Uolevi Lehtinen started working at the University of Tampere as a professor of business economics in 1980. He was elected as rector in August 1996. During his term as rector, he wanted to establish a university of cooperation that would be dialogic, visionary, inspired and service-oriented. Above all, Lehtinen wanted to raise the university’s level on an international scale. The university had to learn how to compete over funding.

Lehtinen’s research focuses on foreign trade, service marketing, corporate planning, leadership and decision-making. He also worked as a visiting professor in California. In 1997, he was invited to become an honorary doctor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.