The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available.

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.

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)

Academics

International Master’s Degree Programmes

The University of Helsinki offers a wide range of master’s degree 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 – A national centre of research, study and expertise pertaining to Russia and East Europe
• 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 and the Hanken School of Economics
• Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) – A joint research institute of the University of Helsinki and the Aalto University
• 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
• Rolf Nevanlinna Institute – Research institute of mathematics, computer science, and statistics