Finnish Government adds €4.3 million to Tampere University’s capital

The sum will be recorded in the permanent capital of the Tampere University Foundation sr which operates as Tampere University. The University will use the proceeds of the capital for its activities, and their allocation will be decided by the Board of Tampere University Foundation sr. The donations received during the campaign will be used for research and education from 2023 onwards.

Donors were able to allocate individual donations of at least €10.000 to a specific field of study, of which there are ten at Tampere University. 

“The largest number of donations was allocated to the fields of engineering, business, and medicine. Social sciences and humanities also received donations," says Head of Fund-raising Elina Suojanen-Laine.

In total, Finnish universities raised more than €70 million in private donations during the fund-raising campaign that entitled them to the matched funding the Government allocated. At its meeting on 3 November, the Government confirmed the amount of donations eligible for matched funding and allocated the matched funding to the universities. The total matched funding for universities amounts to €67 million.

The capitalisation was based on a decision by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra to make a one-off contribution of €100 million to universities. The first phase of the capital allocation, €33 million in 2020, was assigned to all universities based on research impact indicators. The second phase of €67 million was based on the allocation of matched funding in relation to the eligible private capital raised by the universities.

Fund-raising is part of universities’ regular operations

Fund-raising has become part of universities’ regular operations. Donations play an increasingly large role in also extending Tampere University’s funding base.

The future of the entire university institution is challenged by the public deficit, shrinking age groups and international competition. The positive development of the University’s activities depends on a stronger core funding base and the ability to attract external funding.

The University gets external funding from, for example, the Academy of Finland, Business Finland, foundations, businesses, and the European Union. External funding is used to carry out research projects, which often also give companies access to the international scientific community and talent.

“We offer industry and public organisations a range of services and forms of co-operation to support research and product and skills development. Donations are a form of co-operation that will carry well into the future and, as such, are an important support for the university's research and education,” Suojanen-Laine says.

According to President Mari Walls, donations strengthen the University's capacity to develop teaching and internationally high-quality research.

 “Our university is the second largest and one of the most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. Nearly all internationally recognised fields of education are represented here, and our graduates work in different areas of society. Our core research areas of technology, health and society, and their combinations, play a key role in addressing the big challenges facing humanity. With multidisciplinary co-operation, we are finding new, open-minded solutions to promote, for example, sustainable development,” Walls says

Read the press release of the Ministry of Education and Culture (in Finnish):

Read more about donating to the University