ÅA Survival Guide 2015-2016

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F i n l and and Åbo Ak ademi Un i ve r s i t y
1.3 The City of Åbo/Turku
Åbo, or Turku in Finnish, is situated on the
southwest coast of Finland and is the sixth
largest city in Finland with a population of
approximately 182,000. Founded in the 13th
century, it is also the oldest cityinFinland.
Åbo is one of the officially bilingual towns in
Finland (approx. 5% speak Swedish). Åbo was the
provincial capital of Finland until 1812, when it
was moved to Helsinki/Helsingfors after Finland
became an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia.
Åbo is an important Baltic port both for goods
and passenger traffic, and is one of the centres for
the shipbuilding industry in Finland. Other major
industries include pharmaceuticals, electronics
and high technology. The areas of top expertise
in Åbo are biosciences, ICT, logistics and tourism.
Åbo is a large university town with more than
35,000 students. It is the official Christmas city of
Finland and was the European Capital of Culture
in 2011. Just outside of Åbo you find the beautiful
archipelago with more than 20,000 islands.
For more information about Åbo, see
1.4 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
67,000, 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 16th 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, see
or .
For more information about Finland, see
.