2 HEI promotes impact and renewal

The evaluation area II assesses the procedures used to manage and improve societal engagement, strengthen the impact of the HEI’s research, development and innovation as well as artistic activities, and support an innovative organisational culture.

The evaluation area II as a whole is at the level good.

The audit team identified the following as the main strengths and recommendations:

Strengths

  • VAMK is fully aware of the responsibility it has as an HEI for its societal impact. The aims of societal impact are strongly rooted in VAMK’s strategy and connected to regional networks, business life and regional strategies.
  • VAMK sees the change of organisational culture as a strong basis for quality and a key precondition for successful implementation of its strategy. There is a clear aim to build a community of working together.
  • VAMK has a good understanding of the challenges it must overcome to reach its ambitious goals regarding RDI. VAMK’s brand new RDI development programme includes a comprehensive analysis of the current situation and determined actions for development.

Recommendations

  • VAMK gathers a lot of valuable information about its operating environment through various, often informal channels. To streamline and systematise information, VAMK should use the new interdisciplinary platforms which are promising and could serve as a needed place to aggregate information for different institutional users and to identify longer term trends and global developments.
  • To magnify the societal impact of its RDI work, VAMK should explore the possibilities to build longer-term joint research programmes and platforms with its partners and to take a more proactive role in facilitating and creating RDI ecosystems.
  • VAMK should seek ways to bring more value from its international networks to the development of RDI work, to its partners and to its societal impact. The alumni network could be utilised more extensively in the activities of VAMK.