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Our organisation

The Laurea community is comprised of approximately 9,900 students, 660 staff members and 34 700 Laurea alumni.

Laurea in figures

  • Six campuses: Hyvinkää, Leppävaara, Lohja, Otaniemi, Porvoo and Tikkurila
  • Fields of study: Business Management, Social Services and Health Care and Hospitality Management
  • 18 degree programmes, of which six are taught in English
  • The most appealing university of applied sciences in the joint application process of spring 2023 in Finland: 5,35 primary applicants per starting place
  • 10 004 students in total (2023)
  • 942 students in programmes taught in English
  • 1867 graduates from Bachelor’s programmes (year 2023)
  • 410 graduates from Master’s programmes (year 2023)
  • Around 36 000 Laurea graduates (May 2023)
  • Employment rate for graduates one year after graduation 96,5 % (2021)
  • 681 employees
  • Annual turnover: EUR 64 million (2023)
  • External RDI funding (2023 EUR 8,3 million

Organisation

The University President Mr. Jouni Koski acts as chairman of the management team, and the members are the unit directors, the rectorate, representatives of personnel organisations, and a representative of the university student organisation Laureamko. The goal of the management team is to assist the President in leading and developing Laurea.

Laurea's biggest owners are cities of Espoo and Vantaa.   

  • Management Team 

    Kimmo Hannonen, Vice-President, Support services

    Valdemar Kallunki, Director (Master level degrees unit)

    Salla Seppänen, Director, Social and health sector unit 

    Jouni Koski, President and CEO

    Tanja Johansson, Director, Business, data processing and service sector unit 

    Susanna Rosell, Financial Director

    Katri Ojasalo, Vice-President, Education

    Krista Pahkin, Business Director 

    Tiina Päivärinne, Director (Human Resources)

    Mari Vuolteenaho; Vice-President; Research, Development and Innovation

    Teemu Ylikoski, Director (Digitalisation, marketing and communication) 

    Sonja Ojanen, secretary

  • Board of Directors 

    Jarno Limnéll, Chairman, Espoo, jarno.limnell@innocator.com

    Johanna Hristov, Vice Chairman, Vantaa

    Johannes Elmnäinen, Espoo

    Hilu Kangas-Ranta, Porvoo

    Perttu Koistinen, Vantaa

    Sanna Niinikoski, Espoo

    Silja Nurmi, Riihimäki

    Tanja Saarinen, Vantaa

    Juha Salo, Sipoo

     

    Presenter:‎
    President Jouni Koski
    ‎(09) 8868 7660
    jouni.koski@laurea.fi

    Secretary:
    Vice President Kimmo Hannonen
    kimmo.hannonen@laurea.fi

Organisation chart can be found below:

 

History of Laurea UAS

Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Laurea UAS, formerly Vantaa University of Applied Sciences and Espoo-Vantaa University of Applied Sciences) began operating in Vantaa in 1991 as one of the first universities of applied sciences to be granted an experimental licence in Finland.

In 1997 – 1998, this experimental licence was expanded to comprise nearly 20 educational institutions in the region of Uusimaa. At that time, the name of the institution was changed to Espoo-Vantaa University of Applied Sciences, reflecting the cities that were its main owners.

The Government of Finland put the institution’s operation on a permanent footing in 2000, and the name Laurea University of Applied Sciences was adopted in 2001.