University of Turku

University of Turku   (University)
Motto	Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle (Gift from a free nation to liberal sciences)
Formation	1920
Headquarters	Turku, Finland
Type	Public University
Finnish-speaking university

The University of Turku (Turun yliopisto, shortened UTU), located in Turku in southwestern Finland, is the third largest university in the country as measured by student enrollment, after the University of Helsinki and Tampere University. It was established in 1920 and also has facilities at Rauma, Pori, Kevo and Salo. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group.

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 University Hill. Another reminder of the Royal Academy is the Old Academy Building near the University's campus.

The University of Turku

The grand opening of the University of Turku in 1922. On the left is Template:Interlanguage link multi, the first rector of the university

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 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 the Coimbra Group.

In January 2010, the Turku School of Economics merged with the University of Turku, forming a seventh faculty of the university.

Enrollment

The University has approximately 20,000 students, of which 5,000 are postgraduate students having completed their MSc or MA. The largest faculties are the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Famous alumni

• Sauli Niinistö – Current President of Finland
• Liisa Hyssälä – Minister of Health and Social Services
• Mauno Koivisto – Ninth President of Finland
• Paula Lehtomäki – Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
• Timo Airaksinen – Professor of Moral Philosophy
• Pekka Puska – Physician and Politician
• Jarmo Viinanen – Secretary General of the Presidential Office
• Heli Laaksonen – Popular poet writing in her native dialect
• Kaisa Sofia Matomaki – SASTRA Ramanujan Prize winner 2016
• Kimmo Innanen – astrophysicist
• Joonas "Regalis" Rikkonen – Video game designer

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Died	Nationality	Summary	Description
Mauno Koivisto	25 November 1923	12 May 2017	Finland	Politician	Finnish politician President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. Also the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1982.
Sauli Niinistö	24 August 1948		Finland	Politician	Attended the 1997 Bilderberg as Finnish Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Finland. Worked slyly for decades at Finland joining NATO, succeeding in his task as President in 2023.
Annika Saarikko	10 November 1983		Finland		Finnish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Martin Scheinin	4 November 1954		Finland	Academic
Christoffer Taxell	14 February 1948		Finland	Politician Businessperson	Grey eminence decision-maker in the Finnish economy
Klaus Waris	17 March 1914	18 December 1994	Finland	Economist Central banker	Bank of Finland/Governor 1957-67. Attended Bilderberg/1970 and Bilderberg/1980 as Chancellor of Aalto University School of Business.

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