We congratulate our candidates on a great campaign and thank all our voters for their trust! The new Board will start its work on January 1, 2013, on a 4-year mandate. Our work for the benefit of researchers and teachers continues with the following themes outlined in the campaign.
The Election Committee
NB! (1 Nov 11:00) Information regarding Kai Halttunen's position has been amended. According to the University's Regulations on Elections, the Board has no vice-members, and the procedures on how to fill in possible vacancies in the Board are yet to be determined.
Campaign Themes
The Alliance has four main campaign themes, and they are as follows:
1. More permanent contracts for teachers and researchers
Currently, 64 % of the University’s staff are employed on a temporary basis, which has to change. Scientific breakthroughs and long-term development of teaching are not possible on temporary contracts.
2. Well-being at work and predictability in career planning
The University’s financial statement for 2011 indicated a surplus of around 4 million EUR, and the balance sheet shows healthy figures too. Resources should be allocated for improving researchers and teachers’ well-being and career paths. Without careful planning, the University runs the risk of losing its best researchers and teachers to other institutions.
3. Staff expertise crucial in the University’s development
The personnel’s position has weakened after the university reform, which was something the FINHEEC also pointed out in its re-audit report. The University’s quality assurance system was too leader-orientated and failed to commit the personnel to the quality processes (for more, see http://www.finheec.fi/index.phtml?440_m=1182&l=en&s=8). This cannot remain the full picture of the reformed leadership system.
4. More time for researchers and teachers’ core activities
In the current University Strategy, the University pledges to renew its organizational structure to allow researchers and teachers more time for their core activities (http://www.uta.fi/english/introduction/strategy/index/UTAstrategy.pdf, p. 12). We think this promise has not been materialized and ask: Could usability finally become the guiding principle of the University’s electronic services and forms? And how can flexible IT and library services be realized and safeguarded at the University?
Candidates' themes
Jaana is our expert in researchers' issues, and her personal campaign themes are:
1. More researchers on permanent contracts
All too many researchers have to spend a lot of their time on finding funding for the next short-term contract. The University Board can set guidelines to help more researchers land permanent contracts.
2. Buffer funds needed to help researchers seeking external funding
The University plans to increase the proportion of external funding up to 40 % of all funding. This happens in a situation where post-doc researchers’ opportunities for receiving external funding have become limited due to the University’s interpretation of the recently-implemented full-cost model. Buffer funds and permanent contracts for researchers should help alleviate the current problems.
3. Improving researchers’ advancement on their career path
The University is lacking a clear career path system for researchers. The current situation is especially problematic for postdoctoral researchers who find it difficult to take the next step up the career ladder.
4. Clarifying the position of researchers working on grants
Despite improvements in recent years, researchers working on grants are still in an inferior position to their colleagues working as salaried employers. The University has to reduce the number of grant-supported researchers plus create clear and generally accepted rules on grant researchers’ rights and obligations at the University.
Kai, in turn, is familiar with teachers' plight, and his personal themes are:
1. More teachers on permanent contracts
There are plenty of highly committed teachers working on temporary contracts at the University. These people are not shown similar commitment by the employee though their work enables many of the basic functions at the University. In addition, part-time teaching is still common – is it not time to start making permanent contracts?
2. Improving teachers’ career path
The recent University reform was designed to give teachers more opportunities for doing research, but that has seldom materialized. Instead, many teachers have ended up teaching more hours on a lower-rank title, thus earning less and feeling ever more isolated from scientific work. Was this really what the University meant to do?
3. University profits to be used for personnel development
The University has made surplus in recent years but still runs a very tight budget. The latest plans envision Open University teaching and lifelong education courses for teachers for no extra compensation while the University would reap the profits. The profits the University makes should be invested in personnel’s well-being and development at work.
4. Agile solutions for IT services, library and communication
Mobile information technology is essential for modern workers who build their networks. Often, these people have better technological equipment at their disposal at home than at the University. The University should provide its members with possibilities to be agile at the workplace with the help of fast wireless connections, cloud services, and the like.
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