Evaluations of the science and technology system

One of the foremost tasks of the Academy of Finland is evaluation: peer review of applications, impact analysis, disciplinary evaluations and reviews of the research system.

Reviews of the whole research system were published in 1997, 2000 and 2003. A few disciplinary evaluations are carried out annually. They have a great influence on the valuation and development of the disciplines. Between 1983 and 2003 the Academy carried out a total of 26 disciplinary evaluations.

Institutional evaluations

Performance evaluation is an inherent part of the operations of Finnish higher education institutions. Institutional evaluations were carried out in all universities in the 1990s, and a number of disciplines have been evaluated. Evaluation was a particularly prominent part of the establishment of the non-university sector (polytechnics) in the nineties.

A Higher Education Evaluation Council was set up by the Ministry of Education to assist higher education institutions in evaluation.

Technology impact analysis

One of the foremost tasks of Tekes is to analyse the impact of technology. The findings are used to steer technology funding and the development of the technology programmes. Impact analysis has been integrated into Tekes operations, which are steered according to impact targets. Impact is monitored and evaluated at the project level. In addition, Tekes commissions external evaluations of all national technology programmes.

Tekes operations have been appraised in several external evaluations. Additionally, there are separate evaluations of different operations and Tekes from different perspectives.