Finland - Jyvaskyla Region - Final Self-Evaluation Report.pdf

in the strategy-making process. The national auditing of the quality assurance practices will be implementedin the Jyväskylä Polytechnic at the beginning of 2006 by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council(FINHEEC).Creating a new organization cultureRegional engagement has been a part of the Jyväskylä Polytechnic’s main mission from the beginning. Thus,regionally minded thinking is not a new part of the organization’s culture. Probably, the main challenge fromthis perspective is to strengthen the teaching and R&D staffs’ understanding of the importance andcontribution of their activities to regional development and working-life. The Finnish polytechnic system israther new, and the role of R&D activities, in particularly, has increased in recent years. To support thedevelopment of R&D activities the Jyväskylä Polytechnic devised a new R&D strategy in 2004.Incorporating the new activities, modes of action and increasing regional pressures requires diverseknowledge of the administration and other staff of the polytechnic. The effective allocation of human andfinancial resources between high level teaching and R&D, in accordance with the institution’s mission andvision, is supported by the development of the quality assurance work. Regional impact factors andassessment methods are included in the quality assurance system.7.4 Regional HE-system levelThe information in this sub-section is based on the summary of the joint regional strategy of both theUniversity of Jyväskylä and the Jyväskylä Polytechnic that was completed in autumn 2005. The preparationof the strategy was headed by the executive group, consisting of the administrative personnel of bothinstitutions, which was established in the course of the previous regional strategy process in 2002. Theprocess of preparing the strategy can be divided into two stages. Firstly, the executive group set up an expertgroup that prepared a framework analysis of the regional impacts of HEIs and the development needsconcerning the innovation environment. In the second stage, the preparation of the strategy was thedetermining factor of the working group that devised a strategy proposal for the executive group. Finally, thestrategy document and the standpoints involved were revised by the steering group.According to the view of the Ministry of Education, the HEIs’ regional stakeholders did not have such anactive role in the recent strategy process as was expected. Thus, in the future of the Jyväskylä region, itwould be important to engage the regional stakeholders in the strategy process from the very beginning ofthe next stage.The changes in legislation guiding HEIs, as well as changes in their operational environment, open manynew possibilities. The new European two-tier degree structure enables the division of educational tasksbetween universities and polytechnics. The conditions of R&D activity and cooperation with enterprises arealso changing, which further opens up the opportunities to develop new operational models. The successfulrecent history of the region supplies the requisite confidence and initiative to exploit these new possibilities.GoalsThe primary goal of the regional cooperation between the HEIs is to invigorate the region so that knowledgebasedcompetitiveness and entrepreneurship will increase, producing well-being. To achieve this goal, theHEIs will develop new operational models and clarify their division of tasks in order to achieve a strategicpartnership. Increasing openness between the HEIs is also a central goal.Measures that support regional developmentThe enterprises and communities in the region do not have enough relevant information about the HEIs, theirknow-how or their task division. There are no established operational models for cooperation between theHEIs and enterprises. The investments in research by the enterprises in the region are rather small andconcentrate mainly on a specific selection of fields. This directs the research conducted in the HEIs towardscertain fields and small-scale projects, and limits the potential of firms to utilize the research provided by104