The Board of the University of Helsinki has today appointed Dean Keijo Hämäläinen, Dean Anna Mauranen and Vice-Director, Professor Pertti Panula as vice-rectors of the University. They will begin their term at the beginning of January. All the new vice-rectors have a solid background in university administration. The three share a passion for the office of vice-rector: to help shape the future of the University.

Professor Keijo Hämäläinen is currently the dean of the Faculty of Science. His vice-rectoral duties cover research affairs, academic affairs, infrastructure, innovation activities and relations with government research institutes.

“The biggest current challenge is to establish high-quality, yet agile administrative practices for the new doctoral school system and to secure competitive resourcing for it. I would also like to see more dynamism to support competitiveness”, Hämäläinen adds.

As vice-rector, Anna Mauranen will serve as the deputy of the rector. She will also be responsible for internationalisation, community relations, human resources policy, academic quality assurance and library affairs. Mauranen is currently the dean of the Faculty of Arts.

“The University has achieved great success in research and teaching; given its resources, the University of Helsinki is a real overachiever. Nevertheless, we could stand to improve our international presence,” Mauranen points out.

Professor Pertti Panula is the Swedish-language professor in biomedicine and research director of the Neuroscience Centre. As vice-rector he will be responsible for bilingual issues and community relations. His position is part-time.

Panula considers high-quality research a strength of the University.

“As the most successful multi-disciplinary University in Finland, we have a unique opportunity to create new research as a collaborative effort between different fields. Another strength is the University's Swedish-language operations. The University is the leading Swedish-speaking unit in the country in many key fields,” Panula points out.

A more detailed division of labour will be determined for the vice-rectors during the autumn.

Beginning in January, the University will have three vice-rectors instead of the current four. According to Rector Jukka Kola, internationalisation has had a particular influence on the definition of the duties of the vice-rectors. Kola also emphasises the close connection between education and research.

Text: University Communications