“This would be the best way to create more researchers and research potential in Finland,” summarised Petteri Oksa, the head of advocacy at IL.

Oksa underscored that the proposal is not about taking anything away from universities but simply a means to promote equality in the education system at the university level. People with a post-graduate degree from a university of applied science, he highlighted, are presently finding it difficult to pursue a doctoral degree because admissions to doctoral programmes are not based on open applications but on choices made by professors.

“More than 3,600 doctorates in technical fields have been produced over the past ten years. I believe eight of them took the path [through a post-graduate programme in a university of applied science],” illustrated Oksa.

Tapio Huttula, the rector of the Central Ostrobothnia University of Applied Sciences (Centria), viewed that the proposal would also create opportunities to leverage and understand the close ties between universities of applied sciences and industries at the doctoral level. Doctoral programmes at universities have an altogether different “DNA”, according to him.

“We universities of applied sciences do not want to be small universities,” added Huttula.

Both Huttula and Oksa viewed that there would be interest in the degree programmes. It has already been demonstrated, they said, that there is a need for and appreciation of post-graduate degrees from universities of applied sciences.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT