Gender and the Marketisation of Higher Education: A Nordic Tale

This chapter investigates the gender differences in managerial practices across three Nordic countries: Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It analyses two aspects: (1) perceptions regarding competition, and (2) motivations for undertaking academic work. The chapter is based on an empirical dataset which was compiled from national surveys (conducted in 2015 and 2016) of senior academic staff (professors, associate professors, and academic leaders), which aimed to assess the perceived effects of recent government-led reforms which focused on performance management and managerial practices.

Does It Really Matter? Assessing the Performance Effects of Changes in Leadership and Management Structures in Nordic Higher Education

AbstractUniversities are public organisations, which operate in a highly institutionalised environment. They are heavily dependent on public resources. As such, universities are susceptible to shifts in governance arrangements but are also far from being passive recipients of reform agendas. They face demands from multiple internal constituencies (academics, administrators, students, managers) and from a variety of external stakeholders. This chapter explores the interplay between governance arrangements resulting from policy shifts and university dynamics. It sets the stage for the book, asking the following research questions: (1) what characterises changes in governance regimes in Nordic…

Change and continuity in the academic profession : Finnish universities as living labs

The academic profession is challenged by the changing environment. Global trends, such as managerialism and new public management, have been influencing all public organizations, including universities. The academic profession is dynamic by its nature; it reflects any changes in its environment. However, the academic profession is also characterized by continuity. In this study, we describe the current changes and continuities of the academic profession in Finland, as perceived by top and middle managers employed in Finnish Universities. We found out that logics and values by organizational professionalism are emphasized; however, occupational professionalism is also deeply rooted in the pr…

Recruitments in Finnish universities: practicing strategic or pathetic HRM?

Recruitment is a core instrument in the academic labour market. This article takes the perspective of the organisation − here, the university − on recruitment. Universities’ personnel policies and practises are shifting from legally oriented personnel administration to more strategic human resource management (HRM). In Nordic countries, this shift is partly driven by the changing status of higher education institutions from state-governed bureaus to more autonomous institutions. This article provides insight into this transition, using Finland as a case example of higher education systems that have undergone drastic reform, moving from a civil servant model to autonomous personnel policy. D…

Reciprocal commitment in academic careers? : Finnish implications and international trends

This study explores the nature of reciprocal commitment in academic careers. The article is based on a survey conducted in autumn 2013 among fixed-term employees at eight major universities in Finland (N = 810). The analysis is focusing on researchers who have a doctoral degree and who are working on a fixed-term contract at their university (n = 308). According to our study, researchers experience their working conditions are insecure and many of them have considered leaving their universities. Despite the fact that they find their work meaningful their uncertain and poor working conditions are related to their thoughts of leaving the university. In addition in many of the cases leaving th…

An assessment of COVID-19’s impact on Finnish University Leadership

This article maps the management actions that Finnish universities have taken during the COVID-19 pandemic and studies how managers in Finnish higher education coped during the crisis and how they feel about it. The article uses action mapping and a survey that was administered to top- and mid-level managers at Finnish universities, and the findings highlight the importance of collegial coordination and maintenance work abilities among managers. publishedVersion Peer reviewed

Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education

This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional work and public organizations define hybridity as a multidimensional concept that occurs at different levels of social practices. While the multifaceted nature of hybridity is clear, demarcating between levels of hybridity and theoretical approaches …

Muuttuvat akateemiset urat : työurat yliopistoissa -hankkeen loppuraportti

Hanke ”Työurat yliopistoissa” toteutettiin 2015–2016 ja sen aikana tarkasteltiin suomalaisten yliopistojen urarakenteita, niiden muuttumista ja toimivuutta sekä poliittista kontekstia, määräaikaisia työsuhteita ja vastavuoroista sitoutumista akateemisilla urilla, yliopistojen rekrytointeja sekä akateemisten urien polarisoitumista. Hankkeen tulokset julkaistaan tutkimusartikkeleina, tässä loppuraportissa on kuvattu tulokset tiivistetysti. Työurat yliopistoissa -hanke antoi alustan, jonka avulla eri hankkeissa kerättyjä aineistoja voitiin kutoa yhteen ja siten laajentaa alkuperäistä tutkimusasetelmaa. Akateemiset urat ovat luonteeltaan hyvin vuorovaikutuksellisia. Yksilöt tekevät uran, mutta …

Technical Education in Jeopardy? Assessing the Interdisciplinary Faculty Structure in a University Merger

AbstractThe social responsibility of universities is to contribute to solving the ‘wicked problems’ facing humanity, including climate change, poverty, conflicts and the lack of energy resources. Interdisciplinarity is an approach that enables solving these problems and helps higher education institutions become more socially responsible while meeting the requirements of their stakeholders. In this chapter, we analyse a multidisciplinary and sector-breaking merger of three higher education institutions in Finland, where the merger is justified by its contribution to solving wicked problems through increased structural interdisciplinarity. We examine the suggested faculty structures and view…

Yliopistot uudistuvat, uudistuuko henkilöstöjohtaminen?

Yliopistojen henkilöstöjohtaminen on linkittynyt historiallisista syistä valtionhallinnon henkilöstöjohtamiseen. Tämän lisäksi yliopistolainsäädäntö on luonut vahvan juridisen kehikon henkilöstön pätevyyksille, tehtäväkausille ja tehtäville. Siirtymä byrokraattisesta henkilöstöhallinnosta kohti (strategista) henkilöstövoimavarojen johtamista on vasta tapahtumassa yliopistoissa. Tämä sisältää monia mahdollisuuksia mutta myös uhkia akateemisen työn ja työympäristöjen kehittämiselle. Tässä artikkelissa luomme katsauksen siihen miltä yliopistojen henkilöstöpolitikka näyttää vuonna 2016 ja kuinka yliopiston henkilöstöä johdetaan. Artikkelin aineistona toimii opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön tilaa…

Technical Identity in a MergerProcess—Between a Rock and a Hard Place

AbstractUniversity mergers are sites of self-reflection where the identities of the institutions in question are juxtaposed and challenged. We examine the organisational identity of a Finnish single-faculty technical university in the context of a merger process with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary university and a university of applied sciences. Through interview data, we shed light on the self-conception of the technical university compared with the other higher education institutions. According to our analysis, the identity of the technical university is constructed and represented in relation to the aspects of society and entrepreneurialism, academic discipline and, particularly, the…

Working outside academia? : perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers on changing careers

This article examines the perceptions of early-career, fixed-term researchers in Finnish universities towards changing careers. It maps out the reasons this group has considered the change and where they see themselves in five years. As a theoretical framework, a synthesisation of variables related to career change, created by Ryan, Healy, and Sullivan [2012. “Oh, Won’t You Stay? Predictors of Faculty Intent to Leave a Public University.” Higher Education 63: 421–437.], was used. The results show that the most common reasons for early-career researchers to change careers are job-security related stress, job-related dissatisfaction, and salary. Over half of the respondents would like to work…

The EU Human Resource Strategy for Researchers and the working conditions of Finnish fixed-term re-searchers

The Charter and Code incorporating the Human Resource Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) is a European Commissions initiative to make researchers’ careers more attractive, and increase, and support the mobility of researchers by standardizing the researchers’ careers in EU area. The reputation of the quality of the working life in Finland has been fairly good. However, the university employees’ working conditions are often very precarious. In this article, we study the discrepancy between HRS4R action plans of ten Finnish universities and the survey data dealing the fixed term -researchers working conditions. peerReviewed

The sociology of professions and the study of the academic profession

Latest reforms in Finnish doctoral education in light of recent European developments

Doctoral education as a policy field is an important link between educational, research and innovation policies. It is gaining importance in European and national policy discussions. Doctoral education policies are increasingly formulated at the supranational level, even though the European Commission does not possess formal competence in terms of authority over the educational policies. Consequently, policy steering is mostly performed at the national level. In this article, we examine Finnish doctoral education from the steering perspective in a European context. We describe the development and steering of Finnish doctoral education, as well as the current doctoral education policies and …

Visible organisational boundaries and the invisible boundaries of the scholarly profession

The role of universities in knowledge production has changed. Although most higher learning still takes place in universities, knowledge is increasingly produced in collaborative networks comprising partners from different sectors (Välimaa, J., V. Papatsiba, and D. M. Hoffman. 2016. “Higher Education in Networked Knowledge Societies.” In Re-becoming Universities, The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective. Vol. 15, edited by D. M. Hoffman and J. Välimaa, 13–39. Dordrecht: Springer). In addition, the focus of universities’ personnel policies has shifted from supporting professional inclusion and exclusion towards supporting the national d…

Nuorten tutkijoiden eteneminen yliopistoissa : sattumaa vai suunnitelmallisuutta?

Technical Education in Jeopardy? Assessing the Interdisciplinary Faculty Structure in a University Merger

Nordic Higher Education in Flux: System Evolution and Reform Trajectories

AbstractThis chapter provides a brief description of how the four national systems included in this study—Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—are currently organised and structured. In doing so, it illuminates several specific features such as the types and sizes of the institutions, enrolment patterns, performance measures, and funding. In addition, the chapter gives a snapshot of how higher education systems have evolved historically by shedding light on policy dynamics from the late 1990s to 2013, the baseline period for the FINNUT comparative study, the research project that provides the basis for this edited volume. This is followed by a section describing the aim, methods, theoretica…

Management and academic profession : comparing the Finnish professors with and without management positions

ABSTRACTManagement is one of the most studied phenomena in higher education. Most of these studies are conducted in the framework of higher education policy, academic work and quality of education and research. The management is often seen as an independent variable explaining the changes in higher education in the context of New Public Management and managerialism. In many studies, it is often forgotten that, the managers of academic organisations are academicians, not actors working for the government and funding bodies for implementing their agendas. Typically, management positions are employed by the professors. In our paper, we are interested in (1) who the managing professors are and …

Technical Identity in a MergerProcess : Between a Rock and a Hard Place

University mergers are sites of self-reflection where the identities of the institutions in question are juxtaposed and challenged. We examine the organisational identity of a Finnish single-faculty technical university in the context of a merger process with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary university and a university of applied sciences. Through interview data, we shed light on the self-conception of the technical university compared with the other higher education institutions. According to our analysis, the identity of the technical university is constructed and represented in relation to the aspects of society and entrepreneurialism, academic discipline and, particularly, the technic…

Bureaucratic, Professional and Managerial Power in University Tenure Track Recruitment

AbstractIn this chapter, our interest lies in analysing the different powers in recruitment and, particularly, how they are manifested in the new tenure track model in technical fields in Finland. Traditionally, recruitment in higher education has mostly relied on the bureaucratic application of processes and on academics, representing professional power, evaluating academic merit. The new university legislation, granting universities more autonomy in recruiting, has allowed the development of increasingly strategic recruitment models. The novel tenure track recruitment criteria exceed traditional notions of individual merits to include assessments of the strategic visions of universities a…