Helsinki, University of

Finland’s leading institution of higher learning. The university was founded in 1640 in the city of Turku (Swedish, Åbo), the former capital of Finland, which was then a part of Sweden. In 1828 the university was moved to Helsinki (Swedish, Helsingfors), where it was officially named the Emperor Alexander University in Finland.

The University of Helsinki is under state control. Classes are conducted in both Finnish and Swedish. During the 1978–79 academic year, the university had six faculties—agriculture and forestry, theology, law, medicine, social sciences, and philosophy (including a section of the humanities and a section of mathematics and natural sciences). In the same year, the teaching staff of the university numbered more than 2,190, including 237 professors, and the student enrollment exceeded 23,958. The university’s library is the largest library in the country; founded in 1640, it contains more than 2.0 million volumes. The university has a zoological and a botanical museum. [28–687–1 ]