6
F i n l and and Åbo Ak ademi Un i ve r s i t y
1.3 The City of Vasa/Vaasa
Vasa, or Vaasa in Finnish, is situated on the west
coast of Finland and is the regional capital of
Ostrobothnia. Vasa has a population of about
66,000, of which 25% are Swedish-speaking.
Vasa is a centre of education, both in terms of
further education for Finnish students, and in
terms of the fact that all future Swedish-speaking
teachers in Finland get parts of their education in
Vasa. Vasa is also an important centre for energy
technology. In fact, a significant share of Finland's
- and of all the Nordic countries' - energy
technological industry is concentrated to this
region.
Vasa is known as the sunniest town of Finland
based on the number of sunny hours a year. The
town got its name after the Swedish Royal House
of Vasa (Gustav Vasa was the King of Sweden
in the 16
th
century). Similar to Åbo, Vasa has a
beautiful archipelago (Kvarken) which is also part
of UNESCO's world heritage list.
For more information about Vasa, visit
or
.
For more information about Finland, see
