Ryhmä opiskelijoita tietokoneen äärellä / Students working on computer

Home About us Organisation Annual report

Annual report

The year 2024 was a time for developing the central campuses and operating environment of HAMK and higher education institutions in general.

Introduction

In discussions were the central campuses, professional doctoral degree, new education and research environment, and pedagogical expertise.

In the year 2024, two significant campus projects were visible at HAMK. We are planning to relocate our campuses to the city centers in both Hämeenlinna and Riihimäki. In Riihimäki, the plans are already quite advanced: at the end of the year, the city council approved a proposal to support the campus project with 7.5 million euros. In Hämeenlinna, we are still in the discussion and conceptualization phase.

We started planning a professional doctoral program with four other universities of applied sciences. The universities of applied sciences are very concerned about the weakening of Finland’s competitiveness and productivity development. The professional doctoral degree aims to strengthen the expertise of small and medium-sized enterprises, so that their ability to develop new products, services and innovations increases. Through this, Finland’s competitiveness will also significantly improve.

Our new SmartBio Education and Research Centre was completed as planned in November 2024, meaning we now have modern and inspiring facilities for education and research on this field.

We commissioned a future study from Häme Vocational Institute (Hami), owned by Häme University of Applied Sciences. The investigator recommended merging with Tavastia Education Consortium.

In June, we organized the national Pedaforum 2024 event at Häme University of Applied Sciences. The three-day event brought together four hundred experts in higher education pedagogy to share experiences of good practices and knowledge of pedagogical research to promote quality learning and develop teaching methods.

Key figures

23 000 applicats

87% employment of graduates

10 000 students

1700 degrees

1300 international students

441 teachers qualifications

800 staff

384 publications

Finland’s 6th largest university of applied sciences in terms of student numbers

Research volume 15 M€

Ranked 18th in the international sustainability ranking of universities (with 1477 participants)

Turnover 73 M€

Yksi henkilö seisoo ja muut istuvat kuuntelemassa

About the expertise

We took significant steps towards implementing the Design Based Education model.

In the model, the focus is on work-based learning, where students work on real world of work challenges in a multidisciplinary manner, learning practical skills and roles needed in the workplace.

Different trainings and development days promoted the knowledge of teachers, students, and our entire community on the subject. In addition, we tested the DBE model through pilots. We actively shared good practices and development needs among the trainings.

In the coming years, the development of expertise at HAMK will focus specifically on promoting professional doctoral studies. This also involves closely following the DBE model for developing education and increasing research skills. The DBE model enhances students’ abilities in analysis, innovation, and research, allowing them to excel in both master’s and doctoral level studies later on. DBE also supports students’ overall agency, allowing their skills to develop through collaborative work.

Developing the most skilled work community is extremely important as we strive to become Finland’s first stock company-based university for workplace education. Our participation in the RUN-Europe University also provides us with a pool of expertise from which we draw in the areas of education, research, and innovation.

On internationalism

At HAMK, we have approximately 1500 international students. The proportion of international students among all students is one of the most significant in Finland.

Of our foreign students, over 800 are from countries outside the EU or EEA, and they fully fund their studies through tuition fees. The number of students in this group continues to steadily and responsibly increase. Our goal is to have 1000 tuition-paying students by the end of 2026.

In 2024, we continued to diversify our activities in order to promote the well-being, employment, and retention of our international students. Career guidance and mentoring services, a scholarship for learning Finnish, a language café and international friendship program, support for student employment and housing services, as well as the networking tool Goin Connect, are concrete examples of these efforts.

There are English-language trainings available in all of our fields of education. Currently, there are 14 Bachelor-level and 2 Master-level degree programs offered. Several double degree programs within the framework of RUN-Europe University further enhance the targeted international opportunities available to students.

On research

HAMK continued determinedly to strengthen its research activities in 2024, and we achieved the goal of a total volume of 15 million euros.

The number of submitted funding applications increased by approximately 38 percent and the amount of applied external funding increased by approximately 65 percent compared to 2023. We also saw a significant increase in the number of applications submitted to the Horizon Europe program: while there were five applications submitted in 2023, we were involved in a total of 13 applications in 2024.

The improvement in the quality of research activities is indicated by, among other things, the fact that we have already received a second research project funded by the Academy of Finland to lead, as well as a new Business Finland project. Our international network and collaboration has continued to grow, and our reputation as developers of expertise in various fields and levels has expanded even further, particularly in Africa.

We were the best university in Finland in the Erasmus+ Capacity Building Calls, where five out of six of our applications received positive funding decisions. Among the particularly successful applications are also the 3.3 million euro Interreg Baltic Sea Region project led by HAMK, as well as two new European Union innovation partnership projects, which aim to develop exoskeletons to assist lower limbs in forestry tasks and a method for evaluating grass biomass growth.

The central element in HAMK’s research development work is the SmartBio education and research environment, which was completed earlier than planned, by the end of 2024. Research activities have been further strengthened as part of the constantly evolving international research groups and innovation hubs of RUN-Europe University.

In 2024, HAMK also became a member of CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment). CoARA is an international alliance that aims to reform research evaluation methods and processes. HAMK’s own CoARA program focuses specifically on developing researchers’ career paths. Additionally, we strengthened our research by establishing our own research doctorate program, where those who have already obtained their doctorates can continue their education in applied research closely related to the working life.

On responsibility

We reformed the management and organization of our corporate social responsibility work. In addition to the Sustainable HAMK working group, we established two new groups, one focusing on social responsibility and the other on good governance.

We also started preparing for the upcoming sustainability reporting. We are actively involved in Arene’s groups to develop and pilot a model for responsible reporting.

The number of studies including sustainable development goals in education increased by one percentage point from the previous year to 54 percent. 64% of R&D projects focused on topics related to sustainability. The student union HAMKO started a sustainable student union coordinator.

We participated for the sixth time in the GreenMetric World University Ranking, which included a total of 1477 universities from around the world. The comparison looked at sustainable development measures in education, research, transportation, and property management. We improved our ranking from the previous year by one spot, to 18th place. Our good placement is explained by strong expertise in water consumption management and waste management, as well as a wide range of sustainable development education offerings.

Two women walking in a forest/Kaksi naista kävelemässä metsässä

Kaksi ihmistä kävelevät rakennuksen ulkopuolella/ Two people are walking outside of a building

On economy

The turnover of Häme University of Applied Sciences Ltd in the fiscal year 2024 was a total of 73.2 (67) million euros.

The largest item of operating expenses was personnel costs – 46.7 (-42.8) million euros.

The number of personnel at Häme University of Applied Sciences was 819 (762) at the end of 2024, of which 289 were men and 530 were women. There were 679 permanent employees and 140 fixed-term employees. During the year, 696.93 (671.92) person-years were worked. The average age of the personnel at the end of 2023 was 45.55 (45.87) years.

The operating profit of Häme University of Applied Sciences Ltd was 2,100,000 (2,300,000) euros. Income and expenses from investment and financing activities were 230 (131) thousand euros. The change in fair value was 878 (943) thousand euros. The profit for the financial year was 3,342,460.28 (3,413,557.28) euros.

Investments in buildings, machinery and equipment amounted to -6.8 (-4.8) million euros. The company’s solvency and liquidity were excellent. The equity ratio was 82.84 (82.13) percent.

Government composition 1 January 2023 – 31 December 2023

The company’s board of directors has been chaired by Tarja Filatov, with Veera Kiretti and Kari Moisiola serving as vice chairs. Other board members included Jari Marjamäki, Kirsi Lehto, Jarkko Koivula, Sami Kotiniemi, Piia Gauriloff (until 21.10), Mikko Hakala (starting 22.10.2024), and Leenakaija Lehto. The company’s CEO has been Pertti Puusaari, with CFO Johanna Närhi serving as acting CEO.