Keskustelua
The Real Enemies Of
Finnish Higher Education
I welcome the response by anonymous in Acatiimi
(9/2015) to my article which appeared in Acatiimi
(7/2015). Given the importance of higher education
to the global image of Finland, it was refreshing not
to be met with the usual 'silent treatment.'
Anonymous and I at least agree on who the real
enemies of Finnish higher education are: The oligarchy
- a network dominated by well-connected Finnish
men who scheme together to keep an ironclad control of the system by ensuring that their preferred
candidates get the best paid and most secure jobs at
Finnish universities. The oligarchy is not dissimilar
to "the Establishment ", a term thought to have been
coined by the British political journalist and social
critic Henry Fairlie: "By the 'Establishment', I do not
only mean the centres of official power-though they
are certainly part of it-but rather the whole matrix
of official and social relations within which power is
exercised."
When challenged about its antics, the oligarchy
schemes to throw its critics off the scent with the
worst kind of hypocritical and sanctimonious tripe:
bombastic statements on Finnish university websites
and puff pieces in the heavily censored Finnish
media. For years, Helsingin Sanomat have done worse
than repudiate that they are fighting a losing battle
to quell the critics of Finnish higher education: They
have duped themselves into thinking that the majority
of their readers still take them seriously. Hungry
for better quality and more balanced journalism,
many of my Finnish friends told me that they will
continue to consult other media sources for news
and information.
The concept of "international academic" is indeed
one of the challenges at the core of the problem which
I addressed. Many Finnish universities do well to pay
lip service to internationalization, but there is little
evidence to suggest that they have actually delivered
anything substantial. Prima facie being international
is a state of mind.
If pressed to be more specific I would hold that
George Orwell was onto something when he said that
it matters "not what you think but how you think."
The oligarchy who are currently presiding over "the
corruption and cronyism" in Finnish higher education
exemplify the worst kind of thinking; they have
every intention of continuing to use their power and
influence to suck dwindling resources dry to ensure
that the system is reproduced for and, in the longer
term, by their chosen few. There is more breadth of
mind, liberty and opportunity in my Marimekko curtains!
Anonymous was correct to make the most obvious
point that, recruiting non-Finns - those born and educated outside Finland - is not the only way
to internationalise Finnish academia. One alternative
is to encourage more Finnish academics to study abroad,
say, after their Bachelor's degrees and encourage
them to return to Finland to feed their experiences
back into Finnish higher education.
However, spending part of one's academic career
abroad doesn't automatically mean that they will
eschew the provincial thinking which is most damaging
to Finnish higher education. A very prominent
Finnish scientist once emailed me to explain why
there were so few foreign academics with permanent
contracts working in Finnish higher education: ".
almost all foreign applicants for positions in Finnish
universities and research organizations are those who
have found difficulties in finding a job in their home country or who are married to a Finn. Neither of these
backgrounds makes them more competitive against
Finnish applicants."
I am not sure if readers will be more shocked by
the purity of this arrogance or that said scientist spent
many years working outside of Finland.
I realised that my proposed remedy was far from
perfect before I wrote it, but it would at least be an
improvement on the current inhibiting situation.
Many scholars working in Finnish universities continue
to tell me that when it comes to their careers
they do not trust the sanctimonious and pompous oligarchy
to play fair. The most talented academics fear
that this mendacity will inevitably end their careers in
Finnish academia.
And then there are the cuts. According to the Keskisuomalainen
paper, some 280€ million have been
slashed from Finland's education budget. It is unfortunate
that many hundreds of people will be losing
their jobs, but everyone knows that those who are
least favoured by the oligarchy will be the first out
through the university doors. I wonder how many international
scholars will survive the cull?
The bigger challenge has yet to come. The Finnish
Government has decided to introduce a minimum annual
tuition fee of 1500€ for non-EU/EEA students,
starting from August 2017 at the latest. This means
that Finnish higher education will become a product
which will need to be sold on the competitive global
market that currently turns on the English language.
To get a profitable share of this international pie,
are Finnish staff at Finnish universities going to offer
more courses in English across a range of academic
disciplines, or do they have some better strategy other
than to further casualize the already marginalized
workforce of native English speakers? I also wonder
(echoing a smart friend) how knowing that the Finnish
higher education sold to international students
has a sell-by date in Finnish society and that international
researchers and scholars also have use-by dates,
could influence those students and their parents'
decisions to buy?
At their summer cottages the real enemies of Finnish
higher education may be able to move with aplomb
between the sauna and the lake before gathering
around the fire to hold forth about their reluctance to
make changes to the rigid system.
I have some advice for those who care enough to
see a Finnish higher education more associated with
an internationalization worthy of its name: Don't let
anyone find you guilty of propping up "the corruption
and cronyism of Finnish academia"; the real fun begins
when you put your head above the parapet to take up the cudgels for those who wish to see a more meritocratic
system. Those who are afraid to do nothing
will be wholly at the mercy of the oligarchy and the
institutional violence which they so coldly dish out.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank and applaud
anonymous for joining this important debate.
And long may it continue to improve Finnish higher
education for more of those talented academics who
are not favoured by the oligarchy.
Gareth Rice
- Painetussa lehdessä sivu 43
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