Speech by Minna Martikainen, Rector of the University of Vaasa, at the opening ceremony of the academic year on 7 September 2026

Dear university community, distinguished guest speakers and invited guests, dear friends. And to all our international students and colleagues, a warm welcome to the new academic year at the University of Vaasa.

For some of you, Vaasa is already familiar. For others, this autumn marks the beginning of something entirely new – new studies, a new job, a new city or country. I hope that all of you feel at home here and know that you are a very important part of our university community.

Ladies and gentlemen,
For the first time in a long while, there are signs of improvement in the Finnish economy. The economy returned to growth during the first half of the year. Changes in the labour market typically follow with a delay.

We must now ensure that this emerging growth takes root and that Finland no longer falls behind the other Nordic countries. That is why we must move forward swiftly – now, and faster than ever before.

High-level expertise is the most important foundation for Finland’s growth. High-quality research and innovative education produce new knowledge, create innovations, improve productivity and thereby strengthen the capacity of businesses and society to renew themselves. Only strong expertise can attract financial capital and investment to Finland.

We need international, high-level university research that is genuinely integrated with the needs of businesses and society, and whose results can rapidly be used for the benefit of society.
Finland now faces important choices. The public finances must be brought into balance, but this must not be done by weakening the most important foundation of our economy.
Universities’ core funding and the university index must be safeguarded so that we can sustain the expertise and capacity for renewal that Finland needs to achieve sustainable growth.

In the Government’s budget proposal for next year, funding for research and development will rise to €3.4 billion. This represents an increase of €230 million on this year. The largest increases will be allocated to Business Finland’s funding authorisation for research and development and to the Research Council of Finland’s funding authorisation for research projects. This will strengthen research and development and help Finland achieve its target of raising research, development and innovation expenditure to four per cent of gross domestic product.

All of us representing the university and research sector must demonstrate that this funding delivers tangible results and added value, as well as substantial growth in research, development and innovation.

In the years ahead, Finland’s economic growth must not be constrained by a lack of the necessary high-level expertise.

We must identify where Finland’s greatest opportunities for future growth lie. Education should be expanded particularly where there is genuine need – both in terms of the expertise required and the regions in which it is needed. High-level expertise can make a substantial contribution to Finland’s growth, energy transition, competitiveness and exports.
The national vision for higher education and research sets a target of raising the proportion of young adults with a higher education degree to 60 per cent by 2040.
For the third consecutive year, the University of Vaasa is Finland’s largest provider of business education. In recent years, we have also achieved annual growth of more than ten per cent across all our fields of education.

At the same time, we are ensuring that educational quality is maintained as the number of degrees increases. This is demonstrated by the prestigious international AACSB and EQUIS accreditations that we have achieved over the past two years. The EQUIS accreditation awarded to us this year places us among the top three per cent of business schools worldwide. The employment rate of our graduates is among the highest in Finland, and our research performs strongly in international comparisons. In this way, we are making a substantial contribution to economic growth, research, development and innovation, and the drive to raise Finland’s educational attainment.

Economic growth requires efficiency and fresh thinking. We are Finland’s most productive and fastest-growing university, and investment in us brings considerable benefits to society and strengthens Finland’s competitiveness. Today’s guest speakers, Eero Lehti and Liisa Hyssälä, have both emphasised in different contexts the importance of productivity and a passion for work. They have also stressed that public funding must deliver value and that funding should be allocated based on results. We wholeheartedly agree.
At the University of Vaasa, we do not seek funding simply to maintain a large balance sheet. In terms of the relationship between inputs and outputs, we currently create more added value in teaching and research than any other university in Finland. To put it in financial terms: there is no better investment among Finnish universities than the University of Vaasa.

In our university, we can see how high-level expertise creates opportunities for economic growth.Our university operates at the heart of the leading energy technology cluster in the Nordic countries. The energy transition offers Finland significant opportunities for growth but realising them requires high-quality research and highly educated professionals.
This is why we are building the Energy Transition Valley, bringing together research, doctoral education, world-class research infrastructures and close cooperation with industry. Our aim is to accelerate the development of new solutions and their path to global markets.

We also need a better understanding of what drives investment. To address this need, we established the Finland Investment Institute at the University of Vaasa earlier this year. The institute brings together researchers, businesses and policymakers.

Our Preparedness and Resilience Research Platform strengthens our ability to prepare for crises and build resilience. Our new cooperation with the Finnish National Defence University creates important opportunities for learning together.

Across all our research platforms, we bring together expertise from different fields and work closely with external partners. Above all, we develop new ways of thinking – precisely what Finland needs to accelerate growth.

Ladies and gentlemen,
At the University of Vaasa, we do not seek funding to preserve the old, but to renew ourselves and achieve world-class results. We want to demonstrate that investing in the University of Vaasa delivers substantial benefits to society and strengthens Finland’s competitiveness.

For example, the three new Master’s programmes launched this autumn in preparedness, resilience and artificial intelligence respond directly to rapidly growing needs in society.
We also renew ourselves through cooperation. Last year, the University of Vaasa and Vaasa University of Applied Sciences formed a new higher education consortium.

As a consortium, we are now even better equipped to meet Finland’s skills needs. This spring, we opened the University of Vaasa’s Helsinki campus and an office in Brussels. Together with the university of applied sciences in our consortium, we are also helping to raise educational attainment by creating smooth pathways between our degree programmes. The first of these enables graduates of the Business Administration programme in Financial Management at Vaasa University of Applied Sciences to progress to the Master’s Programme in Accounting and Auditing at the University of Vaasa. Through clearly defined roles and an effective division of responsibilities, we create added value for Finland.

Dear international colleagues and students,
Internationalisation is an essential part of a high-quality research university. Science is international, and the best research is built through collaboration across borders.
Finland needs international talent to support future growth. At the University of Vaasa, we want to help our international students and researchers learn Finnish, build professional networks and become part of Finnish society and working life.

Dear colleagues,
High-quality research and teaching, new degree programmes, international success, cooperation with businesses and societal impact all arise from the work carried out at our university every day.
My warmest thanks to every member of staff for your excellent work, and to our partners and stakeholders for your invaluable support.

And dear students,
The university’s role is to equip you with knowledge and skills, but above all with the ability to think independently and to evaluate and analyse information critically.
In the age of artificial intelligence, these abilities are not becoming less important. Quite the opposite. Artificial intelligence can quickly give us answers that sound convincing. Yet we must judge for ourselves whether those answers are accurate and what it is wise to do on the basis of them. We cannot hand responsibility for our own thinking over to a tool.
Use your years at university to develop your expertise and your thinking with courage and ambition.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Autumn brings a sense of new beginnings. Now is the time to begin our work and studies and to embrace the new opportunities ahead.
Let us take our university forward in keeping with our values – together, courageously and sustainably.

Together, let us make this a successful academic year.