University Celebrated the Opening of the Academic Year

​The new academic year of the University of Turku kicked off on Tuesday, 4 September with the Opening Carnival. Both students and staff enjoyed the festive atmosphere and music at the Opening Carnival which was organised by the University of Turku and the Student Union. New students had a chance to meet different student organisations, and explore different activities and services available on campus.

The Teacher, Course and Language Deed of the Year were revealed at the Opening Carnival. The suggestions for the winners were collected from the students and staff. The Teacher of Year is University Teacher Outi Veivo from the Department of French and the Course of the Year is a specialisation course in the sociology of law. An honourable mention was given to the guidance model in the teacher tutoring of the Department of Chemistry. The Language Deed of the Year was awarded to Vice Rector Riitta Pyykkö.

The justifications for the Teacher of the Year stated that Veivo has the ability to create an encouraging and warm study environment where each student feels important.  The Teacher of the Year encourages students to progress in their studies and provides high-quality teaching and guidance. Veivo also takes the development of students’ working life skills into consideration.

The Course of the Year gives future lawyers with valuable information and equips them with skills in such topics as the impact assessment of legislation, quality indicators in law making, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. Furthermore, the teaching methods on the course are student-centred and fresh. The responsible teacher for the course in the sociology of law is Professor Anne Alvesalo-Kuusi.

This year, the winner of the Language Deed of the Year is Vice Rector, Professor of Russian Language and Culture Riitta Pyykkö and her report on the status and levels of language competences in Finland. The report, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture, studies the current state of the Finnish language reserve and language levels as well as national development needs and forms a basis for a national language strategy. Pyykkö gave the award grant to the Centre for Language and Communication Studies for the development of learning and teaching in Finnish as a second language. 

Rector Väänänen at the Opening Day: Environmental Responsibility Has to Become a Basic Value

After the Opening Carnival, the Opening Ceremony of the 99th academic year of the University of Turku was celebrated at Educarium. In his opening speech, Rector Kalervo Väänänen emphasised his concern for the dramatic effects of climate change.

– Decrease in biological diversity, which can already be measured without a doubt, can cause unpredictable changes, also for the survival of our own species. We need an enormous amount of new knowledge, new technological research and development in order to create new approaches under the conditions of sustainable development. But first and foremost, we need a quick change in the attitudes towards our way of life that burdens the environment and climate. Taking care of our environment has to be a basic value similar to democracy, human rights and constitutional state, said Väänänen.

He emphasised that a special strength of a multidisciplinary university is that all the units can be part of developing methods and innovations that adhere to sustainable development and support the survival of our living environment also for the future generations.

The new academic year will be somewhat tighter financially than the previous ones. The cuts in the universities funding by the Finnish Government reduce the University’s basic budget for the fourth year in a row.

– I hope that we are not losing faith in that education and creating new knowledge is the base of civilization and a source for the resourcefulness and success of the entire nation, said Rector Väänänen.

Three Distinguished Dissertations Awarded, Commemorative Medal to 12 Professors

The Turku Finnish University Society gave awards to three distinguished dissertations approved at the University of Turku during the previous academic year. 

Awarded dissertations:

• PhD Joonas Nättilä: X-ray bursts as a tool to constrain the equation of state of the  ultra-dense matter inside neutron stars (astronomy)
• PhD Nils Sandman: Nightmares: Epidemiological studies of subjective experiences (psychology)
• PhD Outi Veivo: Orthographe et reconnaissance des mots parlés chez les apprenants tardifs de L2 (French)

In addition, 12 professors received the commemorative medal: Professors  Seija Grenman, Pekka Hakamies, Tero Harju, Sirkka Heinonen, Reijo Lahti, Olli Lassila, Juha Mäkinen, Kari Remes, Mika Scheinin, Jukka Sihvonen, Harry Silfverberg and Liisa Steinby.

Receivers of the dissertation award, Outi Veivo, Nils Sandman and Joonas Nättilä.

Text: Tuomas Koivula
Photos: Jenni Valta, Hanna Oksanen
Translation: Mari Ratia