The Board approved the financial statements and started the rector's recruitment process
The university's profit for the financial year was EUR 11 659 429.42 and the university group’s profit was EUR 13 115 569.62.
The university's financial statements and annual report will be published in accordance with the Universities Act after the University Collegium has confirmed the financial statements.
The board also reviewed the university's long-term operational and financial plan (PTS) for 2025–2029. The long-term plan is always made for five years ahead. The PTS plan will be approved by the board at a later stage.
The board decided on the themes for the next round of Research Council of Finland´s or profiling funding (Profi). The themes are based on proposals for profiling themes collected from university researchers earlier this year. The themes will be published in their final form after the application process has progressed.
The aim of the so-called Profi funding of the Research Council of Finland is to support and speed up the strategic profiling of the universities in order to improve the quality of research. The funding decision is expected at the turn of the year 2024–2025.
The board updated its rules of procedure and started the rector's recruitment process
On 17 April, the board held an e-mail meeting, where it updated the board's rules of procedure and launched the recruitment process for the Rector for the term starting 1 January 2025. The rules of procedure allow the board to set up temporary or permanent committees as needed to prepare the ground for the board's decisions. The board set up a committee to prepare the selection of the Rector and appointed members of the board to the committee. The committee is a fixed-term committee until 31 December 2024 and its task is to prepare matters relating to the selection of the Rector.
The board also set up a finance committee with a fixed term until the end of the year and appointed its members from among board´s members. The finance committee prepares financial matters to be discussed by the board.
At its meeting on April 22, the board decided that the length of the future rector's term will be five years, decided to use an external service provider to support the recruitment process, and selected the service provider. The board will discuss recruitment in more detail at the upcoming evening session on May 14, 2024.
Member appointments to the Scholarship Foundation
The board approved the proposal of the nomination task group for the board of the University of Oulu Scholarship Foundation. The group proposed two new members to replace the retiring members who were no longer available. Kaisa Ainasoja, director general of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland, and Jorma Terentjeff, Industry Advisor, were appointed as new members of the board.
The board of University of Oulu Scholarship Foundation 2024:
- Rector Jouko Niinimäki
- Vice Rector for Research Taina Pihlajaniemi
- Professor Helka-Liisa Hentilä
- Professor Harri Haapasalo
- Director of Education and Culture Mika Penttilä
- Managing director Jari Tuovinen
- Director general Kaisa Ainasoja
- Industry advisor Jorma Terentjeff
In addition, the board received reports on data protection issues and on the organisation of data protection work and the action plan. The board also discussed the Rector's objectives for 2024.