Matti Häll donates four million euros to education in the field of technology
The Ģֱ received the largest donation from a private person in its history, as entrepreneur Matti Häll donated four million euros to the university fundraising campaign. Häll decided to allocate his personal donation to the field of technology to support the construction of new education for masters of science in technology. This is reportedly the largest donation to a Finnish university from a private person in the university fundraising campaigns.
“I am an alumni of the Ģֱ myself and have nice memories from studies in mathematics and physics, it was the best time of my life,” says Matti Häll. “Now I am happy about JYU’s new important field of education, which will accelerate business life in the region. With my donation, I want to boost the establishment of high-quality education and research in technology. I have taken a close look at the content plan of the new education and I am convinced that it is modern and abreast of digital development. I do not want to channel the use of my donation in more detail because I trust that the university will use the donated capital and the government match funding in essential targets.”
“During his studies, Matti Häll was known as a strong mathematical talent,” says Rector Keijo Hämäläinen. “Häll’s career as an entrepreneur in software sector and business manager is exceptionally impressive. His decision to support our university with a remarkable donation enables that we can implement planned initiatives in education and research in our new field of education. Thanks to the leverage effect of the government match funding, we are also able to establish new professorships and educate hundreds of new experts in future technologies. I greatly appreciate Matti Häll’s unique donation and believe that it will also be an encouraging example to other advocates of science to invest in the education of our youth.”
Matti Häll is a pioneer of Finnish software development. He started his career by founding an electrical contracting company, for which he started to develop an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with his fellow students. In 2004, Häll established Admicom Oyj, which focuses on automated ERP solutions for construction, building services engineering and manufacturing companies. Häll mentions that the teachings of Professor Pertti Kettunen in the Avance MBA education of the Ģֱ brought momentous new knowledge and inspiration in business management for his career. He says that now it was good time to give something back to the university.
The Ģֱ’s education for masters of science in technology is placed in the Faculty of Information Technology and focuses on information and software engineering. The new pioneering education combines human sciences and technology and will start in this autumn.
The Government pays universities match funding, which will be distributed between all universities in relation to the private capital they have collected. Each donated euro may result in match funding of 2.5 times more to the university. The fundraising campaign will continue until 30 June 2022.
More information and interview requests:
Matti Häll tel. +358 44 300 0092, matti.hall@admicom.fi
Rector Keijo Hämäläinen, Ģֱ, +358 40 6800 215, keijo.hamalainen@jyu.fi
Dean Pasi Tyrväinen, Ģֱ, tel, +358 40 5408646, pasi.tyrvainen@jyu.fi
Head of External Relations Anu Mustonen, Ģֱ, +358 50 5649022, anu.mustonen@jyu.fi
More information on the fundraising campaign: