The survey is made at every university twice a year through a web site. The first national student feedback survey, called YOPALA, is implemented this spring. It is targeted at students who are about to reach their Bachelor-level degree. The aim is to carry out the survey also after students have completed their Master’s degree. Universities will relay the survey to their students.

As of 2015 the Ministry of Education and Culture will allocate annually 3 per cent of the basic funding for universities (ca. €50 million) on the basis of student feedback. Collecting student feedback in a unified manner from all Finnish universities is one response to the request of student organizations for a nationwide feedback system to motivate universities’ investment in educational quality.

According to Kaarina Määttä, Vice Rector responsible for teaching at University of Lapland, systematic feedback on the quality of education is essential for developing the university’s operations.

“I therefore encourage the students covered by the survey to respond to it and to exploit their chance to influence the quality of teaching”, says Määttä.

The results have a direct impact on university funding, so the response rate must be sufficiently high.

“This challenges the university to stay in contact with its former students also after their graduation and to develop its alumni activities”, Määttä notes.

In addition to the national student feedback survey, the University of Lapland pursues to develop its own internal feedback system to enable teaching quality enhancement through course-specific feedback on teaching and to enable counter feedback from teachers to students.

YOPALA presentation on 26 March at 12:00–15:00
Universities Finland UNIFI will present YOPALA this spring at every Finnish university. Their tour starts from the University of Lapland on Tuesday 26 March at 12:00–15:00. The presentation will be in Finnish. A more detailed programme will be given later.

Further information:
Vice Rector Kaarina Määttä, tel. +358 400 696 480, kaarina.maatta (at) ulapland.fi

More on YOPALA (in Finnish) at
Universities Finland UNIFI web sites
Universities Finland UNIFI blog about YOPALA

ULapland/Communications/SV