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The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. The university was founded in
Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the
Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...
, 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 file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...
and offers bachelor, master,
licenciate A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. The Licentiate (Pontifical Degree) is a post graduate degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universitie ...
, and
doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
. 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 The Europaeum is a network of leading universities in Europe, founded in 1992 by three universities: University of Bologna, Leiden University, and University of Oxford. It currently has 17 member universities operating in 15 countries. The Euro ...
, UNICA, the
Utrecht Network The Utrecht Network is a network of European universities. Founded in 1987, the network promotes the internationalisation of tertiary education through summer schools, student and staff exchanges and joint degrees. It is operated by the Universit ...
, and is a founding member of the
League of European Research Universities The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is a consortium of European research universities. History and overview The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is an association of research-intensive universities. Founded in 20 ...
. The university has also received international financial support for global welfare; for example, in September 2021, the
U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...
provided the university with more than four million euros in funding for the treatment of MYC genes and
breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...
.


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 Christina (; 18 December O.S. 8 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from ...
(1626–1689) in
Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
(Sw. Åbo), 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 A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
founded in the
Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...
, following
Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...
and the
Academia Gustaviana The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.
in
Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
(predecessor to the
University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.
in
Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
).


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 (1832), a botanical garden (1832), an astronomical observatory (1834), and a university library (1840). 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
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 Väinö Alfred Tanner (; 12 March 1881 – 19 April 1966; surname until 1895 ''Thomasson'') was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minist ...
was one of the most vocal defenders of Swedish language usage.
Swedish People's Party of Finland The Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP; , SFP; , RKP) is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant i ...
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 The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
received by the mathematician
Lars Ahlfors Lars Valerian Ahlfors (18 April 1907 – 11 October 1996) was a Finnish mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his textbook on complex analysis. Background Ahlfors was born in Helsinki, Finland. His mothe ...
(1936), the Nobel Prize in Chemistry granted to Professor A.I. Virtanen (1945) and the Nobel Prize in Medicine shared by Professor
Ragnar Granit Ragnar Arthur Granit (30 October 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a Finnish-Swedish scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald "for their discoveries concerning th ...
(1967). In the
Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...
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". In March 2014, two people were arrested and in June 2014 sentenced to prison for three years for plotting a
mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...
at the university.


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 (established 1640) * Faculty of Law (established 1640) * Faculty of Medicine (established 1640) * Faculty of Arts (Faculty of Philosophy established 1640 and split 1852, independent Arts section 1863, independent faculty 1992) * Faculty of Science (Faculty of Philosophy established 1640 and split 1852, independent Science section 1863, independent faculty 1992) * Faculty of Pharmacy (Faculty of Philosophy established 1640, split from the Faculty of Science 2004) * Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences (Faculty of Philosophy established 1640, split from the Faculty of Science 2004) * Faculty of Educational Sciences (independent section 1974, independent faculty 1992, reorganized and renamed 2004, reorganized and renamed 2017) * Faculty of Social Sciences (established 1945) * Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry (established 1898, independent faculty 1924) * Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (established as an independent college in 1945, incorporated into the University of Helsinki in 1995) The university also has several independent institutes, such as research centres and libraries, the most notable of which are perhaps the
National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland (, ) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the Helsinki University Library (). The Nationa ...
and
Helsinki University Library The Helsinki University Library () is the largest multidisciplinary university library in Finland. It was established on 1 January 2010. The Helsinki University Library is an independent institute of the University of Helsinki and open to all i ...
. Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is another independent institute within the University of Helsinki, an Institute for Advanced Study, which is modeled upon the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
in
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
. Previous directors include Raimo Väyrynen (2002–2004) and Juha Sihvola (2004–2009).


Academics


University rankings

University of Helsinki is ranked at 101-150th in the world by the 2023
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
Academic Ranking of World Universities 2023
/ref> published by
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 98 ...
. According to the
Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...
for 2023, the University of Helsinki is ranked at 121st overall in the world. In 2024
THE–QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with ''Times Hig ...
list, the University of Helsinki was ranked 115th.


International Master's Degree Programmes

The University of Helsinki offers a wide range of
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
programmes, taught entirely in English. The scope of the programmes is 120 ECTS credits, completed with two years of full-time study. Some programmes are organised by the University of Helsinki along with other Finnish and foreign universities. All programmes comply with the national legislation governing university education and are, therefore, recognised globally.


Research

Research institutes within the university include the following: *
Aleksanteri Institute The Aleksanteri Institute () is the Finnish Centre for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki. It functions as a national centre of research, study and expertise pertaining to Russia, Eas ...
– A national centre of research, study and expertise pertaining to Russia and
East Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountains, and i ...
* Christina Institute for Gender Studies * Environmental Change Research Unit * Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights * Helsinki Center of Economic Research (HECER) – A joint initiative of the University of Helsinki, the
Helsinki School of Economics The Aalto University School of Business (; ), is the largest business school in Finland. Founded in 1911, it is the second oldest business school in Finland and one of the oldest business schools in the Nordic countries. The school became part of ...
and the
Hanken School of Economics Hanken School of Economics (, also known as Hanken) is a business school in Finland with two campuses, Helsinki and Vaasa. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest business school in Finland, and one of the oldest in the Nordic countries. Its programme ...
*
Helsinki Institute for Information Technology Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT (, ) is a joint research unit of two leading research university, universities in Helsinki, Finland, the University of Helsinki (UH) and Aalto University. Established in 1999, the work of the ins ...
(HIIT) – A joint research institute of the University of Helsinki and the
Aalto University Aalto University (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economic ...

Helsinki Institute of Life Science
(HiLIFE) - supports and coordinates life science research across the university. HiLIFE oversees three operative units: *
Institute of Biotechnology
(BI) ** Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM) *
Neuroscience Center
(NC) *
Helsinki Institute of Physics The Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP, , ) is a physics research institute operated jointly by University of Helsinki, Aalto University, University of Jyväskylä, Lappeenranta University of Technology and Tampere University of Technology. The ope ...
* Rolf Nevanlinna Institute – Research institute of
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
,
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
, and
statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
The University of Helsinki is an active member of the
University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...
. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region. The university participates in UArctic's mobility program north2north. The aim of that program is to enable students of member institutions to study in different parts of the North.


Campuses

The university is located on four main
campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...
es. Originally, the entire university was located in the very centre of Helsinki, but due to the rapid growth of the university since the 1930s, premises have been built and acquired in other areas.


City Centre Campus

The historical
City Centre Campus The City Centre Campus (, ) is one of the four campus areas of the University of Helsinki. It is located at the historic centre of Helsinki. The campus houses the following faculties: *Faculty of Arts *Faculty of Behavioural Sciences *Faculty o ...
has been the hub of activity ever since the university moved from Turku to Helsinki in the early 19th century. The campus has a central location and reflects the architectural style of this part of the city. The university buildings in the city center house the Faculties of Theology, Law, Arts, Behavioural Sciences and Social Sciences plus administrative functions. Most of the buildings on the campus have a major architectural significance ranging from the dominating Neo-Classical, through the Jugendstil, to 20th century Modernism. The City Centre Campus, extending around the historical centre of Helsinki, Senate Square, and Kruununhaka city district, is the administrative heart of the University of Helsinki and has the largest concentration of faculties in Helsinki. After the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, Emperor Nicholas I ordered the Royal Academy of Turku be moved to the new capital city of the Grand Duchy of Finland, Helsinki, where the Imperial Alexander University in Finland began to operate the next year. Helsinki was to become Finland's window to the world; a European city to which the university belonged as an integral part.
Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840) was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ce ...
, architect, was given the assignment of designing an Empire-style main building next to Senate Square, facing the Imperial Senate. The main building was completed in 1832. Thanks to the lessons learnt from the fire of Turku, the library was built separate from other premises. The library and several faculty buildings in the campus were also designed by Engel. The main building as well as other buildings of the campus were badly damaged during the Soviet bombings in World War II but rebuilt after the war. The plan concerning the concentration of university facilities dating back to the 1980s, aimed to achieve a closer unity between facilities. The City Centre Campus does not stand out from the rest of the urban environment but is a part of the city, in line with the old university tradition. The university facilities still form a functional and coherent whole, consisting not only of historically valuable buildings, but also of facilities for 20,000 students and 3,000 teachers and other staff.


Kumpula Campus

The
Kumpula Campus The Kumpula Campus (, ) is a science campus of the University of Helsinki. The campus is located some four kilometres from the centre of Helsinki, in the Kumpula district. Completed in 2005, it currently provides study and research facilities f ...
, housing the Faculty of Science, is located four kilometers north from the centre of Helsinki near tram lines 6 and 8. The campus houses the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science, and Geosciences and Geography. The university departments were located in Kumpula for the first time in 1978 when the City of Helsinki leased the area for the university. A planning competition for the city plan for the area was held a year earlier. In the 1980s, the Accelerator Laboratory of the Department of Physics was quarried into Kumpula rock and the construction of Kumpula Botanical Garden began in 1987. It was not, however, until the 1990s when the construction work proper began, transforming the area into a significant campus. The Chemicum, the building housing the Department of Chemistry and VERIFIN (Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention), and the Physicum, which provides facilities for physics, geology and geography are located on Kumpula campus surrounding a square named after the Finnish Nobel prize winner, A. I. Virtanen. Kumpula Campus Library is also located in the Physicum. The Kumpula Sports Centre is planned for the recreational use of both university staff and students and citizens of Helsinki alike. Completed in 2004, the Exactum provides facilities for seismology, computer science and mathematical subjects, as well as administrative services. The campus comprises two main parts: the Botanical Garden, surrounding the old building stock of Kumpula manor and the modern new building stock located a couple of hundred metres north of the manor. The campus combines modern and historical architectural elements. The campus offers study and research facilities for 6,000 students and 1,000 teachers. The Finnish Meteorological Institute moved to the area in 2005. That building is known as Dynamicum.


Meilahti Campus

The
Meilahti Campus The Meilahti Campus (, ) is a campus area of the University of Helsinki in Finland. It is home to the University's Faculty of Medicine, and the Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE). The HiLIFE instiutie was established in 2017. See also ...
, with the Faculty of Medicine, is a part of the
Meilahti Meilahti (in Swedish Mejlans) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki between Mannerheimintie (the main entrance road to Helsinki) and a bay named Seurasaarenselkä. Most of the houses in Meilahti were built in the 1930s and 1940s. Meilahti is home to o ...
Hospital District on the edge of the city centre. Just a few kilometres from the City Centre Campus, the Meilahti area has been transformed into a center for leading medical research, 'Medilahti'. Established in the 1930s, the Women's Clinic was accompanied by Finland's leading hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH) in 1966. The same year saw the completion of facilities for theoretical subject departments on Haartmaninkatu street. The building is now being renovated and extended. The latest completed facilities in the campus include the National Library of Health Sciences (Terkko) and the research and teaching centre Biomedicum that houses several research institutes including the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Neuroscience Center (NC), and Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research. The Ruskeasuo premises, including the Department of Dentistry, Institute for Oral Health, Department of Public Health and Department of Forensic Medicine, also belong to the Meilahti campus. The Meilahti and Ruskeasuo areas form a close-knit complex providing a meeting place for medical education, international top-level research and nursing. The campus is a workplace for 2,000 students and 1,500 teachers. Thanks to the years-long project to combine the teaching facilities of the Faculty of Medicine, Meilahti is now a functional unity of medicine and health care. the campus environment is regarded as conducive to academic and research activities. Although the Meilahti campus is intertwined with the rest of Meilahti district, it succeeds in forming a clear-cut campus area with its hospital-type building stock.


Viikki Campus

The
Viikki Campus The Viikki Campus (, ) is a campus area of the University of Helsinki in Finland, focusing on biological sciences. It comprises following units: *Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry *Faculty of Biosciences *Faculty of Pharmacy *Faculty of Veteri ...
is located in the semi-suburban greenspace of the
Viikki Viikki () is a neighbourhood of about 15,000 inhabitants in Helsinki, Finland. It is located at the bottom of ''Vanhankaupunginlahti'' bay, some 7–10 km from the city centre. The district hosts the Viikki Campus with four of the faculties ...
area, some 8 kilometres north-east of the city centre. It houses the Faculties of Agriculture and Forestry, Biosciences, Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy. It is an important concentration in the field of biosciences, even by European standards. Indeed, it is often called the bioscience campus or the "green campus". In addition to biosciences, the campus is home to a wide range of other life science researchers and students in such fields as environmental science, veterinary medicine, food research and economics. Numerous international research groups also work on the Viikki Campus. The Viikki Campus is the location of four faculties, three independent research institutes (Institute of Biotechnology (BI), Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) and Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)) and the Viikki Science Library. It also attracts an increasing number of businesses to the Helsinki Business and Science Park. The Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute and the Finnish Food Safety Authority, Evira, have also moved to Viikki and negotiations are under way to relocate MTT Agrifood Research Finland to Viikki to complement the Department of Economics and Management. The Viikki Campus unites a multidisciplinary science community of more than 6,500 students and 1,600 teachers, a residential area emphasising ecological values and the natural surroundings, including recreational areas and nature reserves, and forms a unique whole. The campus also has the Viikinlahti conservation area, which is particularly popular among bird watchers.


Libraries and museums


The National Library of Finland

The
National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland (, ) is the foremost research library in Finland. Administratively the library is part of the University of Helsinki. From 1919 to 1 August 2006, it was known as the Helsinki University Library (). The Nationa ...
is the foremost research library in Finland and the main branch of the University of Helsinki's library system. The National Library of Finland is the oldest and largest scholarly library in Finland as well as one of the largest independent institutes at the University of Helsinki. It is responsible for the collection, description, preservation and accessibility of Finland's printed national heritage and the unique collections under its care. The National Library also serves as a national service and development centre for the library sector and promotes national and international cooperation in the field.


The Helsinki University Main Library

The Main Library of the university is used by students for research and studying. Located a few blocks down the street from the university's main building in the city center, the new Main Library was opened in 2012 in the Kaisa House. The new library merged the undergraduate library and four dispersed faculty libraries of the city center campus to a collection of approximately 1.5 million books. The architecture of the new building, designed by Anttinen Oiva Architects, has been praised and received several awards.


The Helsinki University Museum

The
Helsinki University Museum Helsinki University Museum is the museum of the University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedi ...
is the museum of the University of Helsinki and was located until June 2014 on ''Snellmanninkatu'' off the north-east corner of Senate Square. Museums main exhibition moved to the University Main Building in 2015. Helsinki University Museum was established in 2003 by merging the former University Museum specialising in the history of the University of Helsinki, the Museum of Medical History, the Museum of the History of Veterinary Medicine, the Museum of the History of Dentistry and the Collections of Craft Science. To complement the new conglomeration of museums, the Mineral Cabinet, which today belongs to the Finnish Museum of Natural History, returned to its original location in the Arppeanum building. Each year the museum also holds one or two temporary exhibitions in a specially designed area. Museums exhibition in Arppeanum Building was closed in June 2014. New main exhibition was opened in the Main Building in March 2015. The University Museum is in charge of the preservation and conservation of the university's valuable museum collections and property: old tuition and research equipment, furniture and works of art. The museum maintains an index register of all valuables that are kept in the facilities of the university. The museum also provides library, archive and photographic services pertaining to the history of the university and the history of medical science.


Finnish Museum of Natural History

The
Finnish Museum of Natural History The Finnish Museum of Natural History (, ), established in 1988, is a research institution under the University of Helsinki in Finland, based in Helsinki, Finland. It is a natural history museum responsible for the national botanical, zoological, ...
is a research institution under the University of Helsinki. It is responsible for the national botanical, zoological, geological and paleontological collections consisting of samples from around the world. The collections serve scientific, public informational and educational purposes.


Student life


Student Union

The
Student Union of the University of Helsinki The Student Union of the University of Helsinki (, HYY, , HUS) was founded in 1868. It has about 27,000 members. The union used to be one of the world's richest student organizations, with assets of several hundred million euros. Among other thing ...
(''Helsingin yliopiston ylioppilaskunta'', HYY) was founded in 1868. , it has 32,000 members and is one of the world's wealthiest student organizations, with assets of several hundred million
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
s. Among other things, it owns a good deal of property in the city centre of Helsinki. The union has been at the centre of student politics from the 19th Century nationalist movements, through the actions of the New Left in the 1960s, up to the present. Its governing assembly consists of parties which are connected to faculty organisations, the Student Nations, and the mainstream
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
.


Student nations

The student nations are student organisations that provide extra-curricular activities to students. Along with the faculty-based organisations, the nations provide one of the main nodes of student social life. The nations at University of Helsinki have a special legal status in the Universities Act. There are 15 nations at the university, each one representing a historic region or province of Finland, with four of these representing Swedish-speaking regions. Membership is optional. Image:Nylands Nations hus.jpg,
Nylands Nation Nylands Nation (NN) is one of the 15 Nations at Finnish universities, student nations at the University of Helsinki, Finland's oldest, Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedish-speaking and established in 1643 at The Royal Academy of Turku. In 1828, the Ac ...
Image:Ostrobotnia.jpg, North Ostrobothnian Nation


Notable alumni, faculty, and staff


Chancellors

The chancellor is the highest representative of the University of Helsinki. He is elected by the college, the highest body of staff representation at the university. According to the University Act, the chancellor's task is to promote the sciences and monitor the interests of the university. The chancellor has the right to attend meetings of the Government of Finland on matters concerning the University of Helsinki.


Rectors


See also

*
History of Finland The history of Finland began around 9000 BC during the end of the last glacial period. Stone Age cultures were Kunda, Comb Ceramic, Corded Ware, Kiukainen, and . The Finnish Bronze Age started in approximately 1500 BC and the Iron Age star ...
* Helsinki Senate Square *
List of universities in Finland This is a list of the universities in Finland. Institutions of higher education are designated as universities by Finnish legislation. Only universities have the right to confer degrees in the categories of ''alempi korkeakoulututkinto/lägre högs ...
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Education in Finland The educational system in Finland consists of daycare programmes (for babies and toddlers), a one-year "preschool" (age six), and an 11-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (age seven to age eighteen). As of 2024, secondary general acade ...
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Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...
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Europaeum The Europaeum is a network of leading universities in Europe, founded in 1992 by three universities: University of Bologna, Leiden University, and University of Oxford. It currently has 17 member universities operating in 15 countries. The Euro ...
*
Bologna Process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...


References


External links


University of Helsinki
– Official site
Presentation of premises
– Images of almost all university buildings and their lecture rooms {{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Helsinki Helsinki, University of
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
Neoclassical architecture in Finland Universities and colleges in Finland 1640 establishments in Sweden