The Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU) has awarded the University of Turku, in Finland the accreditation as an Entrepreneurial University. The University of Turku is the first Finnish university to achieve ACEEU accreditation, showing the institution's impressive commitment to entrepreneurship and to contributing to social and economic well-being.
"As Chair of the Peer Review Team that visited the University of Turku, I would like to congratulate the university on this achievement. The Peer Review Team was positively impressed by how the university was able to include entrepreneurship in its mission and values, with highlight to the university support structures to entrepreneurship, and the efforts integrating entrepreneurship to its educational activities.” - says Thorsten Kliewe, Chair of the Peer Review Team that visited the University of Turku.
The six evaluators that contributed to the accreditation of the University of Turku agreed that the university stands out for its clearly defined 4 steps pathway to entrepreneurship and for having support services in each step. The internal support structures are well-staffed and well-funded, and work cohesively with each other, integrating and complementing the services offered. The university also shows excellence in integrating entrepreneurship to its educational efforts, with entrepreneurship being present in different faculties, and being integrated into various disciplines. Entrepreneurship is embedded in the formal curricula, but also in informal and outside of the classroom student experiences.
The University of Turku has a high level of international recognition, typically ranked among the top one or two percent of all the world’s universities in university rankings like the QS Ranking 2020 (the University of Turku was ranked 287). This accreditation now puts the university in the top world universities for the development of entrepreneurship, showcasing the excellence of the university also in its third mission efforts.
''The newly granted ACEEU accreditation verifies that we have been successful in our purposeful development activities which have aimed at increasing the University’s interaction with the surrounding society and integrating high-level, academic entrepreneurial expertise in education and research'', says Jukka Kola, the Rector of the University.
To receive this accreditation, the University of Turku succeeded in presenting evidence of their achievements in the 15 standards of ACEEU accreditation for entrepreneurship. The University of Turku was very successful in the accreditation, receiving the classification of “excellent” for several standards. The university went through a four-phase process, including a self-evaluation and peer review visit, before the Accreditation Council awarded the Entrepreneurial University status. The university was reviewed by Thorsten Kliewe, Arto Maaninen and Kirsi Viskari during the Peer Review Visit, and the accreditation was conducted by Paul Coyle, David Kirby and Carolin Plewa, who took part as the Accreditation Committee.