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Editorial Knowledge as the Basis for Decision MakingThis year, the theme for the Autumn Seminar of the Finnish Union of University Professors was knowledge. We contemplated both the future of knowledge and the forms that knowledge might take in the future. The reason for choosing this topic was our firm belief that the future of Finland has to be built on knowledge and know-how. This Autumn Seminar was also the celebratory event to mark the 45th year of the Finnish Union of University Professors. The Union was founded in 1969, when the Professors wanted to rally their troops against the project that was to bring significant administrational changes to Universities at the time. The administration was to be changed so that it would follow the so called 'vote per person' principle. The government bill, which had already advanced into parliament level, proposed equal right to vote and to become an eligible candidate for elections to all levels of personnel within the University administration. Everyone (a member of staff or a student) within the University establishment would thereby have had a vote when decisions had to be made. The Professors were of the opinion that there was in deed a need for administrative change, but not the kind of change that would yield the power to the continuously changing flux of students. Within Universities, all activity, including administration, requires proficiency and competence, as well as profound knowledge and commitment. The research and teaching personnel of Universities are still adamant about requiring scientific expertise in their daily work. They also demand it when significant and far-reaching decisions are being made. In the near future, profiling and structural development will be among these kind of decisions. For the next year, 50 million euros of the basic funding originally reserved for Universities will be channeled to the Academy of Finland. This is called 'profiling capital' for building up, or, in some cases, perhaps cutting down, certain scientific and educational fields. The Universities will demand this funding back from the Academy in January. At the moment, vehement discussion is required in the Universities on what to do: what to embrace and what to discard. Universities cannot make decisions without firm scientific expertise. Professors carry responsibility for their fields of scientific expertise. They also have the up-to-date knowledge on how and with what kind of emphases their own fields are represented in the Universities and research institutions around the world. Members of University governments coming from outside the very heart of the scientific community may sometimes have a narrow view on these matters. The national scientific policy should also be based on firm knowledge. The State of Scientific Research 2014 -report of the Academy of Finland outlines that “planning and decision making based on knowledge has to be lifted into a higher level in the politics of science”. This is a magnificent goal, the realization of which we shall observe and estimate. One wishes and hopes, though, that politics concerning science has already been implemented so that it has been founded on research-based knowledge. The requirement of utilizing research-based information has been presented to our entire political organization in the recent years. The Chancellor Emeritus, Kari Raivio, has now completed his recommendations on how the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministries could base their decisions on knowledge more efficiently than before. Raivio presents befuddling figures on how small a portion of the Ministries' personnel have the background of having been educated as researchers. In the Ministry of Transport and Communications, only 3% of the employees have a PhD. In the Prime Minister's Office, the percentage is 6 and even the Ministry of Education and Culture only scores 14%. When one follows the media, it sometimes seems that what is of interest to people is quasi-knowledge and humbug. An individual experience is taken for a fact. Opinions on the climate change seem to supersede research results, and populism seems to go for politics. But we, who work in Universities and research institutions, need to have faith in that knowledge will be appreciated in the end. The Finnish people seek higher education, they respect their organizations that provide knowledge and they trust their scientific community. Research is of interest to schoolchildren, too. In knowledge lies the future, and with this in mind, we continue our work. Maarit Valo
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