Department organisation

Persons in charge of the sub-programmes according to the old syllabus (-2008) during the transition period

• Bioinformatics and computational biology, Professor Juho Rousu
• Software engineering, Professor Juha Taina
• Information management, Professor Seppo Sippu
• Intelligent systems, Professor Petri Myllymäki
• Data Communications Software, Professor Lea Kutvonen?

The Head of the department and one deputy head are in charge of operations at the department. The department has a steering committee that is elected in the university elections every third year and comprises, in addition to the head, 3 professors, 3 teachers and 3 students. The working order (in Finnish) of the department describes such issues as the organisation and duties of the management. The organisation chart above describes the main parts of the organisation, and other duties have been described in the management and administration duties document of the department.

Teaching is divided into three sub-programmes (Algorithms and machine learning, Distributed systems and data communications, Software systems) and two Master's degree programmes (Master's Degree Programme in Bioinformatics, MBI; International CBU Master’s Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology). A designated manager is in charge of each sub-programme and Master's programme. The department participates in four post-graduate schools with a designated person in charge at the department (in two cases the same person who is in charge of a post-graduate school operating at the department).

The research at the department is organised into research units and research teams. Two research units operate at the department, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, HIIT (in collaboration with Helsinki University of Technology) and the Finnish Academy Centre of Excellence Algorithmic Data Analysis (Algodan)). In addition to the research units, there are numerous research teams at the department.

The administration is divided into (1) teaching administration under the charge of the Head of Studies, (2) general, staff and financial administration under the charge of the Office Manager, (3) administration of research and graduate schools under the charge of the Research Coordinator, and (4) the IT unit with the IT Manager in charge. There are also designated people in charge of development of teaching, library liaising, and quality assurance.

HIIT has a director. The highest decision-making body of HIIT is a steering committee with 9 members, appointed for three years at a time.

HIIT is divided into four research programmes: Algorithmic Data Analysis (ADA), Future Internet (FI), Network Society (NS) and Probabilistic Adaptive Systems (PAS). Each programme has both a director and a manager. The website of HIIT contains more information on the research programmes at HIIT. Different research projects may participate in several HIIT programmes, or e.g. in a HIIT programme and FDK/Algodan; the institute and the various research units partially include the same research projects.

Leadership strategies

Factual and academic leadership has been described in the faculty's quality manual.

The department Head leads the department's activities. The highest decision-making body at the department is the steering committee that convenes every two or three weeks during terms. In addition to the Head of the department and the steering committee, department routines have the following leaders:

• The leaders of each sub-programme and Master's programme and the Head of Studies are in charge of teaching.
• Research is managed by the directors of research units and projects, sometimes complemented with other principal investigators.
• Administration is led by the managers of each field of administration mentioned above.

At least two annual department meetings are held each year (once a term). The department meetings discuss issues pertaining to collaboration at the department and other issues important to the department.

The Head of the department has designated an immediate superior for each employee (please see review groups). The faculty Dean is the superior of the Head. The superiors have a review discussion with each member of their group once a year. Employees can discuss the re-evaluation of their duties and their personal work effort as stipulated by the new salary system, either in connection with the annual review or at a separate meeting. The immediate superior also discussed the 1600-hour work plans of office holders.

The monthly get-togethers are arranged about once a month at the department during terms. They are informal meetings where the staff can discuss current concerns. Once a year, the department arranges a strategy event with workshops for developing future plans of the department.

The development projects currently under way at the department, as well as the department's stretgy documents, are available on their own web page (partially in English).

The Basic Research Unit and the Advanced Research Unit at HIIT are each managed by their own Research Director. The highest decision-making body of HIIT is the Borad that convenes every two months. Each research programme at HIIT has both a director and a manager.

The Research Directors and research-programme directors at HIIT belong to the Steering Group of HIIT, which convenes 4-5 times a year and is in charge of coordination and collaboration of programmes.

The Research Directors and research-programme directors at HIIT belong to the Management Group that convenes once a month and is responsible for administrative support for the programmes, such as planning, financial planning, reporting, PR and arranging joint events.

There is a Programme Advisory Board with external members to advise the research programmes.

HIIT has a Scientific Advisory Board consisting of the leading experts in its main fields of research. The board evaluates the research carried out at HIIT and makes suggestions for future research directions. The Managing Group at HIIT invites 8-15 members to the Scientific Advisory Board for a three-year period at a time.

HIIT has an Industrial Advisory Board with representatives from companies that prominently participate in the institute's operations. The board evaluates the research carried out at HIIT and makes suggestions for future research directions. The Management Group of HIIT selects the companies from which representatives are invited to the Industrial Advisory Board for a maximum of two years at a time.

Decision-making

The department Head leads the department's activities. The highest decision-making body at the department is the steering committee.

The Head of the department deals with matters at the department which have not been stipulated as belonging to the steering committee, and matters that the Dean has transferred to the Head by administrative ordinance §54, clause 3. The Head may transfer a matter to the steering committee if it has a far-reaching effect on the department and is fundamentally important. In addition to the administrative ordinance (chapter 7), the financial ordinance governs the duties of the Head. The election of the head is governed by the election ordinance (chapter 5). When the Head is unavailable, the deputy Head handles the duties of the office.

The administrative ordinance (chapter 7) and election ordinance (chapter 4) prescribes the duties and assemblage of the steering committee and the election of its members. The main duties of the department steering committee are to improve teaching and research at the department, to propose plans relating to activities, finances and staff to the faculty council, and to decide on the principles for using financial allocations and other resources assigned to the department.

The faculty council of the Faculty of Science has transferred all power of decision on staff issues permitted by the administrative ordinance (§24, §53) to the department steering committees. In addition, it has transferred the approval of teaching programmes and Master's theses (Pro gradu) to the steering committees. The Dean has transferred all power of decision on human resources permitted by the administrative ordinance (§54) to the department Heads. By delegating the power of decision to the departments, the Dean has wanted to concetrate decision-making as close to the concerned parties, and to make the decison-making process faster and more effective.

In this process, the department abides by the good basic rules of administration and decision-making, making the preparation, determination and execution of decisions well founded, competent, neutral and efficient, as required of bodies of authority.

The Head of the department and the steering committee decide on proposals for:

• appointing employees to an office or position and to grant leaves of absence or similar leaves;
• the teaching programme; and
• issues that come under the department's power of decision according to the finacial ordinance.

The Head of the department appoints the presenting officials. The standing orders set by the Head tie some proposal duties to some specific offices. The proposal process and the meetings of multi-member governing bodies follow the instructions for proposals and meetings set by the University of Helsinki. The presenting official or other party stipulated by the standing orders is in charge of the execution of and information about decisions. The decisions of the department steering committee are posted on the web and a notice board.

The highest decision-making body in HIIT is the Board. A Research Director leads the Basic Research Unit. The ordinance (Chapter 3) of HIIT governs the duties of the Board. The main duties of the Board are to guide and monitor the operations and finances of HIIT. The ordinance (Chapter 8) of HIIT governs the duties of the Research Director of BRU. The main duties of the director are to manage, develop and monitor the activities of the unit.

The university is governed by ordinances; please see Chapter A.2.2 of the university's quality manual for more details.

Decision databases at the university (in Finnish)

• Decisions from the University Senate
• University Senate bulletins
• Rector's decisions
• Chancellor's decisions
• Decisions by the Administrative Director

Support for decision-making

Different indicators are used to monitor operations. The following established set of indicators are examined annually:

• Staff
  • Number and distribution of staff according to duties (in working years)
  • Person years in relation to financial sources
  • Age and gender distribution of the staff, and percentage of foreign employees
• Funding
  • Total funding in Euros
  • Realized complementary research funding
  • Complementary funding as percentage according to source
• Publications
  • Number of publications according to type
• Studying and teaching
  • Number of students
  • Completed credits (or study weeks, depending on what the university registers)
  • Teachers as person years
  • Study weeks/person years
  • Students/person years
• Degrees
  • Master's theses (Pro gradu)
  • Bachelor's degrees
  • Master's degrees
  • Licentiates
• Doctoral degrees

The indicators are reported as time sequences in the department's annual report, and they are discussed by the steering committee. There is a more detailed description of indicators for education and feedback mechanisms in the chapter Basic education of this manual. Similarly, a suggestion for a wider set of indicators on research is described in the chapter Research.

There are more descriptions of quality-assurance mechanisms in the chapter System of quality-assurance.

Government

The department is governed by the university strategy and policies as well as the faculty's strategy and policies. The department creates its own strategy, incorporating the main goals of the university and faculty strategies and policies from the viewpoint of the department.

The faculty governs its departments through its own governing process. The main feature of the process are the policy negotiations held between the department and the Dean each autumn. The governing process has been described in more detail in the quality manuals of the university and the faculty.

Annual processes of operations and decision-making at the department

January

• Department strategy event
• Approval of new version of quality manual

February

• Compilation of annual report
• Review of general operations indicators
• Review of degree requirements
• UPJ reviews of individual performance for so-called other staff

March

• Financial statement, review of financial indicators
• Compilation of the current year's budget
• Planning of the following year's teaching
• Department meeting

April

• Preparation of the following year's study guide
• Planning tending of offices and positions the following year
• Compilation of the 1600-hour work plans for the following year for teaching staff
• UPJ reviews of individual performance for teachers and researchers (competence levels 1-4)

May

June

July

August

• The planning of operations and funding for the next calendar year begins

September

• Decision on approving students
• Department meeting

October

• Target negotiations with the faculty
• Development and planning discussions with staff

November

• Planning tending of offices and positions in the spring term

December

• Presentation of Good teacher and Good researcher awards

The department is further governed through the professors' meetings that are held irregularly and through other planning negotiations. In addition to the steering committee, the students have their own representatives at the strategy event, the committee for improving teaching, and generally in all committees that negotiate aspects of studying at the department; for more details see Opportunities for students to influence decision-making.

Opportunities for staff to influence decisions

Members of staff have the chance to influence

• their own duties through the development and planning discussions, the review of competence for their duties required by the new salary ayatem, and through the review of personal performance, as well as the negotiations for the 1600-hour work plan that was described in the sub-chapter Leadership strategies,
• the planning of department activities and the development of their own working environment through the monthly department get-togethers and the annual strategy event, which have also been described in the sub-chapter Leadership strategies, as well as through initiatives posted anonymously to the department's mailbox for feedback and initiatives
• decision-making at the department and the faculty through the department meetings (cooperation procedure) and through their representatives in the steering committee and the faculty council as described in sub-chapters Leadership strategies and Decision-making,
• planning at the faculty and department level through the departmental members in various institutional bodies.
• anything at the department by contacting the person concerned directly (e.g. by using the service addresses at the department.

The university elections are held every three years, and the staff has its own representation in all administrative bodies (such as the Senate, the faculty council, the department steering committee, HIIT's Board). On the department level, matters of cooperation are discussed at the department meetings. Please see Chapter A.2.8 in the university's quality manual for more details on how directors and decision-makers are elected.

Opportunities for students to influence decisions

The chances for students to influence decision-making have been described in the chapter Basic education. Institution members have an on-going responsibility to report on their work to the groups they represent.

Developing leadership and decision-making

In developing leadership and decision-making, the department follows the guidelines and decrees of the university and the faculty. The department especially avails itself of the wide education and networking services offered by the faculty and university. The meeting of the professors that the Head of the department convenes hold an important position for discussions and negotiations on current activities.

Development needs

More indicators for monitoring of activities and results are being planned, please see quality assurance of education, indicators and results and relevance of research.