Academy of Finland Newsletter, December 2007
The Academy of Finland newsletter will keep you updated on basic research funded in Finland and on other news from the Finnish world of science and research. In case you wish us to send this to someone else in your organisation or if you do not want to receive these newsletters in the future, please let us know at viestinta@aka.fi.
Features:
Development plan for education and research in Finland
An ethics working group to survey advance assessment in human sciences
Education in Finland: more education for more people
Finnish-Japanese call for joint research projects opened
The Academy’s Russia in Flux Research Programme completed
Finnish dental research evaluated
Appointments
Scroll down for more on these stories.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN FINLAND
The focus in the development of education in Finland is on equal educational opportunities, the high standard of education and research, a sufficient supply of competent work force, the development of higher education institutions, and on securing the competence of teaching staff. These development strategies are included in the decision-in-principle adopted by the Finnish Government in December 2007.
The education and research development plan covers the years 2007–2012. The plan places special focus on the quality of basic education and higher education. The development of basic education will be supported with an additional investment of 80 million euros during the present Government; this funding will be used to, for instance, improve the opportunities of teachers and other staff to develop their knowledge and competence.
Preconditions for extensive basic and applied research shall be improved, and the universities’ core funding and competitive funding strengthened. The target set for the number of doctoral degrees will be maintained at the present level. The target for the year 2008 has been 1,600, and the number of doctoral degrees completed in 2006 was around 1,400. The goal is that an ever greater share of persons with a doctorate would work in R&D tasks outside the universities.
Universities and polytechnics shall be developed so that the starting point is that their degrees, degree titles and tasks differ from each other. The structural development measures of higher education institutions will be further specified in the action programme due to be completed in spring 2008. Also, the renewal of the University Act is likely to be adopted in spring 2009.
The aim is to increase the share of persons with a vocational or higher education degree among the young age cohorts (25–34-year-olds) from the present 73 per cent to 88 per cent by the year 2020. Among the young age cohorts, the percentage of persons with a vocational degree would be 46 and persons with a higher education degree 42.
AN ETHICS WORKING GROUP TO SURVEY ADVANCE ASSESSMENT IN HUMAN SCIENCES
A separate ethics working group has been set up in Finland to survey advance assessment in the human sciences. The term of the working group investigating ethic advance assessment in the fields of the humanities and social sciences runs till the end of 2008.
According to the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics, the need for advance assessment of research plans within the humanities and social sciences has increased in recent years. The need is due to, for instance, the requirements imposed by international publications on advance assessment of human-related research.
The chair of the working group and secretary general of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics today receive pithy emails indicating situations where ethic advance assessment of research would have been needed or required.
EDUCATION IN FINLAND: MORE EDUCATION FOR MORE PEOPLE
The educational level of the population has risen steadily during the nine decades of Finland’s independence. In the early years of independence, the challenge was to guarantee primary school education to all children. After the wars, it became more common for children to go to middle and upper secondary general school, and as from the 1960s, also tertiary-level education expanded rapidly. In Finland, education has been seen as an important instrument of social ascent and personal development. The objective of education policy has been to guide the change of the educational system to respond to the needs of a changing society.
According to recent statistics published by Statistics Finland, the continuously improving level of education of the population has contributed to the rise in the productivity of labour and, consequently, to rapid economic and social development. During its independence, Finland has evolved from a remote agricultural country into a nation of high productivity and high technology. An educated and competent labour force has been a key factor in this development process. Increased education is reflected in the rapidly risen level of education in Finland. The number of people who have completed post-comprehensive level qualifications has risen from the roughly 300,000 persons in 1950 to 2.8 million in 2005. In 1975, 11 per cent of the persons aged 15 or over had completed a tertiary level qualification. In 2005, their share had already climbed to 25 per cent. The level of education among young age groups has improved particularly quickly. In 1975, 50 percent of the 25 to 34-year-olds had completed a post-comprehensive level qualification, and in 2005, the corresponding percentage was 85.
For more information, go to Statistics Finland’s website at: www.tilastokeskus.fi/tup/suomi90/marraskuu_en.html
FINNISH-JAPANESE CALL FOR JOINT RESEARCH PROJECTS OPENED
The Academy of Finland has several activities with Japanese funding organisations aimed at facilitating and increasing Finnish-Japanese research collaboration.
The Academy and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding on funding cooperation, first signed in 1982 and renewed in 2004. Active forms of funding cooperation have included exchange of scientists, joint Finnish-Japanese scientific seminars and the Finnish-Japanese bilateral core programme (joint research projects). The fourth core programme call was opened in December 2007 and will close on 29 February 2008. The theme of the call is ‘ubiquitous information technology’. Up to four two-year projects will be funded within the call. For more details see www.aka.fi/eng > For researchers > Apply now.
Three joint core programme calls have been arranged in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. In each call, the themes are different and separately agreed with the JSPS. The core programme funding is aimed at supporting Finnish-Japanese projects of a very high scientific quality. Joint core projects are based on separate applications (incl. joint research plan and budget) from both Japanese and Finnish researchers.
The Academy of Finland has also started negotiations with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), aiming at tripartite funding cooperation together with Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. A thematic call for joint Finnish-Japanese collaborative projects may be opened in autumn 2008 at the earliest.
THE ACADEMY’S RUSSIA IN FLUX RESEARCH PROGRAMME COMPLETED
Patients in Russia pay bribe money to secure access to examinations or treatments. This appears from a study conducted within the completed Russia in Flux Research Programme of the Academy of Finland. The study carried out at the University of Tampere showed, for instance, that every tenth adult in Tyumen, the capital of the well-to-do Siberian oil region, and every fifth inhabitant in Lipetsk in Central Russia has in recent years paid black money for their healthcare services.
In addition to black money, citizens also experience the vague and unforeseeable official charges within healthcare as a problem. Besides private healthcare services, the Russians also pay for such public services that, according to the Russian constitution, citizens should be able to use free of charge, such as treatments in state and community hospitals and in basic healthcare, i.e. in policlinics.
The article of the Russian constitution regarding healthcare services is generally interpreted so that publicly-funded organisations can collect patient charges. These official charges are indeed almost necessary to cover costs the insufficient state funding does not cover. The share of healthcare is 3 per cent of GDP. Customers find it troublesome that it is difficult for them to anticipate for which services they have to pay and what the whole treatment will cost, as available information is insufficient.
People with low income and in poor health suffer the most from the situation. The study showed that young, employed, highly educated and well-paid people use both public and private charged services markedly more often than the other population groups.
According to a study conducted in St. Petersburg, citizens are worried about the sufficient income of the healthcare professionals taking care of them. Even though citizens regard the payment practices morally dubious, part of them consider that they act right when paying black money for services, as they see medical general practitioners being as much a victim of the present system as patients are.
The study was part of the project “Health Values and Society: Changing Society, Health Policy and Values in Post-Soviet Russia”. The research project was carried out in cooperation with an EU-funded development project of basic healthcare in Russia, the Moscow Medical Academy and the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The study surveyed citizens’ views and experiences of healthcare services and health promotion in Russia.
FINNISH DENTAL RESEARCH EVALUATED
The overall standard of Finnish dental research is good, in some parts even excellent. In order to ensure the recruitment of future research staff, measures should be taken to launch a national graduate school and a doctoral training programme in the field. The funding needed by the dental departments should also be assessed. These are among the recommendations given by an international evaluation panel set up by the Academy of Finland.
Special recognition was given to the craniofacial biology group led by Professor Irma Thesleff at the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki, which is outstanding in terms of the scientific quality of the research and which also stands out for devoting its research effort to one field. In Finland, dental research activities are dependent on rather few individuals and, in many cases, based on comparatively small groups, with only limited collaboration between different groups.
The evaluation covered the dental departments at the Universities of Helsinki, Oulu and Turku and the independent research teams at the Institute of Biotechnology and the Public Health Institute. The evaluation panel was chaired by Professor Ulf Lerner from Umeå, Sweden. The panel’s Vice Chair was Professor Cynthia Pine from Liverpool, UK, and members Professors Anne Christine Johannessen from Bergen, Norway, Mogens Kilian from Aarhus, Denmark, Rainer Schmelzeisen from Freiburg, Germany, and Katherine Vig from Ohio, USA.
The evaluation report Dental Research in Finland 2001–2005, An International Evaluation is available on the Academy’s website at www.aka.fi/publications. It can also be ordered from viestinta@aka.fi.
APPOINTMENTS
Doctor of Philosophy Leena Vestala has been appointed Director of the Division of Higher Education and Science at the Ministry of Education. The Ministry is responsible for science, research and education in Finland.
LLM Ossi Malmberg will serve as the Academy of Finland’s Vice President responsible for administration as from the beginning of 2008. The Academy’s Administration Office has a staff of 160. The Vice President, Administration, is responsible for the function and development of the Academy’s administration. Dr Riitta Mustonen, Vice President for Research, is responsible for the Academy’s science policy planning and development of research funding.
__
Academy of Finland in brief: The Academy’s objective is to promote high-level scientific research through long-term quality-based research funding, research and science policy expertise and efforts to strengthen the position of science and scientific research. The Academy makes decisions on research funding worth about 260 million euros. Each year about 5,000 people benefit from Academy research funding. For more information, go to www.aka.fi/eng or send a message to maj-lis.tanner@aka.fi.