In line with our quality policy, every member of the university community – both staff and students – shares responsibility for quality and its continuous improvement. Through quality management, we maintain and improve the quality of our operations and services.

Our university’s quality work encompasses our core functions: education, research, artistic activities and the societal interaction and impact based on them, as well as the services supporting these core functions (LUC services). Quality work arises from shared, goal-oriented activities, commitment to achieving objectives and continuous improvement. It is a natural part of our core operations, guided by the principle of continuous development in accordance with Deming’s PDCA model. The PDCA model stands for Plan, Do, Check and Act.

• Supports the values and leadership principles of our university’s operations.
• Facilitates the creation of shared practices and the dissemination of good practices in ways that promote the well-being of our staff and students.
• Supports our university’s education, research and artistic activities, as well as societal interaction and impact.
• Is a central part of operational management and strategic leadership.
• Supports and ensures the implementation of our vision and strategic objectives.
• Provides monitoring and evaluation data to support the development of our operations and services.

The University of Lapland’s quality system was audited in 2021. Based on the decision of the Finnish Education Evaluation Council, the university was awarded a quality label on 16 February 2022, valid for six years. The audit report is published in the audit register of higher education institutions on the website of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (Karvi).

In addition to audits of higher education institutions, Karvi is responsible for thematic and system evaluations as well as field-specific education evaluations.

The University of Lapland was awarded the “Elite Athlete Friendly Higher Education Institution” quality label in 2024. The audit report is available on the Finnish Olympic Committee’s website.

The University of Lapland has also been granted the WWF Green Office certificate. The audit was conducted in 2023, and the university campus met the Green Office criteria.

An international assessment of research at the University of Lapland was carried out in 2022–2023. The assessment report is titled University of Lapland Research Assessment Exercise 2022–2023.

We conduct internal thematic and system evaluations to support the development of our operations and services. The evaluation reports and summaries are published in the university’s case management system.