New President Mika Hannula – towards an even more impactful TAMK

President Mika Hannula's first few weeks at TAMK have been filled with a positive spirit. For him, Tampere feels like home, although driving among the trams still feels a bit exciting.

Hannula thinks that the Tampere region as an operating area is dynamic and interesting.

“TAMK is one of the best and largest universities of applied sciences in Finland. I have a good impression of TAMK's operating methods and the way things are done during my time in Tampere.” 

Impact through RDI activities and university cooperation

According to Mika Hannula, universities of applied sciences have a highly important societal role.

"Our mission is to produce highly educated experts for the service of society. Through research, development and innovation (RDI), we promote the success and well-being of businesses and other organisations in the Tampere economic region as well as across Finland.”

Hannula wants to be involved in making TAMK an even better university of applied sciences. This can be achieved especially by strengthening RDI activities. 

"RDI activities support our teaching and educational activities. Participation in RDI activities enhances teachers' professional skills, which in turn strengthens the relevance to the needs of the working life. At the same time, it increases our knowledge capital, which is one of our most important success factors of the university.”

TAMK's current strategy was drawn up in 2022. Now, according to Hannula, it is necessary to review the relevance of the strategy's focus areas.

“The cooperation between TAMK and the university should be strengthened, both in education and in RDI activities.”

Professionally, Hannula is fascinated by developing RDI activities in such a way that synergy benefits can be utilised.

“My own background is in technology, which is an applied discipline. That also influenced my decision to want to work here.” 

TAMK benefits from the fact that the Tampere economic region and Pirkanmaa area are the most dynamic and fastest developing areas in Finland.

"In this environment, we have all the prerequisites for success, but we are also a part of the bigger picture, and we have our own responsibility within it. 

Internationality brings networks and a multinational perspective

An international study environment enriches students' experiences and adds value to their studies. Hannula wants to ensure that group work and exercises are carried out in multinational teams whenever possible. 

A great deal of RDI activities are carried out in international networks. According to Hannula, universities of applied sciences operate globally in the same environment as universities. Hannula himself also has experience in international networks. For example, he works as a member of the international steering group of the Gdansk University of Technology.

"When applying for international funding, there must be several good applicants. This is the world in which Finnish universities of applied sciences already live.” 

Hannula wants to encourage the personnel to create and maintain their own international networks, as they play a key role particularly in strengthening R&D activities.

An enabling and listening leader

As a leader, Hannula says that he listens, spars and actively discusses. 

"The leader's task is to do their best to enable the employees to succeed in their own work. I am happy to give responsibility when I see that it can be carried.” 

"I'm supportive and a feedback giver even in difficult places.”

A sense of community is important to the president.

"The president and management have a visible role, but we are all building this community. A community is made up of its individual members – how each person acts.” 

According to Hannula's experience, the experiences of own staff and students are important for both future students and recruited personnel in terms of regional attraction and retention. Especially for young people, peer experiences are of great importance.

“How do students feel that they are treated, and what kind of place TAMK is to study? The most important thing in strengthening student attraction is ensuring that the experiences of our current students are as positive as possible. It is about the quality of teaching.” 

The same applies, according to Hannula, to staff recruitment.

"If we have a good reputation as a workplace community, we will also succeed in recruitment.” 

Perspective helps to understand how good things are

In the midst of global crises, Hannula encourages people to recognise how good things are in Finland.

"When you look at the journey we have travelled since the early 1900s, for example, how Finnish well-being and security have developed. The world is completely different from the one in which the generations before us have lived.” 

Hannula had come across interviews conducted in the late 60s and early 70s in Satakunta. Coincidentally, his grandparents had also been interviewed.

"It was a wonderful journey through time for me, with the sound of a wall clock in the background and a gravel road where cars occasionally passed by. I was still preschool-aged at that time. One of the interviewees was a very old woman who had experienced her childhood in the late 19th century. A widowed mother with a large brood of children. She told about her daily life, how her mother went to a neighbour's house to clean fish and was paid with the heads and bones of roach, which were salted and stored in a barrel. That’s what the family lived on during the winter. As I listened to her, I thought about what a journey we have made.” 

“All subjective experiences are true for the individual, but nevertheless it is good to stop and look at the big picture from time to time. How well things are going for us, if we could only realise it. Finland is a good country.” 

At the end of the interview, Hannula glances out of the window when I ask him to send a message to the members of the community.

“The days are getting longer and the sun is shining. Look now! We are heading towards spring.”