments of Teacher
Education do not need to regret their allocation of
resources; Saudi Arabia recently announced that it
will use nearly 140 billion euros to renew its educational
structures and aims to build approximately one
thousand new schools. It is interesting to try and anticipate
what will be the next areas to offer promising
prospects.
The personnel is interested in the development of
the university system as a whole. Initial experiences of
new projects are currently being assessed on the levels
of both implementation and administration. The
strategies of the near future will be outlined on the
basis of these experiences. Sufficient resourcing for
the launching of projects is essential for a successful
implementation. The full potential of these projects
may not be realized with excessively strained and occupied
personnel.
It is worth discussing future projects and initiatives
in an open spirit both within the universities
and nationally. The personnel will be drawn into the
discussion automatically because of changes in their
job descriptions, but they also have the responsibility
of putting the new educational formulas into effect. If
need be, they can be relied upon to remind everyone
of the importance of securing the resources for degree
studies and basic research in the departments — these
constitute an equally important dimension in the expansion
and internationalization of the capital base.
Seppo Sainio
The Union for University Teachers and Researchers in
Finland, YLL
- Painetussa lehdessä sivu 5
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