THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE the guiding principle behind university mergers in France is to expand research capacity through interdisciplinary work. The ambitious Saclay Campus project, on the outskirts of Paris, envisions a grouping of some two dozen universities, grandes écoles (as France’s elite schools of higher education are known), clusters, and research institutes. Its director has said that the explicit goal of the $6-billion project, which is due for completion by 2015, is to rank among the top 10 universities in the world. In Denmark, some academics have gladly chosen the merger route. Sven Frøkjær is dean of the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark’s largest university. Until 2007, he was rector of the Danish University of Pharmaceutical
possibilities for curricular development and interdisciplinary research. Given the growing weight assigned to university rankings, the push in many countries toward institutional mergers is understandable, says Simon Marginson, of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne, an expert on the rise of the global university. Research prowess is heavily weighted by most rankings, and institutional size counts more than per capita research performance on measures such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, the most influential global ranking. “Many nations are looking to put together areas of research strength so that it will show up in the rankings,” Marginson says. “It’s really just simply a
IN 2007, THE DANISH GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED A PROCESS OF ‘VOLUNTARY MERGERS’ INTENDED TO STRENGTHEN THE COUNTRY’S RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL CAPABILITIES, INCREASE TIES WITH BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY Sciences, an independent institution of some 1,300 students and 500 staff that, although highly regarded in its field, “would never have had a chance” to feature in any world rankings, he concedes. In 2007, the Danish government announced a process of “voluntary mergers” intended to strengthen the country’s research and educational capabilities, increase ties with business and industry, and improve institutions’ ability to attract international research financing, such as European Union money. The small institution found itself highly sought after by potential merger suitors. “We were quite attractive, and discussed other options,” says Frøkjær, before ultimately deciding that becoming part of the University of Copenhagen offered the best
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matter of the way the index works.” If the Shanghai tables measured research on the basis of per capita output rather than institutional size, he says, “we would see a trend toward disaggregations” rather than mergers.
Inspiration By Design In Finland, Aalto’s origins lie in a national discussion about the need to establish a new university to foster innovation and compete on the international stage alongside the University of Helsinki, which regularly places in Shanghai’s top 100. The proposal was controversial, says Välimaa, noting that at least one institution objected to the plan, pointing out that it already possessed the kind of interdisciplinary breadth that was being discussed
for the new “innovation” university. The idea for Aalto, in its current form, originated with the former rector of the University of Art and Design Helsinki, who proposed that if the country really wanted to stimulate innovation, his institution should join forces with the Helsinki University of Technology and the Helsinki School of Economics. “We thought that these three areas— technology, art and design, and business—could do something quite useful in the long term together,” says Jari Jokinen, Aalto’s director of policy and foresight. The impetus was “not to increase the number of students, but to increase quality and concentrate on higher quality in research and education.” The interdisciplinary approach embodied in Aalto is in evidence at the Design Factory, a cavernous, garage-like structure on the university’s suburban Otaniemi campus. The space is sub-divided into areas that can serve interchangeably as classrooms, places to eat, social space, or meeting rooms, all of which can be reconfigured if more or less space is needed. In the machine shop, a wooden model airplane is being worked on by two students. Maija Itkonen, an Aalto alumna and chief executive of the company PowerKiss, demonstrates its cordless charging device in a room that serves as the fledgling firm’s headquarters. Andrew Clutterbuck, the factory’s development co-ordinator and chief coach, presides over the set-up from a reception area that doubles as a coffee bar. Bright primary colors are splashed across walls, and the furnishings tend toward minimalist and modern. The space evokes a kind of anything-goes, start-up vibe. Nokia is the factory’s main corporate sponsor. Strong ties with industry permeate much of the discussion of innovation at Aalto, and there is little evidence of the qualms that often prevail in academia about links with the business world. “Finland is to some extent a club, and people know each other,” says Jyri Tawast, the university’s fund-raising director. “We are used to talking openly.” Mikko Koria is development director of Aalto’s International Design Business