Transforming finnish higher education: institutional mergers and conflicting academic identities

Ursin, Jani

doi:10.6018/rie.35.2.295831

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…La aprobación del Estatuto del Estudiante (Real Decreto 1791/2010, de 30 de diciembre) regula este proceso que, unido a los nuevos planteamientos metodológicos y curriculares en la educación superior a partir del proceso de convergencia europea, supone el acompañamiento y apoyo continuo en sus estudios superiores, como derecho del alumnado. Sin embargo, los cambios en la praxis docente se instauran más lentamente que los cambios formales, estructurales y normativos (Ursin, 2017). Diferentes estudios sobre el desarrollo de la tutoría en las universidades españolas (Amor y Dios, 2017;Rodríguez-Hoyos, Calvo y Haya, 2015; entre otros) manifiestan la lejanía de su implantación en las aulas universitarias.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

¿Qué necesita el alumnado de la tutoría universitaria? Validación de un instrumento de medida a través de un análisis multivariante

2018

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El reconocimiento de la tutoría en las universidades se ha incrementado en los últimos años. Su finalidad es generar una formación paralela al avance social y económico, además de conformar un sistema común europeo más competitivo y de mayor calidad. La orientación y la tutoría se convierten en procesos imprescindibles y relevantes de personalización de la enseñanza, que requieren para su puesta en práctica conocer en profundidad cuál es la importancia que el alumnado concede a abordar diferentes contenidos. Este estudio se propone progresar en el conocimiento de la tutoría y de sus necesidades a través del diseño y validación de un cuestionario ad hoc, aplicado a 572 estudiantes de segundo, tercer y cuarto curso de Grados de Ciencias de la Educación. El Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio muestra la validez del modelo estructural de cinco dimensiones en torno a las que deben girar los contenidos tutoriales (adaptación al contexto, identidad personal, integración, enseñanza-aprendizaje y desarrollo profesional), siendo el desarrollo y la inserción profesional, la dimensión en la que el alumnado afirma sentir una mayor necesidad de acompañamiento y apoyo mientras que las relacionadas con la adaptación al contexto universitario y el desarrollo de la identidad personal, son las menos reclamadas. Los análisis realizados muestran diferencias según el curso y la titulación de los participantes y señalan la importancia de profundizar en el desarrollo de un modelo integral y comprensivo de tutoría universitaria, adecuando las intervenciones a las necesidades reales del propio alumnado.

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Section: Introductionunclassified

¿Qué necesita el alumnado de la tutoría universitaria? Validación de un instrumento de medida a través de un análisis multivariante

2018

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“…Nevertheless, some interviewees questioned the transparency of the merger process as conducted within their institutions. It is therefore important to pay more attention to the creation of a 'we-spirit' enabled and promoted by openness and transparency at all stages of a merger (see Stensaker et al, 2016;Ursin 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stensaker et al, 2016), plus clear strategies, branding, and human resource systems (Tienari et al, 2016). Altogether, building a new collective organizational culture is a demanding and lengthy task, so that discussions on a new institutional identity and a sense of belonging form an imperative and indispensable part of a merger (Calma and Davies, 2015;Harman and Harman, 2003;Kyvik, 2002;Ursin, 2017). Furthermore, mergers are complex and burdensome undertakings for the institutions and staff alike (Cartwright et al, 2007), influencing how staff perceive their academic (Ylijoki and Ursin, 2013) and organizational (Puusa and Kekäle, 2015) identities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s Not Like Everything Changes Just With a Click on New Year’s Eve’: Perceptions on Educational Issues of University Mergers in Finland

Ursin

Aittola

2019

High Educ Policy

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The study explored educational perceptions concerning Finnish university mergers. The data were collected by interviewing academics and students (n = 30) in four merger projects. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the data. According to the findings, (i) the implications of the merger with regard to educational activities were primarily connected to the institutions' own culture and history; (ii) new openings in education, teaching, and learning were only moderate in scope at the time of the interviews; (iii) there is strong potential for the enhancement of teachers' pedagogical competence; (iv) creating a joint organisational and educational culture is a challenging and time-consuming task. The findings further suggest that it is important to pay attention to openness and transparency at all stages of a merger. The study highlights the fact that the actual changes in education, teaching, and learning are slow.

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“…In addition, larger institutions are seen as more competitive and more likely to reach a higher level of regional and international impact. Following this, several mergers have been implemented in Finnish higher education since the mid-2000s (Aarrevaara and Dobson 2016;Ursin 2017), and the trend continues. This 'structural development of the Finnish higher education system,' was ministry driven, except for Aalto University (Ursin 2017, p. 308), and has been limited within the sectors of the binary-system, so that universities of applied sciences have merged with universities of applied sciences and universities with universities.…”

Section: Higher Education Mergers In Finlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Identity in a MergerProcess—Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Vellamo

Pekkola

Siekkinen

et al. 2020

Higher Education Dynamics

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University mergers are sites of self-reflection where the identities of the institutions in question are juxtaposed and challenged. We examine the organisational identity of a Finnish single-faculty technical university in the context of a merger process with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary university and a university of applied sciences. Through interview data, we shed light on the self-conception of the technical university compared with the other higher education institutions. According to our analysis, the identity of the technical university is constructed and represented in relation to the aspects of society and entrepreneurialism, academic discipline and, particularly, the technical disciplines, engineering identity and organisational form and function. These aspects are compared with the aspects associated with the two other institutions involved in the merger. The self-representation of the technical university depends on whether it is compared with the research-oriented comprehensive university or with the practically oriented university of applied sciences. Although there are shared aspects of organisational identity, the identity of the technical university seems unique, and neither of the other institutions have a similar identity or offer the possibility of shared identity formation.

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Transforming finnish higher education: institutional mergers and conflicting academic identities

Abstract: As in many other

Cited by 14 publications

References 25 publications

¿Qué necesita el alumnado de la tutoría universitaria? Validación de un instrumento de medida a través de un análisis multivariante

¿Qué necesita el alumnado de la tutoría universitaria? Validación de un instrumento de medida a través de un análisis multivariante

‘It’s Not Like Everything Changes Just With a Click on New Year’s Eve’: Perceptions on Educational Issues of University Mergers in Finland

Technical Identity in a MergerProcess—Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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