Title of publication
Audit of the University of Eastern Finland
Authors
Eva Åkesson, Marc Perkins, Jürgen Seifried, Anni Siltanen, Mira Huusko and Hanna Väätäinen.
Self-assessment of the University of Eastern Finland (eds.) Saila Vaittinen, Anu Arosanervo, Soili Makkonen and Maija Lahtela-Kakkonen
The Higher Education Evaluation Committee’s decision
The University of Eastern Finland passed the audit on 3 March 2023.
The Quality Label is valid until 3 March 2029.
The audit team’s evaluation of the evaluation areas I-III
I: HEI creates competence: good level
II: HEI promotes impact and renewal: good level
III: HEI enhances quality and well-being: good level
HEI as a learning organisation – evaluation area chosen by the University of Eastern Finland
UEF as a study and work environment for international students and employees
Theme and partner for benchlearning
Theme: Continuous learning incl. stakeholder cooperation.
Partner: The University of Jyväskylä
Key strengths and recommendations
Strengths
- At UEF, there is a high level of commitment to the teaching and competence development of students.
- UEF has a well-known strategy and fosters multidisciplinary research communities together with aligned support.
- UEF staff recognizes the connection of their own work with the goals and strategy of UEF. UEF works in a quality manner: evaluating practices with data and using those evaluations to drive future practices.
- Internationalization is a goal of UEF, and great progress has been made on internationalization in the recent past.
Recommendations
- The inclusion of all students and especially international students as well as doctoral researchers as full members of the community should be further developed.
- UEF should strengthen structures related to societal participation and the creation of partnerships, including processes for societal engagement especially with those unfamiliar with the university.
- UEF should strengthen the operations of the quality group. The quality group should meet more often and be more involved in facilitating quality work at the university.
- UEF should explore avenues to enhance career progression opportunities and career security as well as to improve Finnish language learning opportunities for international staff. The university should ensure that all community members, regardless of language skills, are able to participate in decision making and governance.