Organisation

Lahti University of Applied Sciences is owned by the municipalities of the Lahti region through the Lahti Region Educational Consortium. Lahti University of Applied Sciences is an independent commercial undertaking within the Consortium, and it is governed by the Board of Lahti University of Applied Sciences, which is nominated by the Consortium except for the representatives of the personnel and the students.

The head of Lahti University of Applied Sciences is President, Dr Risto Ilomäki. The President is assisted in management by the Management Group and in implementation by the President's Office.

The instruction is given at the Faculties. Within the Faculties there are in many cases Departments, which are responsible for individual degree programmes and main subjects. The head of a Department is normally a Principal Lecturer.

History

LUAS was established in the autumn of 1991 by an amalgamation of eight colleges to form a new multi-disciplinary institution. In spite of the recent year of foundation, the educational tradition represented presently by LUAS in Lahti dates back as far as to the 1890's. Throughout the history, the aim of the predecessors of LUAS has been to educate professionals for the needs of the working life; this aim is still at the heart of LUAS today. In August 1999 three more colleges giving higher professional education in the subject areas of music, sports, and tourism and catering studies were merged into LUAS.

Funding

Higher education in Finland is by law funded by the State through the Ministry of Education, and therefore students enrolled in regular degree programmes pay no tuition fees. The funding of Lahti University of Applied Sciences is mainly based on the funds from the Ministry, but approximately one-fourth of annual budget comes from other sources such as paid services and project funding.