Avis sur Turun Yliopisto (UTU)

The first university in Finland, Academia Aboensis, was established in Turku in 1640. In 1828, following the Great Fire of Turku, the university was transferred to Helsinki, the new capital of the country. Both teachers and students left the city, which for 90 years was without any university. Finland's achievement of independence in 1917 gave new impetus to these aspirations, and a campaign started that year by the Turku Finnish University Society raised 22 000 donations towards the foundation of a Finnish-language university. Thus the first Finnish University was founded in Turku in 1920. The University of Turku was a private foundation untill 1974, when the ownership of the University was transferred to the State.