New deans appointed to the business school

Professor Janne Järvinen is appointed as the Dean and professor Satu Nätti as the Dean for Education to the Oulu Business School starting from 1 January 2022. Both are University of Oulu alumni, and have a long working history at the Oulu Business School.

Professor Järvinen, appointed Dean, served as the Dean for Education at the business school during the previous four-year term. Prior to that, he was the head of a research unit at the Oulu Business School. He is beginning his term as Dean with positive thoughts as the business school is in excellent condition: the results of the education are strong, and the job satisfaction of the staff is at a high level, according to surveys.

— I am particularly pleased with the results of the autumn’s RAE evaluation, where an international evaluation panel rated our research as very high-level, Järvinen says.

The appointed Dean for Education, professor Satu Nätti, is also looking forward to the coming four-year period. She has previously acted as the director of bachelor’s programme as well as the head of a research unit at the Oulu Business School. As the Dean for Education, she expects to gain a new perspective on the university world and the management of education

Investing in the development of cooperation and internationalization

In the spring of 2020, the corona pandemic forced universities to find new ways of working, and accelerated the adoption of digital tools. Indeed, the challenges facing the business school are largely related to how teaching content and methods are reformed and developed to suit the post-pandemic era.

— The biggest challenge, at least initially, is how to stabilize the situation in terms of teaching from the point of view of both teachers and students once the situation has calmed down, Nätti ponders.

Nätti hopes that she can support and assist teachers in the development of teaching. In particular, she hopes to be able to influence the communality of teaching, which allows teachers to receive concrete support from each other. In this way, the quality of teaching remains high despite growing demands and number of students.

The new Dean and Dean for Education see opportunities especially in cooperation and internationalisation. Different patterns of national and international collaboration offer interesting opportunities for teaching and research. At the same time, internationalisation is a challenge for which the Deans are ready to work.

They both think the future of the Oulu Business School looks bright. Teaching and research have developed rapidly, especially after earning the AACSB accreditation as one of the first business schools in the Nordic countries in 2013. Järvinen reminds that the key to success is the people who study and work at the business school.

— I hope I can create the conditions and opportunities for our faculty and staff members to focus on high-quality research and commit to the long-term development of teaching.