| 05.05.2015

High-Quality Research and Productivity Characterise Hanken’s 2014

The financial statement for 2014, approved by the Board of Hanken on 16 April 2015, shows a positive development, where all key indicators point upward, the university meets most targets set, and the activities have a solid financial base. Hanken continues to strive to be an internationally recognised, competitive and research-oriented business school. For these aspirations, international accreditations play an essential role. In 2014, Hanken renewed its EQUIS-accreditation, which was granted in 2000 for the first time.

High-quality research of international standard

In 2014, Hanken received confirmation that the implementation of the university’s research-oriented strategy has been successful. The State of Scientific Research in Finland 2014 review (Tieteen tila 2014), conducted by the Academy of Finland, shows that Hanken’s research, with its citation index of 1.4, clearly is above the world average of 1. The same trend can be seen in the so called Top 10-index, which shows how many publications on average belong to the most cited 10 percent in their respective field of research. Here Hanken's index of 1.7 again exceeds the world average of 1. From a national perspective, only Hanken and the Aalto University exceed the world average for citation indexes within the economic sciences.

The amount of scholarly publications, with 204 publications in 2014 compared to 198 the year before, was stable. Also the number of publications in international peer-reviewed journals with an ISI Web of Science Impact Factor of >1 increased to 61 (2013: 53) and thereby exceeded the set target (32) by a good margin.

Bilateral agreement within logistics and stable degree turn-out

During the year, Hanken gave its input to the discussion on the dual structure of higher education in Finland, by closing its first bilateral agreement with a university of applied sciences. The agreement concerns the subject of logistics, where Arcada University of Applied Sciences was agreed to be responsible for BSc level education, whereas Hanken bears the responsibility of education on the MSc and PhD levels.

The number of graduates at all educational levels remained stable and at a good level, following the targets agreed upon with the Ministry of Education and Culture. The number of bachelor’s degrees increased to 229 (2013: 227, target 210) thanks to the mandatory semester abroad and investments in student services. The number of graduated master’s students was the highest in many years and increased to 278 (2013: 254, target 280). During the year, 19 doctors graduated (2013: 15, target 16).

An additional target, as regards education, is the share of students that complete at least 55 study credits during the year. Hanken’s target is for this share to amount to at least 30% of the students. The result for the academic year was 32.3%, which is an all-time high for Hanken.

Hanken’s efforts in responsible business education, in line with the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), were again validated when the secretariat of the Regional Chapter Nordic was placed at Hanken.

Within bachelor’s and master’s education, the focus continued to be on streamlining the programme portfolio in order for it to in 2015 consist of fewer but stronger and more international programmes that stand out in an increasingly hard international competition. 

Continued internationalisation of education and study environment

The compulsory semester abroad has become a self-evident part of the education and the overall student mobility (outgoing plus incoming exchange students) continues to increase. The number of students who spent at least three months on an international student exchange or internship rose from 354 (average for 2011-13) to 404 (average for 2012-14). The number of study credits completed abroad also increased to 4,863 (2013: 4,303).

The number of international degree students remained stable. The proportion of international research and teaching staff rose from 21.2% (2013) to 24.3% (2014).

Solid balance sheet and increased returns on investments stabilised finances

In 2014, Hanken’s assets, as confirmed on the balance sheet, increased to EUR 92.1 million (EUR 82.4 million in 2013). The year resulted in a profit of EUR 2.54 million, of which most was due to returns on investment and financing operations (EUR 4.4 million), primarily consisting of invested donations. The portfolio returns for externally managed assets reached 9.4%.

The operative income totalled EUR 23.1 million (EUR 22.0 million in 2013), of which funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture stood at EUR 17.3 million (EUR 16.6 million in 2013). Operative expenses totalled EUR 25.0 million (EUR 23.6 million in 2013), of which 64% (65%) were staff costs, 14% (13%) were property-related costs and 22% (22%) were other expenses.

In November, Hanken launched its new fundraising campaign – HANKEN RETURNS – which at the end of the year had received donations amounting to EUR 0.72 million.