Preparations for Aalto University continue

According to the statement concerning the Universities Act issued by the Committee for Constitutional Law on last Wednesday, foundation universities may be universities in compliance with the constitution. A foundation university may have an external board and the private parties that have signed the charter of foundation will possess legal rights to minority representation in the board. However, the Committee for Constitutional Law decreed that appointment of the board in a foundation university shall be determined within the university community itself.

Last week, I published the following statement in our internal channel concerning the preparations for the Aalto University:

”The transformation process from three universities operating as accounting offices into Aalto University requires careful preparations, which are well underway. This is what the founders of Aalto University Foundation – the State of Finland and private parties – have required. We should remember that Aalto University is a pilot project in the Finnish university reform, alongside the Universities of Turku and the University of Eastern Finland.

Preparations are in progress in all these units to ensure that the prerequisites for establishing a university are met when the law comes into effect. In its supplementary budget in June 2008, the Parliament approved of a total of 200 million euros of state funding to Aalto University Foundation. Aalto University Foundation was established before the Universities Act was heard so that the Parliament could see the nature of the Foundation that would be legally responsible for the university’s operations. The Foundation has already created some of the preconditions for launching and developing university operations from the requirements of research and education.

We will proceed with the preparations for our new university according to plan. Aalto University Foundation operates in compliance with the Foundations Act and the Board will use this as a basis for continuing preparations until the Universities Act comes into effect.

The main goal of the reform is to enhance the operational preconditions for research and education as well as the financial and administrative autonomy of universities”.