Aalto University as an example of strategic university reform Executive Dean Matti Pursula Aalto University, Finland The DEAN Conference THEME 2 – Taking up the challenge: Maintaining quality at a time of constrained resources Barcelona 16.11.2010

Meeting the Grand Challenges The Lund Declaration • Strengthening frontier research initiated by the research community itself • Taking global lead in the developing of enabling technologies • Bringing together supply side and demand side measures to support both business development and public policy goals • Excellence and well-networked knowledge institutions • The creation and maintenance of world class research infrastructures • A risk-tolerant and trust-based approach in research funding

The role of (engineering) universities • Science and engineering are traditionally seen to have the key position in solving the Grand Challenges, but – to meet the challenges we need an approach where public and private organisations work together to make the knowledge triangle to work – it is important to realise that the challenges are also related to human behavior and search for better life

• Therefore, a wide approach in (engineering) universities is needed, including cooperation with public and private organisations and other disciplines like social sciences, economics, design, etc.

The need to change in universities •

The external pressure – The grand challenges of mankind – Global competition in the knowledge based economy – Limited resources for higher education and research

•

The internal pressure (the challenges of university leadership and management) – – – –

Scarce resources and rising costs of labour and infrastructure Increasing number of students The needs of multi-disciplinarity and inter-disciplinarity The challenge of international competition in the university sector

The areas of change According to the Lund declaration the universities have to reassess – – – –

their missions, management and structures their approaches to education and facilitating learning their pursuit of research their involvement in innovation activities and regional and national development

The internal needs for reassessment include – A new multidisciplinary approach in teaching and research – The new ways of learning – Internationalisation

R&D investments in some countries as a percentage of GNP Sources: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators and Statistics Finland Copyright: TEKES

Co-operation between companies and universities and research institutes Share of innovative companies having co-operation agreements with universities (1994-1996)

Share of innovative companies having co-operation agreements with public research institutes (1994-1996) Norway

Norway

UK

UK

Sweden

Sweden

FINLAND

FINLAND

Portugal

Portugal

Austria

Austria

Netherlands

Netherlands

Irelands

Irelands

Italy

Italy

France

France

Denmark

Denmark

Germany

Germany

Belgium

Belgium

EU

EU

0

20

40

60 %

Source: Eurostat, Enterprise DG, 2nd Community Innovation Survey, Veijo Ilmavirta, OIIC

0

20

40

60 %

The Finnish university reform 1.1.2010 •

• • • • • • • • •

Universities are independent legal persons with full financial responsibility, either public corporations or foundations Universities are independent employers who negotiate their work contracts with unions The influence of outside world in university boards is increased The freedom of research, art and education are guaranteed by law Research and higher education remain as the main tasks of the universities The State guarantees core funding and compensates the general cost increases in wages and infrastructure through an index system The universities now own their real estate through a company Degree education will continue to be free of charge The universities can collect endowment capital until 30.6.2011 and the state will match the result with a coefficient 2.5 The rationale behind the reform is to give universities new tools to raise the quality of their education and research

Aalto University: An example of change A merger of three leading Finnish universities operative 1.1.2010 Art & Design founded 1871

Science & Technology, founded 1849

Economics, founded 1911 •

Aalto University: Basic figures The second biggest university in Finland • 4,300 faculty and staff, including 300 professors (200 in technology) • 20,000 students (13 000 in technology) • 75,000 alumni • Science and technology (former TKK) more than two thirds of the new university Total annual budget 400 million € (2010), direct state financing about 65 %

GOAL 2020 (High quality) A world class university combining science and art, technology, business and industrial design to stimulate innovations 10

Aalto University: Reassessing the Mission Aalto University will strive to change the world through • top class interdisciplinary research, • pioneering education, • continuous renewal, and • bold surpassing of traditional boundaries We will educate responsible and broad-minded experts with wide perspective to act as future visionaries in the society

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Values Passion to explore boundaries. Freedom to be creative and critical. Courage to influence and excel. Duty to care, accept and inspire. High ethics, openness, and equality

Aalto University Reassessing the management and structures 1 • Governance system

– Aalto University is a foundation • Capital of 700 million euro is given by the State (500 million) and the private industries and private persons (200 million) • Increased yearly funding for 10 years to give a good start

– Strategic Board • Seven members coming from outside the university • The board nominates the President, Vice Presidents, Deans and Directors of service functions • Board decides the yearly budget and strategic guidelines

– The board is nominated by the University’s Committee on Academic Affairs

Aalto University Foundation The founding partners The Government of Finland Federation of Finnish Technology Industries Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation Foundation for Economic Education Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers Finnish Association of Business School Graduates

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Aalto University Reassessing the management and structures 2 •

School model (autonomous in academic affairs) – For the time being three schools (Economics, Design and Science and technology) – From the 1st of January 2011 six schools (Economics, Design and four schools in Science and technology)

•

All central functions under academic leaders (President and four Vice-Presidents) – – – –

Research and education (2 VPs) Networking (1 VP) Library and infrastructure (1 VP) Joint services (Finance, HR, PR, Planning and Fundraising) have professional directors under the President

Organization

School of Economics

School of Art and Design

School of Science and Technology

Research and Education

Knowledge Networks

Infrastructure

Services

Academic Affairs Committee

Academic Affairs Committee

Academic Affairs Committee

Executive Dean

Executive Dean

Executive Dean

Tenured Professors Council Academic Affairs Committee President

Board

Aalto University: Reassessing the approach to education and facilitating learning • The goal is to create a new type of learning and student centered academic culture in research and education – Better commitment of students and personnel – Learning outcomes based approach – Strengthening the Bologna model – New approaches to teaching (Factories) – Increased involvement of students to research • An international peer evaluation of teaching and learning (TEE) in all the coming 6 schoolshas been started now after the RAE

Aalto Factories Multidisciplinary Opportunities Expertise workshops and the first new platforms for collaboration within Aalto University • • •

Design factory Media Factory Service Factory

The factories are environments for learning, teaching, research and cocreation between universities, companies and society.

Aalto Design Factory • An interdisciplinary product design and learning hub uniting students, teachers, researchers and industry (operating 24/7) • An experimental platform (started in Autumn 2008), a constantly developing physical, social and mental environment (3 000 square meters), aiming to support interdisciplinary and international co-operation between parties interested in design and development. • The Factory hosts a number of courses, research projects and start-up companies, as well as some other co-operation projects.

Aalto-Tongji Design Factory ATDF • Joint project between Aalto University and Tongji University • 1000 m2 of creative, transformable space bringing together students, research, industry & society • Passion-based co-creation platform for interdisciplinary collaboration • Opened 25.05.2010

Aalto on Tracks An example of student enthusiasm -

Aalto on Tracks took 83 Aalto students (and a few members of staff) from Helsinki to Shanghai by train 14.5. - 24.5.

-

Aalto on Tracks was a joint project of the Aalto-community : Aalto University, Aalto University Student Union, Aalto Design Factory in Shanghai ja Aalto Entrepreneurship Society

-

The project was planned and realized by student volunteers

-

The aim of the project was to make Aalto University, Finland and Finnish education known to the World, and to offer the participants cross-disciplinary learning experiences

Aalto University: Reassessing the pursuit of research • An international Research Assesment Exercise (RAE) was done in all schools in 2009 as a starting point for development • Research strategy focuses on current strenghts and areas seen important to the university and society • The university supports excellence and ambition • A tenure track system is created as a central strategic tool in the creation of focus in research and education • Creating strategic partnerships with universities and industry on a global scale • Internationalisation of the staff and student population

Average Ratings of Aalto RAE • On average, research at the Units of Assessment was judged to belong between good and very good international level (scale 1-5): Average (All Units)

Research Quality

Scientific Impact

Societal Impact

Research Environment

Future Potential

3.57

3.11

3.87

3.13

3.70

• Basic trends: – The impact on and the visibility within the international scientific community is not as strong as the quality of research would deserve – The societal impact of research is very good (4 or more) in most departments

Aalto University Tenure track

Aalto University: Reassessing the involvement in innovation activities

• Reorganisation the innovation activities and research support services of the former three universities • Spontaneous self-organisation of students to Aalto Entrepreneurship Society with already more than 3000 members – Aalto Garage for start-ups – Boot Camps for students planning to start an entreprise of their own

AALTO CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP (ACE) Main Targets • Higher awareness of entrepreneurship • Willingness to establish a company Entrepreneurship • Understanding of Education the market dynamics

Main Targets • World-Class commercialization models • World-class commercialization results • Outside-In flow of capital and talent

Innovation Services And Technology Transfer

Entrepreneurship Research

Growth Venturing / Start-Up Services

Main Targets • World-Class entrepreneurship research in selected areas • Special focus on high-growth ventures

Main Targets • World-Class venturing models • World-class venturing results • Outside-In flow of capital and talent

“Community-driven growth entrepreneurship catalyst at Aalto University.”

Foster an entrepreneurial culture at Aalto University Make resources available for Aalto startups http://www.aaltoes.com/

Grow Entrepreneurial Leaders

http://facebook.aaltoes.com/

23.3.2010

Aalto Venture Garage for Startups • Aalto Venture Garage is the hub for entrepreneurs and startups located on Aalto University’s campus near Helsinki • This 700 sq meter industry hall is an open work space where entrepreneurs gets support from the Coaches and work together to grow their businesses • Bootcamp, run four times a year, gathers up the best early stage startup founders to learn from the best serial entrepreneurs and investors from the region

Aalto University: Reassessing the involvement in national and regional development

• Active cooperation of the former three universities with regional and national organisations continues • Cooperation agreements with the cities in Helsinki region • Active partner in forming the Metropolitan development strategy • A shareholder in local and regional development companies

Espoo City strategy – “T3”

Otaniemi campus

Inspired by the idea of Aalto University

Otaniemi campus

Keilaniemi business hub

University as a Value Co-creation Platform • The goal of the T3 -project is to connect and facilitate interaction between the university, corporate research and living / commercial centers of Espoo. • Aalto University is the value cocreation platform in city scale, facilitating the discussions and development through research and education, enabling new areal learning process to take place.

Summary:

Maintaining and raising the quality is the key issue for the future success of universities • The external and internal challenges ask for new approaches in university education and research • Renewal of governance, management, teaching and research are needed • Focusing to the essential is needed • Local and international networking are essential elements the development of research, education and the third mission • There are different ways to make the change based on the cultural and institutional framework • Aalto University is just one example of a total approach to maintaining and upgrading the quality in education and research

What is Aalto about? A personal view • In my opinion (as a former rector of a university) the most important task of the rector is to secure the future of his/her university • That’s what Aalto is about in my decision-making • To me Aalto is a proactive approach to the external and internal pressures (including the financing issues) – We started two years before the others and had the possibility to formulate our own agenda for the university reform that was to come, but was not defined • Of course there is a price – In our case it is the merger, giving up your own identity and building it up as a part of something new – In my opinion it was worth paying