Finland, Academic Career Structure
The Finnish higher education system consists of two parallel sectors: polytechnics and universities. Universities are characterized by scientific research and higher education based on it. Polytechnics are practically oriented and aimed at training professionals. There are 29 polytechnics and 20 universities in Finland. Of the universities there are ten multidisciplinary universities, three technical universities, three schools of economics and business administration, and four art academies.
All Finnish universities and polytechnics are state-owned subject to the Ministry of Education and receive a majority of their funding from the government. The universities are governed by the Universities Act but have full autonomy in designing their own syllabi and curricula, in internal administration, and in admitting their students. There are no tuition fees and all students are eligible for study grants from the state.
1. Licentiate/Ph.D. Candidate
2. Postdoc/Senior Assistant
3. Full-time teacher
4. Assistant Professor (Yliassistentti)
5. Lecturer (Lehtori)
6. Professor (Professori)
The average age for finishing a doctorate is 38.
Licentiate (2 years) is an optional degree that can be taken before the PhD degree (4 years), but it is not required. To become a Senior Assistant or Postdoc, one has normally finished the PhD and is required to have good teaching skills. These can be proved in two ways: the experience of teaching is one, taking courses in pedagogical skills and education, which increasingly occurs, is the other. Both are given attention at the recruitment stage. Postdoc and Senior Assistantships are most often temporary positions.
To become Lecturer (lehtori) and Assistant Professor (Yliassistentti) a PhD degree is normally required, although one can become a lehtori with a Licenciate thesis also. The Lecturer position is normally a permanent position, the Assistant Professor (yliassistentti) is for 5 years. The choices of who will get these posts is made on the basis of individual research record (publications etc.) and teaching experience. Usually researchers work for several years on temporary teaching and research posts (postdoc positions) before being chosen to these permanent/more long-term posts as lecturer and Assistant Professor. An approved test lecture, as a part of appointment process, must also be delivered.
To advance to Professor one needs to document highly-qualified research measured by publications. The needed research record may be difficult to obtain due to the relatively high teaching load expected by Lecturers in Finland. Calls for applicants are made publicly, often in newspaper ads. Applicants provide their CV and either all publications or a specified selection together with their application. The faculty board appoints 2-3 external reviewers, who on the basis of the written material rank the applicants according to their scientific excellence.
In practice, publications play the major role in the ranking process, although other merits like teaching experience, production of doctoral dissertations, fund-raising abilities, successfully completed research projects, management abilities etc. might be taken into consideration. In addition, the short-listed candidates give a short test-lecture. Today, test-lectures are in some cases supplemented with more or less extensive teaching portfolios. When the candidates have been approved in the test-lecture, the faculty board makes its own ranking list of the three most excellent candidates to the head of the university. In most cases this list is identical to the reviewers’ list, but minor changes do happen. The head of the university then normally appoints the person, who was ranked number one.
There is also a system of appointment by invitation to professorships, which is used more rarely. A fast procedure takes around a year from application deadline to appointment, a normal one under two years, and a very slow one several years.
As part of the changes the university structure is currently going through it should be noted that steps are being taken towards future options for a research oriented career. In 2006 a working group proposed a strategy for development of professional career in research. The committee put forward that a four-stage research career system should be developed in Finland. The proposed four steps would be:
1. Junior Researcher (PhD)
2. Post-doctoral Researcher
3. University Researcher
4. Professor
This system covers research careers in universities and public research institutes and in other sectors when applicable. It is based on the parallel development of the funding instruments of the Academy of Finland, Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, and as widely as possible also of foundations, and on the reform of research post structures in universities and research institutes.
The main barrier for career advancement in Finland is that there are many PhD holders and only a few jobs available at the university for them. The Academy of Finland (the research council) provides post doctoral funding as do some universities, but still many PhD graduates find it hard to find work in the academic world.
In the Finnish system the career advancement is often achieved through informal and rather invisible processes, where gatekeepers play a crucial role. Professors in departments in practice decide on department positions, project leaders on project positions and very established professors on stipends. This is especially true at the very beginning of a scientific career. At this stage there is also a problem with lack of junior positions. Most of the funding for junior academics comes from external sources and is given for research projects that are based on short term research contracts. Posts that are often given by professors to their own students. Often these temporary research posts are not publicly advertised.
The proportion of women in Finnish academia is relatively high compared to other European countries. For both Assistants and Lecturers the proportion of woman is about 50%, for senior assistants it is 38% and among professors 22% are female (in 2005).
All academic staff are civil servants. The contracts are either public office (virka) which is a permanent position, or a civil service relationship (virkasuhde), which is a temporary public office. Tenure-track or tenured positions (in the American sense) do not exist in Finland.
Staff at both temporary and permanent positions are allowed maternity benefits and health benefits based on wages, and to a pension. People working on grants from foundations, are only allowed minimum maternity benefit, no pension and minimum health insurance.
The individual universities post positions and hire personel, but there are established national criteria for each position.
Assistant/Research Assistant:
Assistant positions are normally held by students (PhD) who perform a variety of tasks for Professors and Lecturers. Teaching is often a main task in these positions.
Postdoc/Senior Assistant:
Postdocs and Senior Assistants are normally expected to do both teaching and research. At this level teaching experience is expected.
Lecturer:
The Lecturer position is a teaching-oriented faculty position usually with more than 50% of the time devoted to teaching. The close link between research and education in Finland mean that a certain amount of research is also expected from Lecturers.
Professor:
Professors do research and teaching. Supervision of students is also a professorial task. Professors are furthermore expected to participate in managing, developing and expanding departments. A Professor thus has more administrative tasks and often less teaching obligations.
Adjunct Professor (Dosentti):
An Adjunct Professor is not necessarily permanently associated with the school but holds the right to teach (similar to the German Privatdozent). An Adjunct Professor will normally have another job and is paid expert or lecturing fees by the university.
The university sector in Finland is based on research-based teaching. The majority of academic positions therefore entail both research and teaching. The exact duties and skills required for each positions are decided by the universities (in accordance with the law), so they differ between universities. According to Statistics Finland the general academics time is divided by 44% teaching, 40% research and 16% administrative (of course this varies between disciplines, departments and individuals).
Other than maternity leave rights, there is no system of sabbatical in Finnish universities.
Montly Gross Salaries 2007
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|
Start
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Average
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End
|
|
Research Assistant
|
--
|
1.772 €/month
|
|
|
Assistant
|
--
|
2.290 €/month
|
|
|
Postdoc/Senior Assistant
( Yliassistentti )
|
--
|
3.220 €/month
|
|
|
Full time Teacher
|
--
|
2.520 €/month
|
|
|
Lecturer
( Lehtori )
|
--
|
3.420 €/month
|
|
|
Professor
( Professori )
|
--
|
5.218 €/month
|
|
Source: Finnish Ministry of Education
Note : taxes in Finland are 25-32% depending on personal income level.
A new salary system (the 'UPJ') based on job demands and personal work performance was introduced at the universities January 1st 2006. The latter is 0-46% of the job demand component. The job demand component is in principle independent of position's title, but in practice certain job demand levels are occupied by certain titles. For example all professors have a job demand level between levels 8 and 11. But the job demand component may vary from 0-46%. In practice, therefore, the individual salary may differ considerably especially at lecturer and professor level. PhD researchers have to find their own funding and often work as research assistants, whilst writing their PhD.
Existing Positions in Finnish Universities 2005
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|
|
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Total
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Phd/Licentiate
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|
|
4.500
|
|
Assistant
|
|
|
1.182
|
|
Senior Assistant
|
|
|
630
|
|
Full time Teacher
|
|
|
202
|
|
Lecturer
|
|
|
2.606
|
|
Professor
|
|
|
2.255
|
Source: Ministry of Education, Universities 2005 Annual Report
It is reported that mobility is generally low in Finnish universities and the unofficial importance of a well established contact at institutions makes internal recruitment very high. Of the faculty 76% work in the university where they obtained their last degree (Valimaa 2001). Professors and lecturers often hire their students as assistants and positions are not necessarily publicly posted.
The official languages in Finland are Finnish and Swedish. University education is provided in both languages at all levels, but not necessary in every university. Finland has two monolingual Swedish-language universities (Åbo Akademi University and Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration) plus a monolingual School attached to the bilingual University of Helsinki. In addition to the latter, five other institutions, four of them highly specialized, are bilingual. The remaining institutions are monolingual, operating in Finnish.
Most of the Finnish universities are increasingly offering programs and courses in English. At all universities there are international degree and non-degree programmes available in English. Steps are being taken to attract foreign candidates to Finland and several exchange programmes exist (Fulbright Programme).
However, for temporary research posts and permanent positions at universities the lack of internal contacts in the institution may penalise foreign candidates.
The total number of foreign teachers and researchers was 1,064 in all universities in 2005, this includes visiting fellows and exchange programmes.
Åbo Akademi University
Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration
Turku School of Economics and Business Administration
University of Helsinki
University of Joensuu
University of Jyväskylä
University of Kuopio
University of Lapland
University of Oulu
University of Tampere
University of Turku
University of Vaasa
Full list of universities
The majority of research in Finland is undertaken by the universities. Apart from professors, who are responsible for research and teaching in their own subject, research work is carried out by researchers mainly financed by outside funds, as well as by assistants and students.
In addition to the universities there are also 20 public research institutions, which operate under different ministries. This so-called sectoral research accounts for about half of the research of the university sector.
AKAVA - Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland
FUURT - Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers
OAJ - Trade Union of Education in Finland
Professoriliitto - Trade Union for Professors
Academy of Finland
Centre for International Mobility (CIMO)
Finnish Council of University Rectors (Suomen yliopistojen rehtorien neuvosto)
Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (FINHEEC) (Korkeakoulujen arviointineuvosto)
Finnish Science and Technology Information Service
KOTA - the statistical database on universities
Ministry of Education (Opetusministeriö), Department for Education and Science Policy (Koulutus-ja tiedepolitiikan osasto)
National Board of Education (Opetushallitus)
Statistics Finland
Researcher's Mobility Portal Finland
The Finnish Graduate School of History made a career survey in 2005. This is how they summarise it:
'The graduate school has made one large follow-up of the careers of the doctors in history, and there is much feedback from current students. About half of those who have graduated during the past decade were satisfied with their degree, i.e. they had markedly benefited of it. The other half was less satisfied because the degree had not promoted their career as they had expected. Total frustration was not expressed and unemployment was not reported. In the normal case a history Ph.D. already has a job when he/she graduates. The future looks worse for some of those who want to stay in the departments, but who are not the very best students. In the close future their numbers seems to be increasing.'
Please contact us if you can provide relevant information.
Please contact us if you can provide relevant information.
Please contact us if you can provide relevant information.
Postdocs are normally posted at the individual university websites but see also the Academy of Finland which is the main funding body for humanities and social sciences research in Finland. It is sub-organized into four sections or Research Councils of Culture and Society; Biosciences and Environment; Natural Sciences and Engineering; and Health respectively. Research proposals are dealt with on a disciplinary basis.
On the websites of the universities
On the website of the Academy of Finland
CIMO 2006, International Mobility in Finnish higher education in 2005
The Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council 2006, Audits of Quality Assurance Systems of Finnish Higher Education Institutions
Keskinen, Suvi & Silius, Harriet 2005, 'Disciplinary Boundaries between the Social Sciences and Humanities - National Report on Finland ', Report written for the Research and Integration Project, University of Hull
Griffin et al. 2005, 'The Relationship between the Process of Professionalization in Academe and Interdisciplinarity: A Comparative Study of Eight European Countries ', Report written for the Research and Integration Project, University of Hull
Valimaa, Jussi 2001, 'The Changing Nature of Academic Employment in Finnish Higher Education', in Academic Staff in Europe , edited by Jurgen Enders.
Special thanks to:
Jani Erola, Visiting Fellow, EUI 2006/07
Jukka Haapamäki, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Education
Eeva Kaunismaa, Senior Adviser, Science Policy Division, Ministry of Education
Suvi Keskinen, Aabo Akademi University
Taina Koivula, Statistics Finland