Research Professionals’ vision places personnel and the quality and impact of higher education and research at the centre.
When preparations began last spring on the vision for higher education and research 2040, launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research Professionals started its own internal vision work alongside it. During the year, the communal project has been participated by higher education personnel in different positions through the Union’s 16 member associations. The result of that work is a vision for research professionals, with its related goals and measures.
“Since we represent personnel in higher education institutions, it was important for us to discuss, also among ourselves, what we want from higher education and research in 2040”, explains Antti Pajala, President of the Union of Research Professionals.
Research Professionals’ vision places personnel and the quality and impact of higher education and research at the centre. Without research professionals, there is no research, teaching, expertise, or science – let alone the resulting impact and success in society.
Research Professionals’ goals and measures are both ambitious and realistic. They make concrete the things that need to be invested in to best guarantee the prerequisites for science in order to help Finland to become a leading nation in higher education and science, able to attract experts and strengthen the impact of science throughout the entire society.
“It is essential to create sustainable, attractive careers for research professionals instead of fragmented and uncertain paths. It is directly linked to the quality and impact of education and research. If the research and higher education sector is to compete for the best experts, attractive and clear careers need to be available”, Pajala emphasises.
“People create the quality, and quality is absolutely essential in education as its impact reaches far and wide. Higher education institutions cannot be places of constant scarcity and bitter rivalry. Teachers need to have time to teach and meet with students, researchers need space to think, and students need to be able to learn without constant pressure”, Pajala lists.
Research Professionals’ recipe for lifting Finland to the top of international science and higher education:
- Safeguarding of academic freedom – it is the foundation for high-quality research and critical thinking.
- Stable and sufficient core funding that enables long-term research and top-class teaching.
- Sufficient core funding also guarantees the full use of external research funding, as it covers research infrastructure and external funding-caused costs.
- Stable employment relationships that enable the planning of research careers and the building of lives.
- Competitive salaries that allow Finland to compete for international experts.
- Valuation of research and education that shows in decision-making, resources, and attitudes.
- Bold investments in research, development, and innovation activities.
- Securing the broad scope of science in R&D funding.
- Understanding the value of international experts.
- Encouraging and facilitating international mobility.
In addition to its own internal vision work, the Union of Research Professionals has been an active stakeholder in the vision work launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture. It is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.
READ RESEARCH PROFESSIONALS’ VISION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH 2040