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

order to respond to the challenges of the changing environment HEIs have had to find new and flexible waysof organization.3.4 Regional higher education systemThe three strategic focal points of higher education institutions are (1) education, (2) university research andpolytechnic R&D, and (3) social and regional development (Figure 3.2). This last key function has gainedincreased importance in recent years. It is closely integrated in the education and R&D functions, and mainlygenerated through them. The emphasis of these focal points varies between universities and polytechnics.RESEARCHEDUCATIONSOCIAL ANDREGIONALDEVELOPMENTFigure 3.2 Key strategic focal points of higher education institutionsUniversity of JyväskyläThe University of Jyväskylä is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary university established in 1934. Today, theUniversity of Jyväskylä has seven faculties. The previous College of Education received university status in1966. At that time, the University already had the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education, Faculty ofHumanities, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, and Finland’s only Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences.The School of Business and Economics and Finland’s first Faculty of Information Technology were foundedin 1998.The number of students at the University of Jyväskylä has increased from 10 000 in 1994 to nearly 15 000 in2004 (for more statistical information, see Appendix 8). These figures do not include the students of theOpen University or continuing education, those being 18 000 and 11 000 in 2004, respectively. TheUniversity of Jyväskylä is the fifth largest multidisciplinary university in Finland. The number of graduatestudents has increased by one-third in the past five years. In terms of applications, the University has beenone of the most popular universities in Finland, and in 2004, for instance, the number of applications wassecond largest following the University of Helsinki. The number of Master’s Degrees completed surpassedthe University’s goal by more than 6%, ranking the University of Jyväskylä for the third year running as theHEI to produce the second largest number of Master’s Degrees in Finland. The number of students whograduated from programmes funded by the EU was almost 5% of the total number of degree students. Thetotal number of doctoral degree candidates who graduated in 2004 was 113, which surpassed the nationalaverage of the number of degrees per professor, and which was almost 20% higher than five years earlier.The University’s three EU-approved four-year Doctoral Schools are a testimony to the quality of the postgraduateprogrammes. Following the University of Helsinki, the Open University of Jyväskylä is the largestprovider of adult higher education in Finland.34