Finnish and Russian universities agree on cooperation project
|
|
Five Finnish and four Russian universities have agreed on common teaching programmes to begin next autumn.
Under an agreement signed at the Lappeenranta Technical University on Thursday, the universities are to train students in common masters' degree programmes in six different fields.
Professor Arto Luukkanen of the University of Joensuu, who is the head of the Cross Border University project, sees the launch of the programme as a breakthrough.
One of the aims of the project is to alleviate the shortage of Russia experts in Finland. "In practice, we want to get academic teachers and students to be more mobile", Luukkanen says.
Students will spend half of their two-year curriculum in Finland and the other half in Russia.
The masters' programmes will begin in the fields of information technology, history, forestry, health care, business administration, and international relations. Between 20 and 40 students from Finland and Russia will be chosen for each programme each year.
"We know that Finland is a front-line country in telecommunications. On the other hand, we have achieved good results in basic-level physics and mathematics", explains Dmitri Arseniev, deputy rector of the Russian State Technical University.
There are plans to deepen the cooperation in the coming years; a doctorate programme is to be launched in 2010.
Taking part in the project are the universities of Helsinki, Tampere, Kuopio, and Joensuu, as well as the Technical University of Lappeenranta.
The Russian institutions involved are the State University of St. Petersburg, the State Technical University, the European University, and the State University of Petrozavodsk.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 15.12.2006 - TODAY |
 Finnish and Russian universities agree on cooperation project |
|
