When asked about racism towards foreigners in Finland, Finns answer in a culturally approved script: “We Finns are not racist”; “If there is racism in Finland it is not as bad as it is in other countries” and; “Racism is the fault of the foreigners who move to Finland with unrealistic expectations.” Such dismissals require willful ethnic blindness to racism,…
Category: Gareth Rice
(Part 2) At the mercy the faculty process: Staff well-being in the University Of Helsinki
By Dr. Gareth Rice* The Urbaria Document The URBARIA document delineates the results of a workplace well-being survey conducted by the occupational healthcare provider Mehiläinen. It is bulletproof evidence that those who abused their power were not held accountable. The results were shared with staff in an “info coffee session” on 12th June, 2019. The…
(Part 1) At the mercy the faculty process: Staff well-being in the University Of Helsinki
By Dr. Gareth Rice* This article has been almost one year in the making. What it reveals will, I hope, move the academic community to stop looking at Finnish higher education through rose tinted glasses, and to raise its brow and express earnest concern about the abuse of power and lack of accountability within one…
Gareth Rice: Finland – welcome to the Ostrich Nation
The political, economic and social situation in Finland remains perplexing. Finns have been told for so long how good they have it, that they now refuse to believe anything to the contrary.
Helsingin Sanomat: Ulkomaisten tutkijoiden vaikea työllistyä Suomessa
Gareth Rice Kun saavuin Suomeen yliopistotutkijana Britanniasta, päätin yrittää olla valittamatta siitä, miten Suomessa korkeakoulujärjestelmää hoidetaan. Valittaminen on kuitenkin luonnollista, ja olen varma, että miltei jokainen Suomessa asuva ulkomaalainen on tehnyt niin ainakin kerran. Lue alkuperäinen kirjoitus tästä. Suomalaista korkeakoulujärjestelmää pyörittää joukko vaikutusvaltaisia suomalaisia professoreita, jotka toimivat portinvartijoina. Ulkomaalaisten akateemisesti koulutettujen on vaikea päästä vakituisiin…
Dr. Gareth Rice: How open is Finnish higher education?
Dr. Gareth Rice I had been sufficiently impressed by the work of some Finnish geographers, though I knew little about the Nordic country’s higher education system before I accepted the position of postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki in December 2007. I had been bent on visiting Finland for…
Gareth Rice: Finland Warm welcome, then cold shoulder
Gareth Rice I did my PhD in urban geography at the University of Strathclyde and had been lecturing there for more than three years before I accepted my postdoctoral position at the University of Helsinki in December 2007. I had never been to Finland before, but the country, its people and their culture had long…