The reformation of the university ordinance was approved after a long preparation process. The new ordinance will come into force on 1 August 2015.
The university board was unanimous in its approval of the new university ordinance, election ordinance, and degree and legal-protection ordinance at its meeting today. At the same time, the finance ordinance was revoked.
According to the ordinance, the university board will elect the deans on the basis of the rector’s proposal, and groundwork carried out at the faculties. Head of departments will be elected by the rector on the basis of the dean’s proposal. The new formulations follow the university legislation that states that the board should elect managers serving under the rector and the rector should elect other staff. The mandate of heads of departments was extended from four to five years, at most.
Academics participated in preparations
In the preparation stage, the new ordinance was discussed extensively because of the new way of electing deans and heads of departments, as the task forces working on the new ordinance proposed a more professional approach to recruitment. A preparatory committee was set up to handle recruitment with members appointed by professors, staff, and students in faculty or department councils, as well as 1-2 representatives appointed by the rector or dean.
- The academics have been thoroughly involved in the preparation of the ordinance, and that is evident in the result. The reformation promotes openness and emphasises the significance of electing key actors for the university, Jaana Husu-Kallio, speaker of the university board, says.
The feedback from university staff led to the election process being changed so that faculty and department councils will continue to be heard when leaders are elected.
- It is important for the university that each faculty and department continues to have the best leaders possible, with solid leadership experience, along with a good knowledge of university work and academia. Typically, faculties have thousands of employees and students, along with annual budgets of tens of millions of euros, and even the departments can be the size of small faculties, Administrative Director Esa Hämäläinen says.
Leadership experience weighs in the balance
The competency for deans and heads of departments was relaxed in order to expand the recruitment basis. The new formulation was outlined in accordance with the current competency for rectors. Furthermore, the premise was that deans and heads of departments are expected to be experienced in leading the disciplines ordering under their faculty or department. On the basis of feedback from academics, the requirement of knowledge of academia was added to the competency for deans and heads of departments.
The new competency requirements will promote equality in the university. The current requirements favours men, since most professors and docents are male.
- The consequence has been that a majority of the current deans and heads of departments are men. It is the duty of the university board and rector to ensure that the recruitment process is open, professional, and respects equality, Administrative Director Hämäläinen says.
New recruitment process for professors
The detailed description of the recruitment process for professors will be removed from the ordinance. Furthermore, employing professors is no longer part of the chancellor’s duties. The rector’s regulations for recruiting professors are currently being prepared. The reform aims at more active recruitment of professors.
The purpose is to adopt a unified model, where the post can always be filled either as that of an assistant professor or a professor. In addition, we want a more strategic approach to defining the various fields, Hämäläinen says.
In future, the university may also employ professors of practice. The post of professor of practice may be filled by persons with a PhD degree, who have achieved significant merits and experience outside academia, which can be of special advantage to the university.
- The faculties will gain a new and flexible way to recruit people who have earned credit in their working life, who can strengthen the syllabus, e.g. as part-time instructors, Hämäläinen explains.
Read more: How to elect leadership (10 October 2014)
The changes
The list of separate institutes has been removed from the ordinances.
Some parts of the now revoked financial ordinance have been transferred into the ordinance. Furthermore, financial decisions by the board, rector, and bursar are being prepared.
The selection of leadership was streamlined to follow the university legislation. The board will select deans, and the rector heads of departments.
At most, 1-2 other members can be appointed to the task forces preparing the recruitment of deans and department heads, in addition to the members appointed by the faculty or department council. The faculty or department council will be heard before the selection proposal is made.
The recruitment basis for leadership will be expanded. However, knowledge of academia will always be a criterion. The more relaxed competency requirements will create better opportunities for female leadership, as well.
According to the election ordinance, the members of department councils will be selected from the different staff groups by concord. Elections will only be organised if there are more candidates than vacancies.
All the major board-level principles for education have been gathered into the degree and legal-protection ordinance. At the same time, the university has streamlined the assessment of doctoral theses, so that postgraduates graduating from the same research schools and doctoral programmes will be treated equally.