Finnish mergers: Change in the Context of Continuity

Collaboration, alliance, and merger among higher education institutions

“…The USG's Board of Regents developed guiding principles for merger planning and implementation and created consolidation committees for each proposed merger, including representatives from all participating institutions (Miller, 2017). Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture (Opetus-ja kulttuuriministeriö) set the agendas and appointed the planning groups for each merger (Nokkala and Välimaa, 2017). In Romania, the responsible Ministry approved a pre-contract establishing conditions, the parties' rights and obligations, and a timeline for completion of a merger, and also had to approve the final merger contract, based on the need for legislative approval (Andreescu et al, 2015).…”

“…Finally, funding may have deadlines, even when in support of CAM that are government-mandated without explicit deadlines (e.g. Finland) (Nokkala et al, 2016).…”

“…Analysts often further argue that when pursuing broader structural reforms, policymakers should consult and engage staff and students extensively in decision-making where possible, indicating CAM processes involving more "bottom-up" input are more likely to succeed, including in creating a new staff identity (Boudard and Westerheijden, 2017;Nokkala and Välimaa, 2017;Skodvin, 2014). Another related argument is that negotiations should be transparent, notwithstanding governments' frequent preferences for confidentiality (Harman and Harman, 2003).…”

“…Examples abound where government and institutional leaders have driven transformative processes with relatively little consultation, including in brief policy profile cases of Australia, Finland, Flanders, and France. Justifications for limited engagement have included tight timelines and an assumption that stakeholders will oppose CAM initiatives regardless (Gummett, 2015;Nokkala and Välimaa, 2017). Many of these less consultative processes were broadly successful, and Harman (2000) notes significant ex post stakeholder acceptance of Australia's mergers, including among groups such as faculty whose representatives had often been initially opposed or at least more sceptical.…”

“…When French reforms permitted institutions to apply for greater autonomy, differences in institutional preparation and willingness to take this opportunity on became a key challenge for collaboration within PRES (Sursock, 2015). In Finland, the 2009 Universities Act may have facilitated concentration by distracting opposition, it compounded the reforms for institutions to manage (Nokkala et al, 2016;Nokkala and Välimaa, 2017). With respect to UASs, the Finnish Government appears to be implementing governance reforms fully in advance of further concentration measures to avoid this pitfall.…”