2017 – A Year of Development and Recognitions
The University of Turku Annual Report 2017 has been published electronically, and it contains the previous year's most central key figures and statistics on the University's activities, as well as a summary of the year's most important events.
In 2017, the University continued to carry out its Strategy for 2016–2020. The main themes of the Strategy are effective research, responsible education, a catalyst for social well-being and the economy, and community well-being.
In 2017, there were 19,722 students in the University of Turku. In the joint application round in spring, the University of Turku was the second most popular university in Finland. During 2017, 1,557 higher academic degrees as well as 170 doctoral degrees were completed at the University. The total amount of publications was 5,850.
Compared to the previous year, the costs of the University decreased by 1 percent and the income by 0.1 percent. The number of full-time equivalent employees (i.e. person-years) decreased by 0.3 percent. The fund-raising period that ended in 2017 succeeded beyond all objectives and the University received over €6.5 million in donations. On account of the received donations, the Government capitalises the University of Turku with over €7.5 million.
The University has continued strengthening its research with the chosen thematic areas of strength. During 2017, the University of Turku improved preconditions of research, for instance, by allocating a significant internal funding to the procurement of modern research equipment. In open science, the University drafted a policy for the openness of the research process.
In May 2017, the University of Turku received a working life award in a competition organised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and Finnish Work Environment Fund as one of nine awarded organisations. The award was pursued by a total of 99 candidates, and the University of Turku was successful with a theme firmly linked to one of the University’s strategic goals, community well-being.
In June, the University received a quality label from the re-audit of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre, which is valid for six years. The audit group noted that the University had been developing its quality system systematically on the basis of the feedback received from the previous audit.
One topical theme throughout the year was the need for an increase in technology education so that the University could better respond to the ongoing positive structural change in Southwest Finland. Education in technology, which is carried out in close collaboration with the business sector, was initiated through the FITech network established by the technological universities in Finland.
>> Read the Annual Report 2017
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