Marja Makarow
Vice-rector

Back to spring issue 2004

The recent report on the quality of research in Finland, issued by the national research councils, notes that one of the foremost challenges for Finland is to increase the number of foreign scholars in her universities. The number of Erasmus students visiting our university has grown steadily and reached a satisfactory level. Adopting the Bologna Declaration degree system in 2005 will provide us with new opportunities to attract foreign Master's students by increasing the number of courses taught in English. But the higher the step in the career ladder, the fewer foreigners we have. Foreign scholars are very welcome, as they can inject fresh insight into research, teach us new technologies and best practices and share their international networks with us.

One could imagine that the nation-wide graduate school system, established by the Ministry of Education in 1995, would be a great attraction for foreign Ph.D. students. The students can not only compete for the 4-year salary they would earn doing their research for the Ph.D. degree, but also take part in a variety of high-quality lecture and laboratory courses and workshops organised by graduate schools throughout the country. The formal education gives significant added value to the degree, and broadens the know-how of the students from their own scientific topic to other areas. Many graduate schools also give courses in transferable skills to prepare the students for the job market outside academic research. Many have implemented practices which support the students in their work. The students may, for example, have a follow-up group of two scientific experts who meet regularly with the student and his or her supervisor to give advice in scientific matters and to support the student in other ways. The schools also receive funds from the research councils for travel grants to international conferences. Many schools give their courses in English, which should be advertised internationally in a pro-active way. A website with clear and complete information on the graduate schools and other possibilities to do a Ph.D. at the University of Helsinki is being developed.

Those willing to continue in basic research after completing their doctorate often want to - and in some scientific areas are strongly recommended to - go abroad for post-doctoral studies to learn more, broaden their horizons, create international networks and bring home new research topics and technologies. We have a continuous flow of Finnish students going abroad, but we need many more foreign post-doctoral students to come to Finland. The University of Helsinki is in the process of allocating funds of its own to create up to 36 two-year positions for post-doctoral students in 2004-2006. We should take advantage of this resource to attract foreign students to our research groups. We could advertise the positions, for instance, at the LERU universities. LERU (the League of European Research Universities) is a co-operation body for the 12 best universities in Europe ranked according to the quality of research in medicine, biosciences and social sciences.

Before Finland joined the European Union, the most usual reason for a foreign scientist to move here was falling in love with a Finn. Since then, young students have found our university in its own right. Nothing wrong with love, on the contrary, but now it is time to find other reasons for foreign scholars to join the University of Helsinki.