The whole fall term has passed without a word in this blog. In August 2021 I wrote that “The pandemic will be a joker in our balancing act throughout the coming term and we do not know what will follow. The lack of security and predictability that we experience is in itself hard to deal with.”

Half a year later this is still just as true. When we now prepare for some time off and for holidays the pandemic is unfortunately accelerating again.

During the last weeks I have heard several colleagues claim that the last year has been the worst time ever in their work life. In addition, this year’s job satisfaction and work atmosphere survey indicates that the work situation is experienced as too heavy. We do not have sufficient of time to meet all work expectations and the balance between work and free time suffers.

Unfortunately, the Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey shows that also the students’ situation is worrying. Close to half of the students feel that the work required by their studies has increased during the pandemic and even more students report that their feeling of loneliness has increased.

Already without the pandemic universities are currently under pressure. For many people the forced focus on efficiency tends to undermine a sense of meaning in their work. In combination with a lack of sufficient funding for meeting current expectations in teaching and research – and for studies – this all turns into a vicious circle.

Isn’t this altogether alarming? How are people going to find the strength to do even a bit more than survive in this situation? How will they be able to maintain a sense of agency? The feeling that one can make a choice, take action and make a difference, is vital in our lives in many ways. It is also essential to what happens in a faculty in terms of teaching, research and learning.

Are there ways we can protect and safeguard the feeling of meaning and agency? I guess a lot of good things has been written about this topic, things that point out what we can learn to make better use of – or make space for – in our faculty. And things that help us manage our work and study situation.

Yet, this can also be a slippery slope if it becomes an issue about being more and more efficient and well-drilled as students, teachers, researchers or administrators. I often remember the saying that my previous father-in-law often repeated: “Just as we taught the horse to live without food, it died.”

There is a limit to everything. Facing the current challenges we will also need other ways to cope and one of them will have to be about priorities. We will have to start making clear how many work tasks really goes into one work day, how many assignments we can make our duties – and what we need to set aside and leave behind.

In the end this is about priorities we need to make, defining what we value more in our work and what we value less – and why this is the case. This can also be a way to retain some agency and meaning in the face of too heavy or many expectations.

* * *

It is winter solstice when I write this. A new year has often been about hope, especially in our area of the word where darkness now has to give in to the slowly increasing light. In some ways hope is also a relative to words such as agency and meaning. Can we think and talk about inserting hope into our work and into academia? What would that mean in practice?

Listening to my own words going bolder for each sentence I sense that it is high time to end this blog text and switch to holiday mood. And I think that destiny has already tried to convey this message to me. The other day I missed my step and got a bad fracture in the foot. Today I deleted some 20 000 e-mails from my inbox by mistake.

Now I will definitely need to start shutting down whatever of my engines are still running and make sure the horse is fed well enough.

We have an important spring term ahead. Even though we cannot know what it holds, we know one thing: the last year we have been able to rely on each other’s contributions and competences – on working together to handle things the best of ways. This goes for all of us: students, teachers, researchers and administrative and service personnel. I am sure we can trust that we will be able to do so also the coming term and the next year.

Thank you all for this year! You have all done an amazing job in taking the faculty through some challenging times and your efforts have been important. I wish you the most relaxing holidays and look forward to meeting you all when the year 2022 has started.

Enjoy the Holiday Season, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Peter Nynäs