Awareness of strategic objectives
Hanken faculty and staff are aware of Hanken’s strategic objectives, to a large part thanks to taking part in regular and comprehensive external evaluation processes. The Academic Council representing all subjects and BSc, MSc and PhD students increases awareness about quality assurance and of the issues that need to be addressed.
Easily accessible information
Weekly newsletters and the rector’s regular update meetings for all employees make information on current issues very easily accessible to staff. Monthly communications meetings for departments, competence centres and teams improve internal communication and increase knowledge of each other’s projects. The Quality handbook has been developed into giving an overview of Hanken and function as an entry point to further descriptions of functions and processes.
Teachers easily find the tools and information they need on the Teaching Lab webpage. The main page about studies, aimed at degree students, has recently been re-structured based on data about what pages the students visit the most and feedback about difficulties in finding information. The most read pages have direct links from the page, and there is a list of the correct contact details for different matters.
Award and incentive pyramid for high-quality teaching
The Award and incentive pyramid for high-quality teaching was introduced as a tool for acknowledging efforts and excellence in teaching alongside excellence in research. It has been considered to work well by itself, but as part of a current review of the criteria and procedures for incentives and tenure as a whole, also the pyramid is subject to critical evaluation.
Promoting good teaching
- Reserving time and resources for pedagogical development and continuing education.
- Offering numerous opportunities for pedagogical training.
- Encouraging and enabling development and digitalisation of teaching.
- Hanken’s Teaching Lab offers training and support.
Rewarding development of teaching
- Awarding successful development of teaching as well as pedagogical research.
- Awarding Teachers of the Year voted by students in Helsinki as well as in Vaasa.
Acknowledging and rewarding teaching excellence
- Appointing excellent teachers who demonstrate a genuine interest in teaching and student learning, can show excellent results and systematically share their educational knowledge to improve the quality of teaching in general at Hanken. Excellent teachers can be awarded with a fixed-term salary supplement.
As teachers have had the time, resources and opportunity to digitise, the proportion of courses with blended learning has increased (already before corona). An increasing number of Hanken faculty take pedagogical courses and participate in teaching-oriented education. The activities of the Teaching Lab have expanded, and teachers frequently use the various support channels. Four excellent teachers have been appointed.