Responsibility, impact, innovation and engagement will guide Hanken’s 107th academic year
Newly appointed Rector Karen Spens built her opening speech upon the following themes: responsibility and sustainability, the universities’ impact on society, innovative solutions in research and education, and engagement and collaboration between Hanken and the corporate world.
Rector Spens expressed her concern for the challenges today’s society faces in the form of global warming, ill-health, demographical changes, scarce natural resources, and the increasing refugee disaster Europe is facing as we speak.
- Both Finland in general and Hanken as a university needs to take responsibility by creating and promoting sustainable alternatives. At Hanken this takes place through our efforts to decrease our environmental impact and by promoting social responsibility in research, teaching as well as in our societal outreach, said Rector Spens.
In her speech Rector Spens also emphasised the role research plays for the surrounding society.
- In order to meet the challenges we face, we need knowledge. Here universities play a key role, by actively disseminating the knowledge created in them. Furthermore, it is not sufficient to measure the impact of research only. We also need to find ways to measure and document the impact of education on all degree levels, Spens stressed.
According to Spens, universities need out-of-the-box solutions in order to meet and adjust to future needs and demands. These could include innovative teaching methods, taking new teaching technology into use, and conducting pioneering research. For Hanken, this means focusing not only on our areas of strength, but also on emerging research areas under development.
- Hanken has a solid base for taking on both current and upcoming challenges, Spens states. Hanken is the only university in Finland that is evaluated to be both productive and have impact as regards the research it conducts. In addition, Hanken has ranked high among Finnish universities that promote entrepreneurship in its education. Hanken has also come a long way in integrating a corporate and societal perspective in its activities. Thanks to successful fundraising campaigns, Hanken also has a solid financial position to develop from.
The opening of the academic year, with speeches from Rector Spens, vice chairman of the board Jannica Fagerholm, and the representative of the Hanken Student Union Stina Wahlsten can be downloaded here on our website (in Swedish).