The University Board of the University of Turku decided in its meeting on 24 September 2021 that the University applies for extending its educational responsibility to electrical and automation engineering from the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The Faculty of Technology is a new faculty at the University of Turku and started operating at the beginning of 2021. The Faculty includes the Department of Computing, Department of Life Technologies, and the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
– The University of Turku now applies for extending its educational responsibility to electrical and automation engineering from the Ministry of Education and Culture. This expansion in education would further strengthen the operations, productivity, and impact of the Faculty of Technology and the University of Turku, says Chair of the Board Ritva Viljanen.
– The extension of the educational responsibility is necessary so that the University can meet the regional need for experts in this field in Southwest Finland. There is a skills shortage in the region and the University can close this gap together with the other higher education institutions in the region if the extension is granted. Solving the skills shortage by developing local education is important not only to the region but to the competitiveness of entire the country and through it to social well-being, says Rector Jukka Kola.
The expansion of the University’s educational responsibility is an integral part of the development of the region’s education in electrical and automation engineering. The University’s application is supported by the application of the Turku University of Applied Sciences for extending their educational responsibility in electrical and automation engineering.
The educational responsibility gives the University the right to organise Bachelor's and Master's degree education in the discipline in question. The universities’ educational responsibilities are defined in a decree of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Ministry handles the proposals for new educational responsibilities in October-November 2021 and the possible new degree programmes can start in autumn 2023.
At the moment, there are 2,000 basic and postgraduate degree students at the Faculty of Technology and circa 300 members of personnel, of whom almost 40 are professors. Technology education has a long history at the University of Turku, as Master’s degrees in information and communication technology as well as in biotechnology have been offered for almost 20 years.
The Faculty engages in active collaboration with regional companies, for example, in teaching, research projects, and examining the correspondence between education and needs of professional life. A good example of regional collaboration are the 11 professorships donated by the regional companies, communities, and cities to the Faculty of Technology.
More information:
Rector Jukka Kola
tel. +358 29 450 5050
jukka.kola@utu.fi