Brave New World: Higher Education Reform in Finland

Finnish universities are about to enter a period of radical change. This paper considers the reforms expected of a new Universities Act currently before parliament and a set of institutional mergers. When passed, the new act will provide universities with independent legal status, change their relationship with the government in several ways, affect university governance arrangements, and alter the relationship between staff and their university employers. Although these reforms will be radical for the university sector itself, many of the changes will be all but invisible to those outside the sector. The change that will be noticed is the creation of the new Aalto University through a merger between three existing institutions. The new university will be highly visible to all as it tries to meet the government's aspirations for it to become a world-class university.