6
Åbo Akademi University 2014/2015
ABOUT THIS CATALOGUE
About this catalogue
This catalogue gives information about courses taught in English at Åbo Akademi University. Further-
more, information is also given about fields of study where supervision in English is offered or where
students can participate in study projects or laboratory work and receive guidance in English or other
languages.
After the printing of this catalogue, new courses may appear and some courses might be cancelled;
therefore
please check also the online version of this course catalog
, where we list the changes that
we are aware of. A detailed schedule with course information, such as dates, hours and auditorium,
will be available in the middle of August on the website of the International Office.
Åbo Akademi University has two main campuses, Åbo and Vasa. This catalogue introduces both cam-
puses and courses taught at them. Please make sure that the courses you are planning to take are
offered at the same campus.
Postgraduate students or students at the doctoral level
are referred to the specific departments or
programmes. Please see the chapters on master's degree programmes and graduate schools.
If youwould like to have information on
courses taught in Swedish in the regular curriculum
of Åbo
Akademi University, please see
The information is updated each year in July.
This catalogue gives information about academicmatters; the
WelcomeGuide
for Exchange Students,
contains information on practical matters and other important information about preparations that
the student has to take care of before travelling to Åbo or Vasa.
All our publications can be read on the Internet at
-> Publications
General Information
Åbo Akademi University
Themain campus of Åbo Akademi University is located in Åbo (Turku in Finnish), on the southwest coast
of Finland. There is also a campus located in Vasa, 350 km:s north of Åbo/Turku.The university's total
enrollment number is 7.000. Approximately 1000 international students from80 different countries enrol
in our university every year. Åbo Akademi University (founded in 1918) is the only Swedish-language
multidisciplinary university in Finland and offers bachelor, master and doctoral studies. The university
was founded to provide higher education for the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. The univer-
sity's main language of instruction and administration is Swedish. Åbo Akademi University is currently
undergoing a structural reformwhich aims to create a better andmore efficient organisation. From the
beginning of 2015 the university will have a renewed academic organization based on four faculties.
Research
Some of the areas in which Åbo Akademi University has an acknowledged position in the forefront
of research, are biotechnology, computer science, chemical combustion, human rights, informational
and structural biology, material sciences and polymer sciences and engineering. The university has
one national centre of excellence in research as selected by the Academy of Finland: The History of
Society: Re-thinking Finland 1400-2000 (2012-2017).
The university has four internal centres of excellence appointed for 2010-2014:
* Democracy: A citizen perspective (Political Science)
* Center of Excellence in Cell Stress (Cell Biology)
* Optimization and Systems Engineering (Process Design & Systems Engineering)
* Post-secular culture and a changing religious landscape in Finland (Comparative Religion)
For more information please see:
