Raisio Plc donates 250 000 euros to the University of Turku
Raisio plc has participated in the fundraising campaign by donating 250 000 euros to the joint fund of the University of Turku and Turku School of Economics who are about to merge in 2010.
With its donation Raisio wishes to promote local expertise and ensure the competitiveness and well-being of Southwest Finland also in the future.
Rector Keijo Virtanen, Chairman of the Board of Raisio
Plc. Simo Palokangas and Rector Tapio Reponen.
- The receiver of the donation was a natural choice for Raisio since it has worked in good and close cooperation with the students and researchers already for years, says Simo Palokangas, Chairman of the Board of Raisio Plc.
Cooperation with the Turku School of Economics has been close for several years. For instance, Raisio has annually offered 2-3 long-term internship places for students as well as summer jobs and master’s thesis commissions. A significant part of the cooperation with the School of Economics are also Raisio’s own management training schemes Leading Raisio and Raisio Academy.
- The University of Turku and its Functional Foods Forum have been forerunners in the whole region and have on their own part enabled Raisio to become one of the most innovative grain processors in Europe, continues Palokangas.
- Raisio’s donation is a fine example of companies’ appreciation of university cooperation. Now it is our wish that also citizens would be inspired to support science as enthusiastically as they did in the 1910-1920s fundraising campaign, encourages Rector Keijo Virtanen.
With the fundraising campaign, The University of Turku and Turku School of Economics collect funds until the end of the year 2010. The goal is to collect 20 million euros to support education and research. The government will invest 2.5 times the amount of every private donation, which means that one donated euro becomes 3.5 euros for the University. Therefore, Raisio’s donation adds up to 875 000 euros for the University.