Merger mania? the finnish higher education experience

Abstract

This chapter provides a description of the development of Finnish higher education in recent decades, with a particular focus on institutional mergers. Mergers between like organisations are generally promoted as one of the paths to improved efficiency and effectiveness, often as a part of government programs of structural reform. University mergers were incidental to a new governance reforming Universities Act which took effect from 2010, but some people have incorrectly assumed that mergers were related directly to that new legislation. Several polytechnics, the other half of Finland’s binary higher education, have similarly subjected themselves to mergers, also during a period of reforming legislation. Although it has not yet been mooted, future mergers might occur between universities and polytechnics. The third strand of merger activity has been between public research institutions and university departments, this time at the behest of the government.