3 / 2000
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LEGAL COLLABORATION WITH RUSSIAThe atmosphere in the Republic of Mari is much the same as in Finland. The people are calm and taciturn and take life very seriously, just as we do. Ari-Matti Nuutila, Professor of Law at the University of Turku, describes the joint Russian project carried out in cooperation with the University of Turku and the Manchester Metropolitan University as successful.
The library of the Faculty of Law of the University of Turku was introduced to the Russian guests by Satu-Anneli Kauranen, secretary of international affairs (3rd from the right) and Heikki Jaatinen, assistant in Criminal Law (on the right). The guests from left to right: Tatiana Kozlova, Anna Tsyplenkova, Alexander Chaiakhmetov and Oleg Sidorov. Since the autumn of 1997, the Faculties of Law of the two universities have conducted a three-year project aimed at increasing the level of teaching and research at the Faculty of Law in the Mari State University. The university town of Yoshkar Ola is situated some 800 kilometres south-east of Moscow in the great bend of the river Volga.
The Mari language belongs to the same family of languages as Finnish. Native Maris account for 43 per cent of the total population of the republic. The language of instruction at the State University is Russian. A major part of the students are locals, but there are also students from all over Russia. The younger people at the university already quite commonly speak English, whereas the common language for the older generation is German.
"It is quite difficult to study law without an adequate library. The Faculty of Law in Mari did have a library. There was international literature from the 19th and early 20th century and then a gap of over 70 years," says Professor Nuutila, describing the initial situation.
Creating an up-to-date library for the Faculty of Law in Yoshkar Ola has been one of the main goals of the TEMPUS project. Publications for the library have been provided from both Finland and Britain.
In addition to literature, another primary goal on the material side has been the modernisation of the computer systems at the faculty. Now, for example, e-mail is functioning well between all the universities involved in the project.
The Universities of Turku and Manchester have a collaboration project with the Mari State University in Yoshkar Ola. Exchange of human resources
In addition to improvements in material conditions, exchange of human resources has been an important part of the project. Both students and teachers of the Mari State University have visited Turku and been introduced to the teaching and research on law being done at the University of Turku, while legal scholars from Turku have visited the Mari State University and given lectures to students and qualified lawyers.
Oleg Sidorow, researcher of Constitutional Law and Vice-Dean of the Mari State University, praises the achievements of the project. He and Anna Tsyplenkova, researcher and teacher of law, visited Turku and were introduced to the teaching of law at the University of Turku earlier this year. They intend starting new courses of their own at the Mari State University.
Tatiana Kozlova, an English teacher at the Faculty of Law, learned about the teaching of legal English. The faculties in Turku and in Yoshkar Ola each have two English teachers. The fourth member of the visiting group, Alexander Chaiakhmetov, was introduced to the computer systems used at the University of Turku.
Professor Nuutila does not consider legislation as the greatest problem in Russia. What is more of a problem is how legislation can be successfully enforced. Even tax collection is causing great problems.
The country has fairly functional legislation which is gradually being modified to meet current conditions. One area which requires modifications, for instance, is Contract Law, since during the Soviet period, trade agreements hardly existed, only transport agreements were made, as practically everything was state-owned.
The three-year TEMPUS project is coming to an end this autumn, but this will not be the end of collaboration. Plans for the future are already being drawn up. The project has not been a unilateral export project, but rather a creative bilateral process of reviewing our ways of thinking and working.
"This collaboration has been a great success. We have found completely new perspectives for approaching familiar questions," says Professor Nuutila, describing the benefits of the project.
Pertti Itkonen
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