Relevant and irrelevant matters
For 35 years, since my undergraduate days, I have fully socialised into the academic world and immersed myself in its bubble. As the new President of FUURT, in an environment slightly different to the university, I got to experience something quite surprising.
As the President, I began to get invitations to speak at events or get interviewed by the media. In addition to taking care of the union’s members, FUURT is an important influencer of scientific and higher education policy, along with its fellow Acatiimi publishing unions. Visits to Helsinki in support of various causes are commonplace.
Approximately ten people work at the FUURT office. When the President is invited to speak, for example, the experts at the office are immediately there to give him concrete assistance. Any travel-related matters are handled by the Executive Assistant. When drafting and writing a speech or article, assistance is provided by the Adviser, Head of Communications, or Executive Director, for example. The union office stays informed of both higher education politics and current events. A massive amount of expertise has been harnessed to further the causes of the union and its members.
As someone used to the university’s do-it-yourself environment, I initially found it mystifying to be able to genuinely focus on what is relevant, on the exact job I had been chosen to do. To lead the union, facilitate scientific work in Finland, and improve the working life of researchers and teachers.
Indeed, for quite some time it has felt as if we have been spending our time doing irrelevant things at our universities. After various cost-saving manoeuvres by those universities, new tasks have been added to our job descriptions. That has happened to ALL university personnel. More and more administrative work drips down to teachers and researchers. In the meantime, administration workers find themselves with increasing amounts of work as the organisations continue to thin out.
My dream is for the higher education sector’s funding to be cross-term, sustainable, and sufficient. The higher education sector’s productivity would undoubtedly increase if everyone could focus on their own essential tasks in a stable environment.
