Jyväskylän yliopistokysymys 1847-1966 : tutkimus korkeakoulun perustamisesta ja kehityksestä yliopistoksi

Abstract

The Jyväskylä Institute of Pedagogics, founded in 1934, received university status in 1966. The background of the foundation of the Institute and its development into a university are analysed in the study. The Institute's foundation can be traced back to district medical officer W.S. Schildt's (1820 - 1893) proposal, declared in 1847, to found a university in Jyväskylä, and to the establishment, in 1860, of a teacher training college in Jyväskylä. However, the foundation of the Institute must also be placed within the context of the national policy of higher education. The study shows that the foundation of the Institute of Pedagogics resulted primarily from factors related to science policy and the need to develop teacher training. Those involved in the teacher training college considered it necessary to strengthen the position of educational sciences and especially of psychology in Finland. Another objective was to organize secondary school graduates' training in the occupation of elementary school teacher. The teacher training reform in Germany provided a model for the new institute. The Institute of Pedagogics was significantly expanded in 1958, when a political decision was made to develop higher education on the hasis of a decentralized alternative. As a consequence, the university of Oulu was founded and the Faculty of Philosophy established in the Institute in Jyväskylä. Even after the expansion of the Institute, its primary objective was to develop the scientific community as a specialized institute. In the wake of the rapid increase in the number of secondary school graduates, higher education was substantially expanded in Finland in the 1960s. As part of the state's programme of founding new universities and developing existing institutions of higher education, the Jyväskylä Institute of Pedagogics became the University of Jyväskylä in 1966.