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| University of Turku | |
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| Turun yliopisto | |
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| Motto: | Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle (From a Free People to Free Science and Learning) |
| Established: | 1920 |
| Type: | Public University |
| Rector: | Prof. Keijo Virtanen |
| Staff: | 2,500 |
| Students: | 18,000 |
| Doctoral students: | 5,000 |
| Location: | Turku, Finland |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Affiliations: | Coimbra Group |
| Website: | www.utu.fi |
The University of Turku (Finnish Turun yliopisto, Swedish Åbo universitet), located in Turku in southwestern Finland, is the second largest university in the country as measured by student enrollment. It was established in 1920 and also has faculties at Rauma, Pori and Salo. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group.
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History
The Royal Academy of Turku
The first university to be established in Turku was The Royal Academy of Turku, in 1640, which was transferred to the new Capital, Helsinki, after the Great Fire of Turku in 1827.
Three famous Finns began their studies in Turku in 1822. These were Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Elias Lönnrot, and Johan Ludvig Runeberg who have a statue on the University hill. An another reminder of the Royal Academy is the old Academy Building near the University's campus.
The University of Turku
The modern University of Turku was founded in 1920. The Finnish intelligentsia wanted a purely Finnish university, the first of its kind in Finland. 22,040 people contributed to the fund-raising campaign. Newly gained independence and the campaign are reflected in the motto of the University about a free people's gift to free science. To honour the memory of these donors, the University has named its specially created liqueur "22 040". Developed by the University's own food chemists, the liqueur does homage to some of the distinctive fruits of the Finnish landscape: the cloudberry, the rowan and the sea buckthorn.
The first premises of the University of Turku were in the centre of the city, by the market square. In the 1950s a new campus was built on Ryssänmäki (Russian Hill – now known as University Hill). In the 1960s the University started to expand rapidly, a process that still continues.
The University was made a public institution in 1974.
Since 1995 the University of Turku has been a member of Coimbra Group.
Enrolment
The University has approximately 18,000 students, of which 5,000 are postgraduate students having taken their MSc or MA. The largest faculties are the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
Organisation
The university is divided into six faculties. Some of the departments are listed under the faculty header.
- Faculty of Humanities
- School of History
- School of Cultural Research
- School of Art, Literature and Music
- School of Finnish and General Linguistics
- School of English
- School of Classical and Romance Languages
- School of Swedish, German and Russian
- Centre for Translation Studies
- School of Cultural Production and Landscape Studies
- Baltic Sea Region Studies
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry
- Department of Biology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Geography
- Department of Geology
- Department of Information Technology
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- Faculty of Medicine
- Institute of Biomedicine
- Institute of Microbiology and Pathology
- Institute of Clinical Medicine
- Institute of Dentistry
- Department of Nursing Science
- BioCity
- Turku Biomaterials Centre
- Centre for Biotechnology
- The Research Centre for Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC)
- Terbio - Health Biosciences
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Philosophy
- Research Unit for the Sociology of Education
- Contemporary History
- Psychology
- Social Policy
- Sociology
- Economics
- Statistics
- Political Science
- Institutions and Social Mechanisms (IASM)
- Centre for East Asian Studies
- Faculty of Education
- Department of Education
- Department of Teacher Education Turku
- Department of Teacher Education Rauma
- Teacher training school in Turku
- Teacher training school in Rauma
- Educational Technology Unit
The university also has number of special units not affiliated with faculties:
- The Main Library
- Language Centre
- Centre for Environmental Research
- Centre for Extension Studies
- Centre for Maritime Studies
- Functional Foods Forum
- Tuorla Observatory
- Turku Centre for Biotechnology
- Turku PET Centre
- Turku Centre for Computer Science
In addition to being a destination for international exchange, the University also has several English-language Master’s programmes for international degree students:
- Asian Studies
- Baltic Sea Region Studies
- Bioinformatics
- Environmental Sciences
- European Heritage, Digital Media and the Information Society
- Finnish and Other Finno-Ugric Languages
- Information Technology
- Institutions and Social Mechanisms
- Learning, Learning Environments and Educational Systems
Campus area
The University of Turku shares a campus with Åbo Akademi University, Turku School of Economics, and elements of Turku Science Park. The area also encompasses the Turku University Hospital and the Student Village. The Administration Building and the surrounding complex was built in the fifties on what became to be known as the University Hill. The campus is constantly expanding. The university has also acquired some former military barracks built in the 19th century. The latest additions include Educarium, which houses the Faculty of Education, Publicum, which houses the Faculty of Social Sciences and the newly completed ICT building which houses the Computer Science Faculties.
Research
University of Turku has been involved in many research projects in the Peruvian Amazon. With the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana - IIAP), based in Iquitos, has been studiyng the Amazon in the BIODAMAZ Project.
Famous Alumni
- Liisa Hyssälä - Minister of Health and Social Services
- Mauno Koivisto - President of Finland
- Paula Lehtomäki - Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
- Jarmo Viinanen - Secretary General of the Presidential Office
- Heli Laaksonen - Popular poet writing in her native dialect
External links
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