Is Education Getting Lost in University Mergers?

Mergers are common phenomena in higher education institutions. Improving educational quality is typically one of the stated goals of university mergers. Yet, little information exists about how merging institutions approach this goal. This paper presents results from a study of planning documents created prior to four mergers in the Finnish higher education system. These documents show that there was little concrete attention given to the educational issues related to the mergers. Most attention was placed on administrative issues and issues related to research. When educational issues were mentioned, it was almost always in the form of vague goals with few details provided about how the goals were to be reached. We conclude that this lack of attention to the educational aspect of mergers is a significant weakness of the planning process in these mergers.     

Finnish adult students’ perspectives on short-cycle study programmes: motives and evaluations

ABSTRACT

We investigated how students in Finland perceive short-cycle higher education programmes. In line with the European trend, Finland has piloted short-cycle study programmes in order to attract adult students into higher education. We found that the students were mainly satisfied with their studies, and that their orientations to studies and learning were extrinsic in nature. The strengths of the programme were perceived as related to the flexibility of the studies, the variety of teaching methods, and the extensive contents of the studies. The main challenges were associated with difficulties in using information and communications technology (ICT) within the studies, and issues with time management. The study sheds light on how more open higher education structures and study processes can promote participation in higher education among adult students.     

Is Education Getting Lost in University Mergers?

Mergers are common phenomena in higher education institutions. Improving educational quality is typically one of the stated goals of university mergers. Yet, little information exists about how merging institutions approach this goal. This paper presents results from a study of planning documents created prior to four mergers in the Finnish higher education system. These documents show that there was little concrete attention given to the educational issues related to the mergers. Most attention was placed on administrative issues and issues related to research. When educational issues were mentioned, it was almost always in the form of vague goals with few details provided about how the goals were to be reached. We conclude that this lack of attention to the educational aspect of mergers is a significant weakness of the planning process in these mergers.

     

UNIVERSITY STUDIES AS A LIFE‐CYCLE STAGE

This article is based on a series of studies of students at the University of Jyväskylä conducted by the author in 1981, 1984, and 1986. The series focussed on the life‐stages of students, asking such questions as what the basic life‐world structures of students are, how the ability of students to think scientifically develops, and what characterizes the period of university studies as a stage of life. The data were collected by interviewing a total of 204 students who had reached different stages in their studies and represented different disciplines. The method used was that of the semi‐structured thematic interview; the data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The life‐styles of students and their problems change during the courses of their individual academic experiences. A freshman's problems centre around the loosening of home ties and the learning of independent responsibility. During the next two years, the studies themselves and student‐life assume a central position, while questions relating to the founding of a family, entering work‐life, and the risk of experiencing financial difficulties come to the fore at the end of the undergraduate period. The development of the scientific thinking of students lines up with the life‐stages sketched above. The initial emphasis on the learning of facts gives way to a relativistic and critical way of appraising science and research. This more sophisticated approach to knowledge can lead to a personal theoretical point of view and to individual commitments at the end of the academic experience.