Doctoral thesis advisors require orientation
There are plenty of positives about thesis guidance along with room for improvement, according to Nordic young researcher organisations.
There are plenty of positives about thesis guidance along with room for improvement, according to Nordic young researcher organisations.
Juan José Quispe has experience of the academic cultures in several countries. He is now enjoying life in Finland at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Pharmacy, but in the future he wishes to improve the quality of higher education in his home country of Ecuador.
The Ministry of Education and Culture published the new Vision for Higher Education and Research. Quality for higher education and research is desired, but what does that mean in practice?
The government is preparing a model in which a higher education degree could be obtained through a paid programme at an open higher education institution. This proposal is facing extensive criticism from the higher education field – it threatens to increase inequality and administration while weakening the principle of free-of-charge education.
Artificial intelligence methods enable analysis a human being is incapable of. Meanwhile, the world drowns in AI-generated slop. How has university work already changed?
The university offering a list of sources to seek help from is not enough. The support of the closest work community is also important.
Anu Haapala builds a better future with information, blazes a trail for as many points of view as possible, and ponders the meta skills required in the future. She wants to keep the curriculum and research focus at the heart when needs for university education reform are considered.
International experts do a significant amount of work in the education sector, especially in higher education institutions. Nearly a third of the teaching and research staff at Finnish universities already consists of foreign nationals, with the highest percentage of them at Aalto University.
International staff at universities cannot be lumped in as a single group. People have very diverse experiences of organising their academic careers and the rest of their lives in a foreign country.
Media and communications researcher Veera Ehrlén believes that science is created together. She works with Young Academy Finland to build a community of researchers where expertise is shared, the voice of science is boosted, and research is made socially visible.
In Finland, the copyright to a research article principally belongs to its author or authors.
The new model agreed upon in the additional collective agreement protocol drawn up in 2025 is raising concerns over increased working hours for teachers. The Tampere University and University of Lapland are heading into trials.
How can university people foster the national languages in the science community’s daily life, staff rooms and lecture halls? And could the use of native language fight anti-science sentiment?
Geopolitical tensions creep their way into the work at higher education institutions as well. Freedom of research should not be restricted in the name of safety – it is especially important to protect right now.
Professor of the Year 2026 Jani Erola is also one of the fifteen recently appointed Research Council of Finland Academy Professors. His new project studies the connections between increased level of education, job market changes, and new technology in social inequality.
Employment in academia can be like a jungle. The field is known for its repeated fixed-term contracts and juggling different tasks. Shop stewards help guide university employees through this jungle.