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”We are heading to the right direction” – report on TAMK’s early 2022

Published on 29.8.2022
Tampere University of Applied Sciences
TAMKin puolivuotiskatsaus 2022, kuvituskuva "nousukiito", Minttu Rantanen
Image: Minttu Rantanen
The proportion of external funding increased and education export volume almost tripled compared with the equivalent period last year. Professional teacher education reforms succeeded, which can be seen in the growing number of graduates. Number of bachelor’s degree graduates is also growing even if we do not reach the ministry’s objective this year.

The early 2022 was favourable for TAMK in terms of results. Indicators are heading to a positive direction in education, research, development and innovation funding as well as in other external funding. The midyear report was presented to TAMK’s board and executive board in August.

The proportion of external funding increased. Education export incomes almost tripled in January-June 2022 compared with the equivalent period last year.

”There is only one explanation for the growth: determined and long-term work for education export," comments TAMK's Director of Business Operations and Internationalisation Carita Prokki.

Incomes from tuition fees, continuing education, paid services and RDI also grew slightly.

In August 2022, TAMK has 161 ongoing projects of which every fifth is international. Our project budget for this year is €10 million of which 83% is external funding. New openings were made in applying for Business Finland, Teacher Academy, TFK and LIFE funding.

”We are preparing for the next structural fund application, which is expected to take place at the turn of the year. We aim at increasing our number of applications considerably compared with for example the ERDF application round which ended on 15 August. We are developing RDI project preparation together with the schools,” tells TAMK’s Head of External Funding Anne-Maria Mäkelä.

”We are heading to the right direction, thanks to our professionals and external funding team. Nevertheless, we have to be even more results oriented and efficient. We can increase the amount of external funding by creating innovative projects and using all known and new funding sources. In practice, it means increase in high-quality project applications."

The number of bachelor’s degree graduates is expected to approach the level of 2020 (1744). The objective of the Ministry of the Education and Culture (2070) is still unattainable due to the low intake numbers 4-5 years ago and the high dropout rate. In spring 2022, slightly more TAMK students graduated on target schedule than before. Nationally, there were approximately 600 fewer bachelor’s degree graduates in January-June 2022 than in the corresponding period in 2021, whereas TAMK had 80 more bachelor’s degree graduates.

We are close to our master’s degree objective. As regards teacher education, we will probably exceed our objective this year.

Teacher education was reformed and student counselling was resourced better. Thanks to the reform, studies seem to progress more smoothly and the results can be seen in the graduation rates of spring 2022.

The large growth in continuous learning credits and especially open UAS studies which took place in the past two years is also reversing. After the Covid-19 years, the number of open UAS students has decreased both in traditional and path studies. Equivalent decrease in open UAS credits can be observed nationally. By contract, cooperation and specialisation study credits seem to be developing positively.

TAMK is the second most popular university of applied sciences in Finland. The number of primary applicants per study place is now 3.5 whereas it was 4 in the past couple of years. This is due to the increased number of study places. In the second joint application of spring 2022, the number of applicants decreased from the record year of 2021.


More information:
laadunhallinta.tamk [at] tuni.fi (laadunhallinta[dot]tamk[at]tuni[dot]fi)

TAMK Annual Review 2021