The new Directory of Professors reflects the change in society
The Finnish Union of University Professors has published the Directory of Professors, which contains information on the professoriate from the founding year of the Academy of Turku from 1640 to 2024. The participants include 9,200 professors or persons on the professors’ tenure track who work or have worked at a Finnish university or research institute.
“Professor is an old and honourable European profession. Despite the small number of practitioners, professors generally enjoy a high level of social respect. This has also been the case in Finland,” says Professor Laura Kolbe, Chair of the Directory working group.
The Directory provides a diverse picture of professors in Finland – their work, careers, knowledge of science and culture, and their activities in different sectors of society. The Directory also makes visible the social history and international mobility of the professoriate.
‘The Finnish professors have served the surrounding society with his research, i.e., they promote the common good. Already in the 1600s, the concept of ‘active professor’ was known. Today, many professors are visible in public as contributors and speakers, entrepreneurs and activists in organisations. Professors are still sought-after experts in the media,” Kolbe emphasizes.
‘Many professors have gained merit as developers and entrepreneurs of new innovations or international research infrastructures. The profession of professor lives and changes with its era and is still attractive’, she analyses.
In addition to the book that has just been printed, the Finnish Union of University Professors maintains a Digital Directory that can be browsed by its members and those who have submitted their information there.
In addition to Chair Laura Kolbe, the working group preparing the Directory of Professors consisted of professors Petri Lehenkari from the University of Oulu, Johanna Kujala from Tampere University and Anne Juppo from the University of Helsinki. The secretary of the group and the person in charge of the practical work was Raija Pyykkö, Head of Union Affairs of the Finnish Union of University Professors.
The printed Directory of Professors was last published in 2000 and 2008.
For more information:
Laura Kolbe
Professor of European History, University of Helsinki
laura.kolbe (at) helsinki.fi
tel. +358 50 3182799
Raija Pyykkö
Head of Union Affairs, Finnish Union of University Professors
raija.pyykko (at) professoriliitto.fi
tel. +358 9 4250 7011
