A growing University

The University of Helsinki has evolved, building by building, block by block, with the growing city. The expansion of the University was particularly rapid in the 1960s and at the time, the need for more space was relieved by acquiring new, often temporary, premises in different parts of the city. The era of dispersion came to an end in the mid-1980s, when the University decided to acquire appropriate facilities in four districts: the city centre, Meilahti, Kumpula, and Viikki. This long-term goal is now almost fully achieved. The phase of active building will come to an end in 2006, when the campuses will be nearly completed: the humanities and social sciences in the city campus, biosciences in Viikki, exact natural sciences in Kumpula, and medical sciences in Meilahti.

Simultaneously, teaching technologies and laboratories and the related infrastructure have also evolved. Modern facilities are thus needed. Teaching premises are changing into campus-specific centres of learning, laboratories are becoming laboratories without walls, both administratively and from the point of view of their users. Building the campuses gave a breathing space for solving the problems caused by insufficient space associated with a growing University. The growth received new impetus, when society's appreciation of scientific research and higher education increased considerably during the past decade. Today, a good third of the operations of our University, and the university institution in general, is based on outside funding, that is, other than budget funds granted by the Ministry of Education.

Our University is now operationally and economically connected to the surrounding society with many diverse ties. Increased activity, overlapping with University units, by specialised research institutes under various Ministries and by businesses putting research findings to commercial use means significantly more active and lively campuses. The development, also socially, of campuses into living scientific communities is a challenge to the University, as well as the City of Helsinki. In addition to facilities linked directly with studying and research, facilities and services for leisure activities should be available. Making good use of opportunities offered by the campuses in developing research and teaching through modern research and teaching facilities, as well as research equipment, is only just beginning. Multidisciplinary research co-operation has become commoner and easier. Students have also expressed interest in multidisciplinary studies.

The University's operations and tasks expand faster than administrative structures can accommodate them and this poses demands for rapid changes in the support services. The support services provided by the University's central administration, as well as the faculties and the departments, must be reorganised. The central task for new administrative structures now being planned is not only to bring services close to those using them, but also to integrate the campuses into one University. Administrative structures should be uniform throughout the University, rather than being campus-specific.

Good traffic services are an important factor for the unity of the University. The campuses should have good services to each other and other universities in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Co-operation opportunities for teachers and researchers, and, most of all, the students' opportunity to also acquire study modules outside their own campus require improved services. Fast services between Viikki, Arabianranta, Kumpula, Meilahti, and Otaniemi planned by the City of Helsinki would serve both researchers and students efficiently.

University buildings have always both reflected their time and remained a monument to them. Campuses, and the way they blend in with the surrounding society, will remind us of the growth of the University as part of the information society.

Juhani Keinonen
Professor of Applied Physics
Head of Department
Department of Physical Sciences