Aija Leiponen wants students to think for themselves again: “Everyone needs to understand how their field relates to the world”

Students need to learn to think for themselves again without the help of artificial intelligence. They must also be able to look beyond their own bubble and understand how their field – whether business, technology or the arts – relates to the rapidly changing world around them. Cooperation and the exchange of ideas between different fields and interests are the best ways to generate innovation.

That is the view of Aija Leiponen, Professor of Strategy and Business Economics at Cornell University, who will join Aalto University in January as a professor and help shape the multidisciplinary Technology, Business and Design bachelor’s programme. The programme will launch in autumn 2027.

Leiponen studied at the Helsinki School of Economics, and over the past 25 years her career has taken her to Cornell and Imperial College London. She is returning to Aalto at an opportune moment.

‘It is wonderful to return to Aalto and Finland. The social climate in the United States has become increasingly unsettled. By contrast, Aalto has an enthusiastic spirit of openness and working together: people dare to face up to challenges and set about solving them’, Leiponen says.

Multidisciplinarity provides the basis for specialisation

Leiponen’s research has often focused on how companies and organisations cooperate to develop innovations and new technologies.

Cooperation is the backbone of the new bachelor’s programme, which combines technology, business and design. First-year students get to explore different fields and choose one for graduating by the end of that year.

‘Throughout my career I have contemplated how to combine ideas creatively and produce something new. The new bachelor’s programme is a perfect fit for this’, Leiponen says.

For her, the programme’s most important aim is to blur the boundaries between people and fields.

‘The best discussions emerge when, for example, technology and business students are involved. They see the same problem from completely different perspectives.’

Multidisciplinarity does not mean that graduates end up with superficial knowledge from a number of different fields.

‘In the end, everyone should dive deep into something in order to stand out in the labour market. But you also need to see how your own field connects with the world, and how issues such as climate change and the state of democracy affect your field.’

Sharing knowledge is not enough

According to Leiponen, the role of university education is changing. Teaching will continue to be based on the production of new knowledge through research. However, simply sharing knowledge is no longer the most important task of higher education, because open educational resources are available everywhere.

‘Why go to Aalto if you can get the same knowledge from Stanford through free online courses?’

Leiponen believes that the added value of a university lies in skills and ways of working:

‘It is the ability to think critically, solve problems, work with others and see connections between different things. This is what I also aim to help my own students develop.’

Universities face an AI challenge

Artificial intelligence has already made the task of teaching harder for universities, as teachers cannot always know whether the answer they are assessing was produced by a student or a language model. 

‘At Cornell we went back to paper-based exams so that students would once again have to think and concentrate’, Leiponen says.

She herself has favoured the flipped classroom approach. Students familiarise themselves with the basic material before class while the time in class is spent on exercises, discussion and solving difficult problems.

‘This gives students the space and time to think for themselves and exchange ideas without the distraction caused by devices.’

Independent thinkers make new discoveries

Having observed Finland from the outside for years, Leiponen is concerned about the decline in research and education funding.

‘Finland’s prosperity has been built on education, knowledge and research and development. If the people no longer value and fund education and research, their ability to understand new technologies, assess information and navigate the flood of disinformation weakens. This erosion is already visible in the United States, and it is worrying.’

Leiponen believes this is where education connects to the Finnish economy. She hopes that the Technology, Business and Design bachelor’s programme will become a route for bringing in proactive and courageous people – people who can combine their expertise with that of others and create the innovations and new businesses that Finland needs.

‘I cannot teach anyone how to achieve an innovation eureka moment but I can teach them what kind of group or situation is the likeliest to produce new insights. Exceptionally creative groups often bring together multidisciplinary expertise, motivated people and enough freedom to tackle even difficult challenges in new ways.’

Students should join the programme with an open mind, explore new avenues and get to know other students and teachers. Networks created during their studies are especially important and remain valuable resources throughout their working lives. Ultimately, Leiponen says, it is about the ability to see what the world needs and trying to respond to it.

‘That is how you can thrive, whatever happens in the world.’