Strategy of the Tampere Universities community

We engage with society at regional, national and global levels through seamless cooperation, both internally and with our external partners. Every discipline and field of education within our active university community can recognisably contribute to the sustainable development of society. The members of our higher education community and its networks are committed to implementing a culture of cooperation. Our areas of focus are technology, health and society, and the strength of the Tampere higher education community lies in the amalgamation of these areas.

The leadership expertise related to these areas and the structure and interactive nature of our university community promote excellence in teaching, research and development.

We are working to solve society’s major challenges and create new opportunities

We recognise and know how to systematically anticipate the most demanding global, national and regional phenomena, challenges and opportunities. The higher education community relies on its areas of focus in particular to meet these challenges and create new opportunities. The organisational structure of the higher education community supports the continuous development and advancement of our areas of focus, reaching the top level in these fields and generating close cooperation between them. We also boldly allocate resources to new activities that have the potential to develop into internationally renowned and attractive areas of focus in terms of research, teaching and practical application.

The shared goals of our activities

Our community shares three high-level goals. The members of our higher education community have the right and duty to design, plan and implement bold measures to achieve these goals. The goals are based on our tasks, which are teaching and research, plus the impact created by the two.

Linking pioneering research and innovation

We use novel operating models to create scientific and societal value throughout the process of knowledge creation, from independent, multidisciplinary basic research to innovations and practical development. Close and well-organised interaction with stakeholders and multidisciplinary research and development platforms and programmes that combine different disciplines enable the blending of high level scientific and applied research and its integration into practical applications at different levels. We evaluate our actions in co-operation with the international scientific community, society and business. Our diverse, high quality, coherently
managed and well-organised services support our goals.

Promoting interdisciplinary education and life-long partnerships

We provide our students with flexible and individual study paths that facilitate profound expertise, understanding and the ability to see the big picture in a multifaceted way. We support the successful careers of our students and their membership of the Tampere Universities community after graduation, for example, through alumni activities, partnership models, mentoring and further study. Our community educates students who will solve wicked problems, change the world and become reliable knowledge professionals and experts in the future. By emphasizing research-based best practices, we integrate research into education and lifelong learning in both
academic and applied fields.

Generating unique expertise in industrial and public-sector implementation

Active and well-organised interaction with our partners as well as our own research, innovation and development activities generate unique application skills, which can be shared with the business community, the public sector, non-governmental organisations and the sharing economy. The openness of our teaching, science and knowledge enables application that is more efficient, and it makes us an international trailblazer. In particular, our applied sciences education and degrees play a key role in generating applicable skills. Tampere Universities community ensures seamless connections between research, academic education and professional training.

Breakthroughs

We will achieve the goals of the Tampere Universities community and make it internationally attractive by realizing three breakthroughs:

1. Strengthening the international networking culture and creating a digital campus

We will develop inspirational and open learning and cooperation environments as well as new types of research, development and innovation platforms that support active life-long inclusion and diverse interaction. We will establish a digital campus to enable studying and participation for Finnish and international actors outside Tampere.

We appreciate diversity and promote equality and non-discrimination. We invest in the wellbeing of our community. We systematically strengthen the highest level of scientific and social competence in our community. We internalise the goals of our university community and commit ourselves to their implementation.

We establish open interaction with the surrounding society and foster a culture of international cooperation. The Tampere Universities community will be built as a globally, nationally and regionally renowned and attractive creator of the future.

2. Developing novel ways of working and crossing boundaries in all our endeavours

We recruit, support and foster bold reformers of the future. We enable meaningful career paths. The teaching we offer makes use of best practices, and the comprehensive degree programmes encourage teaching methods and modules that bring together students from different disciplines and inspire novel ways of learning and teaching. We create a structure, infrastructure, tools and services that cross traditional boundaries, which will provide us with a competitive edge internationally.

3. Driving sustainable societal renewal in a measurable way

A key part of our operations involves the systematic identification of the most pivotal issues, challenges and opportunities in society as well as the ability to adjust our goals when necessary. We constantly evaluate our social impact with concrete, constantly improving and multi-dimensional metrics. These metrics take into consideration the short and long-term missions of the different disciplines of our academic community in the sustainable development of the society around us.

The Tampere Universities community is made up of the research-intensive Tampere University and the development-focused Tampere University of Applied Sciences. These universities form a community of 35,000 students and academic experts.

In our community, knowledge and novel inventions are effectively brought into practice through close collaboration, networking and a well-functioning innovation ecosystem. We are committed to openness, the sharing of ideas, sustainable development, fairness and equality.

Our vision

The Tampere Universities community responds to strategically selected global and local challenges through our multi- and transdisciplinary research, development and innovation activities.

Working in close collaboration, research in technology, health and society will produce breakthroughs in science, business and society. Our research will have a global impact, both scientifically and societally, in the areas determined by our profile.

We make the Tampere Universities community an international forerunner in multi- and transdisciplinary research. We carry out our vision by building a globally oriented, research-intensive university that promotes progression from fundamental research, through innovations and process design, to novel applications and implementation.

We strengthen our stimulating research community through intensive networking, cooperation and outstanding research environments. We promote responsible and open science.

Our promise

We are committed to excellence in research, development and innovation. We will produce leading professionals of knowledge, who will change the world by tackling global challenges for humanity. We will make scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, which will lead to remarkable innovations and applications, benefiting humanity through well-being and sustainable society and economy.

Vision through outstanding research

Our research profile is largely based on the strategically selected profiling areas and the research activities of the spearhead groups. Our spearheads of research have been defined as outstanding by international evaluations. We invest in human capacity and excellent infrastructures to nurture world-class research environments.

Local and global challenges

Strengths and opportunities of the Tampere Universities community:

• Spearheads and profiles of research
• Multi- and transdisciplinary research
• Partnerships
• Research environments and support

The missions of the Tampere Universities community:

Key actions to implement the research strategy

Management and organisation

• The Tampere Universities community manages and facilitates research by strategic planning and decision-making.
• Research is carried out in research groups, research centres, and multi- and transdisciplinary platforms.
• The university community reinforces the utilisation of research results for the benefit of science, society and economic life.

Infrastructures and resources

• The operative management team supports both existing spearhead research and new emerging fields with sufficient resources.
• Top-quality science is boosted by strategic investments in research environments.
• Researchers actively utilise and contribute to local, national and international infrastructures.
• The research infrastructures are strategically planned, described in a consistent way, and opened to partners.

Education and careers

• Research and education are closely integrated in the study programmes and research communities.
• The joint Doctoral School and doctoral programmes offer excellent training to every researcher at all career levels.
• A clear and transparent career path system is established to invite talented, internationally oriented researchers.
• Promising key researchers are offered substantial starter packages.
• The university community actively promotes diversity and gender equality.

Research funding and services

• External research funding is applied in a systematic and proactive manner based on clear objectives.
• The faculties exploit a common operating model to achieve the desired funding.
• Well-resourced support services guarantee the successful acquisition of funding.

Open science and communication

• The Tampere Universities community implements an ambitious open science policy, covering publication, data and open source guidelines.
• Researchers are encouraged and supported to participate in social media and act as social commentators.

Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences constitute an international and Finland’s most diverse university community made up of more than 30,000 students. Technology, health and society lie at the core of our multidisciplinary community’s research and education.

Our university community is renowned for providing student-centred and dynamic education that serves as a means for renewing society and working life. Our education is based on the latest research knowledge, strong lifelong partnerships, and close collaboration with society and working life.

Our global digital campus offers a broad range of opportunities to join or pursue studies within our university community regardless of geographical boundaries. We educate our students to become high-level professionals who have the tools to develop an understanding that goes beyond conventional boundaries and to pursue international success and continuous learning.

Tampere Universities community for future gamechangers

We are committed to integrating the latest research with our teaching, fostering high-quality pedagogical expertise and conducting development and innovation activities in close collaboration with industry and business. This commitment provides a strong foundation for our education.

Our inspirational and international university community maintains close ties with the broader society and builds bridges between science and societally important phenomena.

We create and offer study modules that cut across disciplinary boundaries and combine our strategic priority areas of technology, health and society. Internationality and international competencies are integrated into all our degree programmes.

Individual, flexible and effective paths to degrees

• Together with our national and international stakeholders, we systematically predict global shifts in the skills needed to succeed in the labour market. We flexibly incorporate the strengths of different fields of study into our educational offerings.
• We offer our students the opportunity to follow study paths that are based on their expected learning outcomes and prepare them to make the leap into the working world.
• Our students are able to select courses from across our university community and select partner institutions and thereby deepen and expand their knowledge and skills that are relevant to their career aspirations.
• We foster and support lifelong partnership and offer flexible opportunities for continuous professional development and co-development together with our university community.

Learning environments and processes support learning

• We tap into the latest knowledge and technologies and utilise effective, highimpact pedagogical approaches to support learning and teaching.
• We develop learning environments that support learning and operating models that foster community spirit. We offer our students appropriate support and guidance throughout their studies to help them make effective academic progress.
• We will create a global digital campus that promotes international networking and opens up flexible avenues for the development of competencies regardless of time and place.
• Our digital campus, personalised student support and high-quality physical learning environments provide a seamless learning experience.

A community committed to continuous renewal

• Our staff and students make up a community that maintains a goal-oriented approach to the development of education,
• pedagogy and learning environments. We produce learning and teaching materials in cross-community collaboration and encourage the open sharing of these resources.
• Our community places a high value on teachers and supports the development of teacher identity systematically and from a research-driven perspective.
• Our strength lies in our employees whose professional identity is built on both research and teaching. Our world-class researchers are involved in the development of course content and in teaching.
• The cornerstones of our university community’s success are the professional and academic achievements and wellbeing of our employees and students.

Active student participation

• Right after starting their studies, our students are invited to join our efforts to solve the greatest challenges facing our society.
• Our communal culture is built on active student participation.
• Our shared values are proactivity, a keen interest in the activities of our university community, a sense of responsibility, a commitment to effective academic progress and learning, and peer networking.
• Our students are actively involved in development activities that concern them.

Key pillars of the education strategy