Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University, at the opening of the academic year: World-class status is achievable through commitment and cooperation
01.09.2010
The first opening of the academic year at Aalto University was celebrated on 1 September 2010 at the Aalto University School of Economics. The opening ceremony in Töölö was attended by approximately a thousand students and staff members, as well as friends of the university. In addition, students and staff members at other Aalto University campuses throughout Finland were able to watch the opening ceremony via live broadcast.
Official speeches were given by Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University, Jussi Valtonen, Chairman of the Student Union, Risto Nieminen, the first appointed Aalto Professor, and Anni Sinnemäki, the Minister of Labour who conveyed the Government’s greetings.
In addition to the official speeches, the programme included musical and visual performances by students, as well as highlights of the Aalto on Tracks journey to China.
Aiming at world-class status through strong international know-how
In her speech, Tuula Teeri emphasized Aalto University’s goal of achieving the position by the year 2020 of being a unique world-class university that combines expertise in the fields of technology, design and business.
– Achieving this world-class position is an ambitious goal that will require the best people in the world. We make our most important decisions when we select students, researchers, teachers and other staff members.
– Aalto University has indeed from the start focused on establishing an academic career system based on the international model. The principles and process for this career system are now ready, and the first recruitments will take place this autumn, Teeri announced.
As an example of an interesting international cooperation project, Teeri mentioned the Design Factory that was established on the campus of Tongji University in Shanghai based on Aalto University’s Design Factory in Otaniemi, Espoo in Finland. Research cooperation will be undertaken in connection with the Tongji Design Factory, and student exchanges are also planned.
Students at the heart of Aalto
Teeri highlighted in her speech the role of students in the university.
– At Aalto University the student is considered first and foremost a full member of the learning community, not just a target for education or a customer, Aalto emphasized.
– The university must genuinely care for its students and pay close attention to developing learning methods; to support this work we are currently initiating a full-scale assessment of the university’s teaching activities. Commitment is nevertheless reciprocal, and students too are expected to be responsible for their own studies and to participate in building the university.
Jussi Valtonen, Chairman of the Student Union, also spoke about the same subject.
– Let us passionately embrace our search for the new, let us make bold choices while caring for and motivating each other. Both the university and the student association are committed to creating this kind of community, Valtonen said.
– Hopefully as many as possible will experience Aalto’s values as their own and commit during the autumn to building the Aalto community by agreeing to the Code of Conduct, according to which teachers and students commit themselves to challenging each other and learning and discovering together, Valtonen added.
Aalto University’s first Student Deed of the Year Award was also handed out during the opening ceremony. The award was presented to the Aalto on Tracks project, which took over 80 Aalto University students, teachers and partners by train from Helsinki to Shanghai to the World Expo in May 2010. President Teeri emphasised the passionate and student-centred learning culture based on the strategic goals of Aalto University.
– In addition to official and progressive cooperation, unofficial and everyday interaction and innovation is also promoted to allow the initiatives and creativity of students to cherish, Teeri said.
– This project began with a spontaneous, even crazy idea and grew perhaps somewhat by surprise in scale, importance and visibility that attracted even international attention. What was originally an unofficial project among students, Aalto on Tracks evolved to a project that attracted also members of staff and was connected to the teaching programme in the form of lectures and tests, Teeri explained.
Speaches from the ceremony:
- Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University, 1 Sept 2010
- Anni Sinnemäki, Minister of Labour, 1 Sept 2010
- Jussi Valtonen, Chairman of the Student Union, 1 Sept 2010
- Risto Nieminen, Aalto Professor, 1 Sept 2010
Further information:
Tuula Teeri, President
tel. +358 (0)50 512 2609president [at] aalto [dot] fi (
president@aalto.fi)
Aalto University is a new multidisciplinary science and art community in the fields of science, economics, and art and design. The new university is founded on Finnish strengths, and its goal is to develop as a unique entity to become one of the world's top universities. The cornerstones of Aalto University are its strengths in education and research.
At the new university, there are 20,000 basic degree and graduate students as well as a staff of 4,500 of which 300 are professors. The total budget for 2009 was close to 368 million euro. In 2009, a total of 1,567 Master's Degrees and 180 Doctorates were completed at the three universities. The number of alumni totals 75,000.
