University of Helsinki, Public university in Helsinki, Finland
The University of Helsinki is a public institution of higher learning in the Finnish capital with four locations. Its eleven faculties range from the neoclassical center to more recent sites at the city edge, where around 31,000 students are enrolled.
Queen Christina of Sweden founded the institution in 1640 in Turku, then part of the Swedish realm. Tsar Alexander I moved it to Helsinki in 1828 after Finland came under Russian control.
The name comes from Helsingfors, the Swedish designation for the city that remains official today. Many facilities carry bilingual signs, and you often hear both languages in the hallways and courtyards.
International applicants pay annual tuition for degree programs, while scholarship options exist for master's candidates. The separate locations sit in different neighborhoods and are generally well served by public transport.
Two scholars from here won international awards: A. I. Virtanen received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Lars Ahlfors the Fields Medal in Mathematics. These achievements shaped the institution's reputation as a research center in the 20th century.
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