Keys to raising the educational attainment level include long-term activities, quality, and satisfied personnel.
Summary
Quality assurance: The raising of the educational attainment level shall take place without compromising the quality of higher education; sufficient funding and personnel are needed.
Long-term planning: A parliamentary plan spanning several government terms is necessary to substantiate and strengthen the funding and resources for education.
Funding model reform: The funding model for institutions of higher education must be revised to increase the share of basic funding and to reduce the share of funding based on results.
Educational chain: Finland must ensure the educational chain from early childhood to higher education and safeguard continued learning and competence development.
Personnel in higher education institutions: Sufficient funding is required to enable institutions of higher education to establish permanent employment relationships for their personnel.
Reform of residence permit processes: Finland needs international talent and sustainable internationalisation. Immigration policies and residence permit processes shall promote retention.
Learning of the national languages: International students and employees must be provided with opportunities to learn Finnish and Swedish during their studies or working hours.
RDI investments: Research, development, and innovation (RDI) investments must be allocated broadly, not just to certain specific fields. Current investments must undergo assessments and continue after the year 2030.
Grant recipients’ unemployment security: The unemployment security of grant-funded researchers must be improved through a combined insurance, the contribution of which shall not be too high a burden for the individual.
Temp workers are saddled with raising the educational attainment level
The national goal for the year 2030 is that at least one half of young adults shall have a higher education degree. We are clearly falling behind. Currently, the task of raising the educational attainment level relies on temporary workers. Nearly 70 percent of university personnel are working – engaged in research or teaching – in fixed-term employment relationships. The situation is unbearable. The number of starting places has been increased, but the personnel resources have not grown accordingly. We call for fully adequate funding for new starting places and the establishment of permanent positions for the personnel. By doing so, we can ensure the quality of higher education, the attraction of a researcher career, and the realisation of educational goals.
We need a long-term parliamentary plan that spans several government terms and commits to permanently substantiating and strengthening the funding of education. A broad consensus on this matter prevails in the field of higher education. The funding model for institutions of higher education must be reformed. The share of funding based on results must be reduced and the share of basic funding shall be increased. This will add stability to the operations and alleviate the resource-related problems at institutions of higher education. Also, it will reduce unhealthy polarisation between research and teaching, as brought on by the allocation of funding.
For the purposes of raising the educational attainment level, Finland must ensure a solid chain of education from early childhood to higher education. It is essential not to allocate cuts to any stage of education. People must have opportunities for life-long learning and competence development throughout the various phases of their life and career. Higher flexibility in terms of studies during a period of unemployment is necessary.
Taking care of Finland’s competitiveness and international talent
Finland needs competence-based immigration in order to safeguard growth and competitiveness. It is positive that international talent is highly interested in, for example, doctoral education in Finland. Higher education and scientific research activities must be internationalised in a sustainable manner, with an aim to integrate international professionals, including those who have earned a degree from higher education, into our society and working life.
The Government has several methods available to attract international talent and advance their settling in Finland. Smooth and predictable immigration processes and policies are essential. In the opinion of Research Professionals, it is necessary to revise the residence permit processes for researchers. Individuals engaged in doctoral education must be granted a residential permit at once for the entire period of their education, as agreed on in their contract with the university. To repeatedly apply for short-term permits is mentally burdening and expensive. Moreover, persons who graduate with a degree from a Finnish institution of higher education should be issued a permanent residence permit without any further conditions.
It is vital to provide international students and employees with an opportunity to learn Finnish or Swedish as part of their studies or during their working hours, and they should be encouraged to do so. Learning our national languages should be included in the general studies of doctoral students. Immigrants should have access to working-life oriented language and integration training as soon as they arrive in Finland, but without any obligation to participate.
Allocation of RDI investments and goal-setting after the year 2030
Finland’s current research and development investments are significant. In terms of their allocation, it is important to understand the role of basic research and higher education as creators of innovations. Therefore, RDI funding should also be directed, as outlined by the parliamentary RDI working group and in the Government Programme, to the basic funding of higher education institutions, in addition to the funding channelled via Business Finland and the Academy of Finland. This will intensify the link between research and education and bring the benefits from RDI activities on a broader scale to the use of the entire society.
The target of RDI investments is focused on the year 2030. As part of the mid-term review, the Government must initiate work to substantiate RDI activities from 2030 onwards. A central element in this preparatory work is the impact assessment of the current investments. For that purpose, it is important for RDI actors to be heard and to make use of scientific knowledge.
A combination insurance to strengthen the unemployment security of grant recipients
In Finland, full-time research is carried out both in employment relationships and with grant funding. Grants are a major form of funding for scientific work and, in many cases, an integral element of a researcher’s career. Working with grant funding may, however, result in severe disruptions in the individual’s social security, especially in unemployment security. Although the income and work of a grant-funded researcher may equal that of a researcher in an employment relationship, the grant recipient does not necessarily receive the same benefits in case of unemployment. If there is no previous work history from paid work, the grant recipient is only entitled to minimum unemployment security.
The creation of a combination insurance to cover the unemployment security of grant recipients would reinforce the unemployment security of research professionals and make grant-funded work more attractive. The insurance contributions, however, should be at a reasonable level and not cause too high a burden for individual grant recipients.
Further information:
President Antti Pajala (antti.pajala(at)tieteentekijat.fi)
Executive Director Nina Hahtela (nina.hahtela(at)tieteentekijat.fi)