University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Regia Academia Aboensis under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Tsar Alexander I. The University of Helsinki is the oldest and largest university in Finland with a range of disciplines available. In 2022, around 31,000 students were enrolled in the degree programs of the university spread across 11 faculties and 11 research institutes.
As of 1 August 2005, the university complies with the harmonized structure of the Europe-wide Bologna Process and offers bachelor, master, licenciate, and doctoral degrees. Admission to degree programmes is usually determined by entrance examinations, in the case of bachelor's degrees, and by prior degree results, in the case of master and postgraduate degrees.
The university is bilingual, with teaching by law provided both in Finnish and Swedish. Since Swedish, albeit an official language of Finland, is a minority language, Finnish is by far the dominating language at the university. Teaching in English is extensive throughout the university at master, licentiate, and doctoral levels, making it a de facto third language of instruction.
It is a member of various international university networks, such as Europaeum, UNICA, the Utrecht Network, and is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities. The university has also received international financial support for global welfare; for example, in September 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense provided the university with more than four million euros in funding for the treatment of MYC genes and breast cancer.
History
Royal Academy of Turku 1640–1828
The first predecessor of the university, The Cathedral School of Åbo, was presumably founded in 1276 for education of boys to become servants of the Church. As the university was founded on 26 March 1640 by Queen Christina of Sweden in Turku, as the Åbo Kungliga Akademi, the senior part of the school formed the core of the new university, while the junior year courses formed a grammar school. It was the third university founded in the Swedish Empire, following Uppsala University and the Academia Gustaviana in Dorpat.Imperial Alexander University in Finland 1808–1917
The second period of the university’s history covers the time when Finland was a Grand Duchy. Finland was ruled by the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917. When the Grand Duchy was established in 1809, Grand Duke Alexander I expanded the university. In 1811 the university’s spending was doubled. Six new professorships, 12 assistant positions, three language lecture positions, and three practice master positions were created. The university operated in Turku under several names, such as the Imperial Academy of Turku, the Alexander Academy in Finland, and the Imperial University of Turku. Following the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, a manifesto from Emperor Nicholas I ordered that the university—with its possessions, staff, professors, and students—be transferred to Helsinki. In Helsinki, the institution was renamed the Imperial Alexander University in Finland and its primary task was to educate the Grand Duchy’s civil servants.The university became a community that embraced the new Humboldtian ideals of science and culture. It studied humanity and its environment by using scientific methods. New statutes enacted in 1828 stated that the university’s mission was to promote the development of the Sciences and Free Arts in Finland and to educate the youth for the service of the Emperor and the Fatherland. The university held a special status during the Russian period. The heir to the Russian Crown served as its chancellor. This made the university directly subordinate to the Emperor rather than to the Governor-General or the Senate. It soon became a center of cultural, political, and legal life. Great figures such as Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Elias Lönnrot, and Zachris Topelius were active in its activities.
In the 19th century, the focus of research shifted from collecting material to using experimental, empirical, and analytical methods. This more scientific approach led to specialization and the creation of new disciplines. The number of professors increased tenfold and the number of students grew from about 400 to just over 3,000. As these disciplines developed, Finland gained more scholarly knowledge and many graduates later entered industry and government.
After the fire in Turku, many buildings and collections were lost. In Helsinki, the university quickly rebuilt its infrastructure. The main building was completed in 1832. It stands in the center of Helsinki, opposite the Senate, and was designed by architect Carl Ludvig Engel. Other facilities were also established: a clinical hospital and a midwifery facility, a botanical garden, an astronomical observatory, and a university library. This central location allowed the university to follow Finnish society closely and be directly supervised by the Emperor’s representatives.
The university played a key role in the development of Finnish identity and culture. It mapped Finnish nature, landscapes, and climate and rebuilt its natural science collections from scratch. Renowned researchers such as Alexander von Nordmann and William Nylander became internationally famous for their work. The university also adopted German neohumanism. Its statutes encouraged in-depth study and original research. Over time, the institution evolved into a modern university of science. The growing number of students and the admission of women into higher education marked a significant social change. This expansion laid the groundwork for future higher education institutions in Finland, including Åbo Akademi and the University of Turku.
University of Helsinki 1919–present
The third period of the university's history began with the creation of a fully independent Republic of Finland in 1917, and with the renaming of the university as the University of Helsinki. Once Finland declared its full independence in 1917, the university was given a crucial role in building the nation state and, after World War II, the welfare state. Members of the academic community promoted the international relations of the new state and the development of its economic life. Furthermore, they were actively involved in national politics and the struggle for equality.In the interwar period the university was the scene of a conflict between those who wanted to advance the usage of Finnish language in the university, to the detriment of Swedish and those who opposed such move. Geographer Väinö Tanner was one of the most vocal defenders of Swedish language usage. Swedish People's Party of Finland initiated a campaign collecting 153 914 signatures in defense of the Swedish language that were handed to the parliament and government in October 1934. On an international front academics from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland sent letters to the diplomatic representations of Finland in their respective countries warning about a weakening of the Nordic unity that would result from diminishing the role of Swedish in the University of Helsinki.
In the 20th century, scholarly research at the University of Helsinki has achieved recognition at a competitive European level in several fields. This was manifested, among other things, by international recognitions granted to its professors, such as the Fields Medal received by the mathematician Lars Ahlfors, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry granted to Professor A.I. Virtanen and the Nobel Prize in Medicine shared by Professor Ragnar Granit. In the Continuation War the university was heavily damaged by bombs during a soviet air raid on 27 February 1944.
After World War II, university research focused on improving Finnish living conditions and supporting major changes in the structure of society and business. For example, the university aligned its research with the government’s goals to improve public welfare during a time of national reconstruction.
The university also contributed to the breakthrough of modern technology. Finnish researchers took part in one of the first Big Science projects—a peaceful research project in atomic energy and nuclear physics launched in 1955 by President Eisenhower. This project brought together experts from the University of Helsinki, the University of Technology, and other institutes, and it spurred valuable economic innovations.
The progress of scientific development created many new disciplines and faculties at the University of Helsinki. At present the university comprises 11 faculties, 500 professors and almost 40,000 students. The university has established as its goal to "further its position as one of Europe's top multidisciplinary research universities".
Organization
Faculties
The university is divided into eleven faculties. They are listed below in the official order used by the university, reflecting both the history of the university and the hierarchy of disciplines at the time when the university was established:- Faculty of Theology
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Science
- Faculty of Pharmacy
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
- Faculty of Educational Sciences
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine