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Åbo Akademi University

Finnish university

Summary

Finnish university

Field	Value
name	Åbo Akademi University
native_name	Åbo Akademi
latin_name	Academia Aboensis
image	Åbo Akademis sigill.svg
image_size	200
established
type	Public
rector	Mikael Lindfelt
chancellor
administrative_staff	1,100
students	5,500
city	Turku, Vaasa
country	Finland
campus	Urban
language	Swedish
colours	Red and yellow
affiliations	Coimbra Group
logo	Åbo Akademi logo.svg
logo_size	160
website

The main building at Åbo Akademi University.

Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Åbo Akademi should not be confused with the Royal Academy of Åbo, which was founded in 1640, but moved to Helsinki after the Turku fire of 1827 and is today known as the University of Helsinki.

Åbo Akademi was founded by private donations in 1918 as the third university in Finland, both to let Turku again become a university town and because it was felt that the Swedish language was threatened at the University of Helsinki. The Finnish University of Turku was founded in 1920, also by private donations and for similar reasons. Åbo Akademi was a private institution until 1981, when it was turned into a public institution.

As the only uni-lingually Swedish multi-faculty university in the world outside Sweden and consequently the only one in Finland, Åbo Akademi University is responsible for higher education for a large proportion of the Swedish-speaking population. This role has many implications for education and research as well as for the social environment. As there are few students in most subjects, cooperation between faculties and with other universities is very important.

A minority of students are Finnish speakers who have passed a university entrance Swedish language test. While Turku itself is a bilingual city, the university provides a strong Swedish environment. Most of the students, regardless of their original language, will be functionally bilingual when finishing their studies.

Organisation

After reorganization approved in February 2025, the university consists of two faculties:

Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, with departments:
- Business and Economics and Law (Turku)
- Humanities (Turku)
- Education (Vaasa)
- Social Sciences (Turku)
Faculty of Science and Engineering, with departments:
- Natural and Health Sciences (Turku)
- Engineering and Information Technology (Turku)

In addition, there are several other units and joint programs, such as:

Language Centre
Centre for Lifelong Learning
Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History
Institute of Human Rights
Turku PET Centre (jointly run by the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi and the Turku University Hospital)
Turku Centre for Computer Science (TUCS) (in co-operation with the University of Turku, among others)
Turku Centre for Biotechnology (in co-operation with the University of Turku, among others)
Vasa övningsskola, located in Vaasa, is the normal school of the teacher training programme.

While the university turned into a public institution, the foundation Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi remained. Besides maintaining many of the university buildings, it is also a significant donor.

Notable people

Alumni

Di Wei, research fellow at the University of Cambridge

Rectors

The following people have served as rectors of Åbo Akademi:

1918–1921: Edvard Westermarck
1921–1929:
1929–1936: Otto Andersson
1936–1942:
1942–1950:
1950–1957: Lars Erik Taxell
1957–1962:
1962–1966:
1966–1969:
1969–1975:
1975–1978:
1978–1982:
1982–1988:
1988–1997:
1997–2005:
2006–2014:
2015–2019:
2019–1 November 2021: Moira von Wright
2022–4 April 2025:
4 April 2025–present: (Acting Rector)

References

"Search".
"About Åbo Akademi University".
"QS World University Rankings".
(2025-02-18). "Åbo Akademi University’s Board Approved Organizational Restructuring and Cost-Saving Measures".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Business and Economics, and Law".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Humanities".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Education".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Social Sciences".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Natural and Health Sciences (NHV)".
(2025-11-24). "Department of Engineering and Information Technology (ITI)".
"The Donner institute". Åbo Akademi University.
"Rektorer genom tiderna".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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