Academic rebellion!
Discussants Paula Silvén and Mikko Poutanen
OUTI ry organizes an Academic Rebellion! discussion event on October 7th at 16:15 in Agora, Linnanmaa campus.
Recently, there has been widespread societal discussion in Finland concerning the state of academic freedom, the harassment of researchers, the political steering of research funding, as well as university autonomy and the funding model strategically steering them. Daily life seems to be turning increasingly from the university’s scientific and educational mission into performance-based execution and metrics optimization. The quality of science and teaching suffers when university structures and performance culture turn work into a fragmented mess.
In the grip of this Kafkaesque absurdity, it may feel like an individual academic can only respond by either crying or laughing. However, there is no reason for pessimistic fatalism, as university life is built on our everyday practices. Whether it is a small or large act, daily life is constructed through the collective action of the university community. It is time for an academic rebellion!
Joining us for the discussion are higher education policy researchers Paula Silvén and Mikko Poutanen.
The event will be opened by Mikko, who will speak about the state of Finnish university democracy, its friction points, and where the University of Oulu stands in the field of university democracy. Mikko’s presentation is based on the results of the extensive UNIDEMO -research project, as part of which the project’s researchers have also interviewed people at the University of Oulu.
Paula will continue on the theme based on the Academic Rebellion book (Akateeminen kapinakirja). She is one of the book’s editors, and in her presentation, she will reflect on what kinds of everyday practices of resistance we should implement and how we should aim to influence this academic system.
At the end, there will be time for audience questions, joint discussion, and informal socializing. The event will conclude by 18:00 at the latest.
The language of the event is flexible. The research project results presented by Mikko will be on his slides in English, and Paula will summarize the main points of her presentation and the book in English at the end.
The event is open to all members of the university community, so bring your colleagues and university friends along! Coffee, tea, and snacks will be available for the first 30 attendees.
Welcome!
Paula Silvén is a doctoral researcher in higher education policy, vice president of the Union of Research Professionals, and a long-time university activist. In her dissertation, she examines the university funding model, internal steering within universities, and their relationship to academic freedom. Paula is one of the editors of the Academic Rebellion book, and in her presentation, she will focus on the background of the project, the key content of the book, and how academic rebellion could be realized in the future. She challenges the audience to join the rebellion and actively fight against the flaws of the university system.
Mikko Poutanen, DSocSc and Docent of Political Sociology, works as a postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University. Mikko began actively researching higher education policy in 2019 when the Tampere university merger brought the research subject uninvitedly close to home. Mikko serves as the vice director of the Kone Foundation-funded research project Democracy in Universities: The Crisis of Representative Democracy and University Autonomy (UNIDEMO). Launched in 2023, the project has interviewed Finnish university staff across the whole university sector. In his presentation, Mikko will try to summarize the project’s key findings on the current state of Finnish university democracy. Mikko has also authored a chapter for the Academic Rebellion book.