European Trade Unions Paid Us a Visit
The conference of the Higher Education &
Research Standing Committee (HERSC) of
Education International Europe (EIE) was
arranged in Helsinki on 15-16 of April.
These conferences are usually arranged
twice a year, and this was the first one to take place in Finland.
Over 40 representatives from trade unions of different
countries were present, all the way from Portugal
and Moldova. The conference was hosted by the
Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ), the Finnish
Union of University Professors (FUUP) and the
Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers
(FUURT).
The purpose of HERSC is to act as a common forum
between trade unions of different countries, as
well as to convey information and provide comparative
monitoring of the implementation of various incentives,
programs and directives.
It also functions as the follower of various programs,
such as Lifelong learning, the Bologna-process,
or the creation of a good and encouraging working
environment. If necessary, it urges the responsible
quarters to action.
In the beginning of the conference, the director general
Anita Lehikoinen from the Ministry of Education
and Culture discussed the present state of the Finnish
organization of universities and universities of applied
sciences and provided an overview of the reforms
underway. For the Finnish participants, the material
was predominantly familiar, but the representatives
of other countries inquired eagerly about why and
how the universities were detached from state administration
and how their funding in this new system
does function. Lehikoinen’s presentation gave perhaps
a bit rosy picture of the state of affairs, and it became
the target of a lot of corridor gossip.
This time, none of the items on the agenda produced
alarmed statements from the participants. One of the concerns of HERSC has been to secure the
position of young researchers preparing their
PhDs. In the Helsinki conference this came up on
several occasions. Last year, a process for compiling
a policy paper on the position of postgraduate
researchers and those with recent PhDs was
launched. Drafts of the paper were discussed and
guidelines for further action were agreed upon in
a small group. The paper should be ready by the
end of September.
Another issue for discussion in small groups was
quality and its assessment in the performance of
universities. The assessment of quality by quantitative
indicators is a fairly common practice,
but on the basis of the discussions in Helsinki, it
seems that Finland is among the top countries in
this respect.
The issues of employment, unemployment,
and the compatibility between expertise and its
demand were also discussed, as were salaries.
Compiling international comparisons is not easy;
there are no simple instruments for comparing
salaries, for instance.
Tapani Kaakkuriniemi
- Painetussa lehdessä sivu 12
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