The University of Jyväskylä gives up some of its facilities in Seminaarinmäki and Mattilanniemi
Most of the facilities are owned by University Properties of Finland. The University has operated as a lessee in the facilities. After the reduction, the total floor space of JYU’s premises will be around 128,000 square metres. With these changes, the floor space will reduce about 17,000 square metres.
Currently the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Department of Psychology, the Wisdom community and a cafeteria operate in premises that will be given up. The premises also include teaching and teamwork rooms as well as subject association facilities. Changes in facility arrangements will be discussed with staff and students using the facilities. Facilities will be given up within the scope of notice periods, at the earliest in summer 2025. JYU Facility Services will be in contact with facility users in May–June and plan detailed schedules and moving to new facilities in cooperation with them.
“The need for space has reduced in recent years, especially because of remote work,” says Rector Jari Ojala. “It is financially sensible to use facilities efficiently, and the selected facilities are currently either empty or underused. With more efficient use of facilities we can save around €3.32 million.”
“At the same time, we are challenged by a growing need for completely new kind of teaching and research facilities,” Ojala says. “It is very important for the university that the land use planning of Seminaarinmäki will ensure that we can offer students and researchers attractive facilities, which respond to contemporary requirements in terms of technology and functionality also in the future. These decisions ensure that the Seminaarinmäki campus will remain as a vital environment of cultural heritage.”
“For a few years now, we have discussed changes in the use of space with our partner universities in general as well as in university-specific facility and campus strategy discussions,” says CEO Sanna Sianoja from University Properties of Finland. “We have been in active dialogue with the University of Jyväskylä about the development of facility use, and the project entity in Ylistönrinne is an active example of this. When premises are concretely released from university use, as is now going to happen in Jyväskylä, the functional and economical management of the change also requires decision-making from the city, for example, in terms of progress in land use planning. A living campus environment requires that properties are kept active.”
Facilities are developed resource-efficiently based on users’ needs and promoting collaboration
The University Board approved the new facility strategy of the University of Jyväskylä on 16 February 2024. The facility strategy has been prepared collectively in the university community. It defines the goals and actions of facility development at JYU and describes the current and future operating environment.
Plenty of data about the current situation of the university’s facilities and the needs of facility users was collected for the facility strategy in 2022–2023. Information on the users’ needs has also been collected through surveys, interviews, workshops, and other means. The use and functionality of the facilities has been mapped based on the data provided by different systems, such as the room reservation system KOVS, the access control system, and WLAN connections. The broad knowledge base has also been supplemented by active inspection of the facilities.
In compliance with the facility strategy confirmed by the University Board, facilities are developed resource-efficiently based on users’ needs and by promoting collaboration. In addition, the use of the university’s campus will be opened more widely to companies, stakeholders and city residents. Not all buildings of cultural-historical value will remain in the use of the university. Each building should provide functionally appropriate facilities in a resource-efficient manner. The most important cultural-historical buildings in Seminaarinmäki will continue to be used by the university and their cultural-historical value will be preserved for future generations. The University of Jyväskylä will continue to operate on three campuses: Seminaarinmäki, Mattilanniemi and Ylistönrinne.
