Last week, the City of Jyväskylä and the higher education institutions announced that a letter of intent defining the launch of a clarification aimed at forming a higher education consortium would be brought to the decision-making process of the City of Jyväskylä and the University of Jyväskylä during February. However, the schedule has now been specified in terms of decision-making by the City of Jyväskylä, says the City of Jyväskylä in its press release.
Before making a decision, the plans will be reviewed at the City Council's seminar and the City Board's evening classes in February. Therefore, the actual decisions on the letter of intent will be postponed until March, and thus any decisions on changes in ownership arrangements will be postponed until early autumn 2025.
If the Board of Jyväskylä University and the Jyväskylä City Council decide to agree on starting the clarification with a letter of intent, the city and the higher education institutions will jointly investigate the formation of a higher education group in Jyväskylä through the ownership arrangements of Jamk University of Applied Sciences.
Currently, the main owner of Jamk University of Applied Sciences is City of Jyväskylä with a 90% stake. The other owners are City of Jämsä with a 5% share and the Äänekoski Vocational Education and Training Joint Authority POKE with a 5% stake.
During the clarification, which will begin after the possible letter of intent has been approved, the aim is to determine how, in the first phase, a significant minority stake (30–35%) in Jamk University of Applied Sciences could be sold to the University of Jyväskylä. In addition, the aim is to investigate the conditions under which the University of Applied Sciences of Jyväskylä could be transferred from the City Group to the University of Jyväskylä Group later in the agreement period 2025–2028. The transfer would mean that the University of Jyväskylä would own more than 50% of Jamk's shares.
The City has already publicly expressed its strong intention to remain a significant owner of Jamk (at least 35% ownership), even if ownership is restructured during the agreement period.
