Universities have always played an important role in producing new knowledge. A large part of scientific research is still carried out in universities. Of course, many companies invest heavily in research and product development, for example in the pharmaceutical and military industries. Nevertheless, research carried out in universities still provides the basis for most innovation.
In addition to research, universities have an important role to play in training new specialists. Universities provide higher education based on the latest research. It is therefore important for the development of society as a whole that new specialists in different fields are able to use research knowledge in their work. It is equally important that engineers, doctors, or teachers who are already working can update and supplement their skills at universities.
Universities have long adopted the mindset that, as a rule, all researchers teach and all teachers research. At its best, this means that all staff carrying out the core mission of the university have the opportunity to carry out research and also the right to teach.
Today, science values research far more than teaching. This is reflected, among other things, in the university funding model and recruitment criteria. This should, of course, be the case, because it is only with new research knowledge that we have a chance of developing science and finding solutions to pressing problems, such as reducing transport emissions. But it is equally important that research knowledge is passed on to the next generations, who will be able to use it in different ways.
What research and teaching have in common is that they are both time-consuming. Research is slow, and so is teaching. A good lecture takes many times as long to prepare as the lecture itself.
I have worked in academia for over 40 years. I have been a researcher, an assistant, an assistant professor, an associate professor, a professor, and a tenured professor. In these positions, I have had various teaching responsibilities and different allocations of teaching time. I have taught training courses and seminars and given various lectures. Most of my teaching was contact teaching with students. I have also taught online courses and given online seminars.
The best teaching experiences were the courses that combined personal research with student learning. Equally inspiring was lecturing on the structure of Finnish society to Vietnamese Master’s students. The most boring experience, in turn, has been reviewing practices of conducting survey research in methodological exercises, even though we know that this is absolutely necessary for students to be able to conduct independent research.
The way universities teach has changed rapidly. More and more is required of teaching. Students need more feedback. Lectures and seminars have been joined by online courses, different ways of independent learning have increased, and teachers no longer just pass on information but guide students to solve problems independently. But teaching itself is just as time-consuming as ever. Creating an online course is a lot of work, after which it can be repeated quite easily, but giving proper student feedback in an online course is a bigger issue.
If we want researchers to have enough time to teach and teachers to study, we must be mindful of time use and its constraints. Faculties and departments must therefore ensure that staff allocates their time in a way that is best suited to their own work. It is generally the case that employees are the best experts in their own work. It is worth giving employees the power to plan their time use. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the time spent on different tasks remains within reasonable limits.
University employees are highly committed to their work. Science will not progress unless the work is done as well as possible. However, this requires universities to have sufficient staff to carry out research and teaching, and therefore both research and teaching need more resources.
Harri Melin
1990s trade union activist
JUKO, the Negotiation Organization for Public Sector Professionals, is currently negotiating a collective agreement for some 35,000 university employees.
