The University of Lapland has come a long way from what it was when it was established in 1979: a higher education institution founded in Rovaniemi to strengthen academic education in northern Finland. Over the years, the University has become more research-oriented, focusing on issues of particular importance in and for northern societies.

Arctic research

In its report, the committee points out that the Arctic Centre already has well-established co-operation with the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law in studying issues concerning indigenous peoples and the environment in Arctic and northern areas. It goes on to recommend that the Arctic Centre should expand this co-operation to include the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Art and Design as well. There should also be more reciprocal mobility between the Arctic Centre and the faculties.

The Arctic Centre is actively involved in international academic networks. The Centre should use these networks to the full to promote and disseminate research that enhances the value of northern environments and the well-being of the region’s inhabitants.

Tourism research

The evaluation committee stresses the importance of tourism as a growing sector of the economy in Lapland and as a significant social, cultural and environmental phenomenon. The University of Lapland boasts the most extensive academic programme in Finland in the field of tourism research and has established an independent, international profile for itself within the discipline.

Tourism is currently a profile area for the whole University, but this role has proven difficult to sustain in practice. For the most part, the expectations of the local tourism industry are not addressed by the work being done at the University or the internationally recognised research it produces. Moreover, interest among the faculties in the themes of tourism research varies considerably.

The evaluation committee feels that responsible tourism would be better placed as one of the University’s strategic focus areas, alongside the present three: sustainable development, law, and justice; Northern well-being and changing work; and service design.

The committee’s general recommendations

• The University’s success is dependent on the quality of its teachers, researchers, and students. It is crucial to have a large number of applicants for open positions and to choose the best candidates.
• The University should improve opportunities for teachers to combine teaching and research through a variety of arrangements providing teachers time to do research.
• Doctoral students at a small university need national and international graduate schools.
• The University should set up a systematic, international visiting scholar programme.
• The small size of the University can be turned into an advantage; interaction across disciplinary boundaries and with society is relatively easy.
• Free and readily available language-checking services should be available to all researchers, including doctoral students whose work is funded by grants.
• Organisational changes should only be made when absolutely necessary.

The committee’s task and members:

The committee was tasked with assessing the current status, quality, and strengths and weaknesses of the University’s research in relation to international standards. Moreover, it was called upon to analyse the relevance of the University’s current profile areas, note the improvements that are required and suggest how the University could best ensure that it continues to produce high-quality research in the future as well.

The evaluation criteria applied were the University’s scientific innovativeness, the potential for creative thinking, the exploitability of research results, the acquisition of research funding, scientific and artistic methodology, the visibility of researchers and publications and the international partnerships that promote the University’s strategic profile.

Composition of the committee:
Jorma Sipilä (chair), University of Tampere;
Professor Timothy Ingold, University of Aberdeen;
Professor Chris Southcott, Lakehead University;
Professor Annette Pritchard, Cardiff Metropolitan University;
Rector Anna Valtonen, Umeå University; and
Professor Arlie Hochschild, University of California.

The University Board has requested the faculty councils and the boards of the Multidimensional Tourism Institute and the Arctic Centre to review the evaluation report and measures suggested by the committee. The statements are to be submitted by 21 February and will be discussed in a University Board meeting on 4 March.

Read the whole evatulation report

For more information, please contact:

Chair of the evaluation committee Jorma Sipilä
Telephone +358(0)400 734 924, jorma.sipila (at) uta.fi
Chairman of the University Board Raimo Väyrynen
Telephone +358(0)50 353 4850, raimo.vayrynen (at) kolumbus.fi