Science and internationalization. The development of international cooperation at the University of Joensuu from the 1970s to the early 1990s

Authors

• Antti Ronkainen Itä-Suomen yliopisto
• Risto Ikonen Itä-Suomen yliopisto

Abstract

Scientific activities and internationalization have gone hand in hand throughout the history of the universities. Today, international cooperation has become a matter of strategic importance for most of them. This has not, however, been the case for very long. The University of Joensuu, which was founded in 1969, offers an interesting vantage point for examining how internationalization started to develop from scratch in a newly founded university. By interviewing university staff members from the early period we get first hand information on how the international connections and cooperation developed between the years 1969 and 1990, within different disciplines and the university administration. International cooperation has taken many forms and directions, but it mostly stemmed from individuals who saw it as a means to promote their research. The university as an official institution also advanced the relationships, but our research shows that with regard to scientific results the most important progress was initiated by eager individuals who followed their own ideas. It appears that good and efficient international research cooperation needs a solid scientific base and willingness from both parties, and it cannot be ordered to happen successfully without these preconditions. The outcomes of international cooperation are often unforeseeable and coincidences play their part; the best results can often sprout where they are not so much expected, but failures are also inevitable. Real internationalization in scientific research needs sufficient resources, but most of all freedom and space in order to be really successful.