Education sustains us
Would I have been able to answer if someone had asked me at the beginning of February about the situation in which I am writing this text? Would anyone even have been able to formulate a question that would have somehow corresponded to our current world? The war in Europe has taken us all by surprise. We were not prepared for our sense of security to be shaken and for the perspective of things to change.
Education is at the center when we build the future and rectify mistakes. The roots of education are in knowledge. Knowledge and openness increase understanding, which contains freedom to seek for new knowledge. This circle of education can break, but it is essential that it is repaired; our future depends on it.
Education is at the center when we build the future and rectify mistakes.
Making research knowledge available to everyone furthers the goal that decisions and points of view are formed on a sustainable foundation. Those who diligently offer their expertise to help all of us deserve special thanks: they analyse the world widely, systematically and credibly. Us researchers and teachers now have great responsibility to participate in the discussion and thus help secure and build an understanding that is based on knowledge.
We cannot afford to lose competence. We have to take good care of education and knowledge. People are the ones who do science, research and education. Our joint task is to give our international researchers a chance to be a part of our society. This was already true earlier, but its importance is emphasized in the current situation.
We cannot afford to lose competence. We have to take good care of education and knowledge.
It is both a national problem and an individual tragedy if an expert who comes to Finland cannot, despite their efforts, find their place in the systems that we have built. If a joint language is missing, the situation needs to be rectified. If applications for residence permits are so burdening that there is no time to focus on anything else, the processes must be changed. If there are no connections to the society that surrounds universities, they need to be established.
We have created our system ourselves, we can therefore also change it.
Translation: Elina Siltanen
