Introduction

The University of Tampere Foundation was established when the University became a state institution in 1973.  According to its charter the purpose of the Foundation is to support the operations of the University of Tampere by granting aid and stipends for research work conducted at the University and to provide it with other financial support.  The foundation is entitled to accept donations and bequests and to increase its assets in other ways, but not, however, by engaging in business activity.

Thus the Foundation is thus inextricably linked to the operations of the University, which for its part, is an extensive research institution.  Its core expertise includes research on health and other welfare, economy, education and administration.  The university is at the same time home to centres of excellence in research, teaching and the arts.  It is served by almost two hundred professors representing a hundred branches of science.  Degree students and top-up students amount to more than 16,000.  The annual number of degrees taken is approximately 1,500, of which about one hundred are doctoral degrees.

The mission of the University of Tampere Foundation is to create innovative and secure conditions for research.  The Foundation distributes stipends and aid and also obtains premises for University researchers.  Support is distributed among all members of the University community from undergraduates to professors.

Donations to the Foundation

The Foundation makes it possible for private persons, companies and organizations to support Finnish research work.  Through the Foundation donations can be used to set up a named fund intended to support a certain delineated area of research.

The assets of the University of Tampere Foundation have mostly accumulated through donations.  The Foundation is also entitled to increase its assets in other ways, but not by engaging in business activity.  The Foundation's operations and funds are overseen by a board comprising the Rectors of the University of Tampere and its Director of Administration.