Helsinki University of Technology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helsinki University of Technology is not to be confused with University of Helsinki.
| Helsinki University of Technology | |
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| Teknillinen korkeakoulu Tekniska högskolan |
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| Motto: | Labor et scientia Latin for "Work and science" |
| Established: | 1849 |
| Type: | Public state university |
| Rector: | Matti Pursula |
| Staff: | 3300 |
| Students: | 15000 |
| Location: |  Espoo, in Greater Helsinki, Finland |
| Campus: | Otaniemi |
| Funding: | €230 million per year [3] |
| Website: | tkk.fi |
Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) (Finnish: Teknillinen korkeakoulu; Swedish: Tekniska högskolan) is the premier technical university in Finland. It is located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the area of Greater Helsinki.
Helsinki University of Technology was founded in 1849 and received university status in 1908. It moved from Helsinki to Otaniemi campus area in 1966.
The university has 246 professors and approximately 15,000 students in four faculties and 19 degree programmes. As per definition of a technical university in Finland, TKK only gives education leading to the Master's level degree, and higher. The following degrees are available: an engineer's degree (diplomi-insinööri, or DI), architect, landscape architect, Licenciate of Technology, and Doctor of Technology. For the education available, see reference [1]
TKK is known, among other things, for its Low Temperature Lab, which has set the world record for the lowest temperature, and has had several other notable scientific successes. TKK's mobile communications research and teaching is considered to be among the best in the world and TKK is also one of the leading universities in the world when it comes to the chemical technology involved in wood processing. The first commercialised total synthesis, the synthesis of camphor, was invented by Gustaf Komppa, the first professor of chemistry at TKK [2]. Also, Nobel laureate Artturi Virtanen has held a position as professor at the chemistry department. The aim of TKK is to rank among the top ten universities of technology in Europe.
Much of the Otaniemi campus is designed by the world-renowned architect Alvar Aalto.
[edit] History
In 1849, TKK was established in Helsinki by the Imperial decree of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duke of Finland as a "manufacture and handiwork school", with the name Helsingin teknillinen reaalikoulu, along with two other similar schools, situated in Vaasa and Turku. In 1872, the school's name was changed to Polyteknillinen koulu ("Polytechnical School") and in 1878, to Polyteknillinen opisto ("Polytechnical Institute"), while the two other manufacture and handiwork schools were demoted to institutions of lower level. As the proportion of matriculation diploma holders in the student intake gradually increased, the school gained more social respectability. In 1908, TKK was given university status along with its present name, thus becoming the second university to be founded in Finland. In 1955, building of the new campus area started with the housing village. In 1966, TKK moved from Helsinki to the new campus in Otaniemi, Espoo.
TKK was also known under the abbreviations HUT and TH from its English language and Swedish language names, but in 2005 a decision was made to officially solely use the abbreviation TKK for branding reasons.
In 2005, Bologna process was implemented and in 2008, the organizational structure was changed. There is a plan to merge TKK, Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki, although these schools would remain as sub-units of the new Aalto University.
[edit] Research and Teaching
[edit] List of degree programmes
Nearly all programmes lead to the degree of diplomi-insinööri ("engineer with university diploma"), a Master's level degree taking six years to complete (as a median). The only exceptions to this are the architecture programmes that lead to the Master's level degrees of an architect or a landscape architect. From 2005, according to the Bologna process, all students must also complete an intermediate degree (tekniikan kandidaatti, TkK) before the DI or architect degree. This degree is considered a Bachelor's degree and enables enrollment in foreign universities where a Bachelor degree is required. TKK does not offer Bachelor-level only programs; a student may only be accepted to study for the Master's level degree. TKK requires a Bachelor's degree from foreign students studying in English, because only Master's studies are completely in English.
- Architecture
- Automation and Systems Technology
- Bioinformation Technology (not available for international students)
- Chemical Technology
- Computer Science and Engineering
- Communications Engineering
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Engineering Physics and Mathematics
- Energy and HVAC-Technology
- Forest Products Technology
- Geomatics
- Industrial Engineering and Management
- Information Networks (separate admission, only in Finnish/Swedish)
- Landscape Architecture
- Mechanical Engineering
- Materials Science
- Real Estate Economics
- Structural Engineering and Building Technology
- Transportation and Environmental Engineering
[edit] International Master's Programmes
Apart from numerous programs in Finnish language, the following Programs are exclusively for studies in English:
- Master's Programme in Communications Engineering
- Master's Programme in Mobile Computing - Services and Security
- Master's Programme in Electrical Engineering
- Master's Programme in Micro- and Nanotechnology
- Master's Programme in Forest Products Technology
- M.Sc. in Process Systems Engineering
- Master's Degree Programme in Real Estate Investment and Finance
- Master's Programme in Bioinformatics
[edit] Mobile Communications and Electrical Engineering
TKK is known for its state-of-the-art research in mobile communication. With a close collaboration with Nokia (headquarters 1.8 km from TKK) and Ericsson, TKK is currently playing an active role in determining of the future of mobile communication. This research and other related work is carried out under the patronage of Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering. The Department consists of different laboratories and Centres of Excellence.
[edit] Centres of Excellence
A Centre of Excellence (huippuyksikkö) is selected by the Academy of Finland to represent the top research in the country, and receives separate, fixed-period funding from the Academy. Currently, the following units are designated Centres of Excellence.[3]
- Smart and Novel Radios Research Unit, SMARAD (2002-2007, 2008-2013)
- Bio- and Nanopolymers Research Group (2002-2007)
- Adaptive Informatics Research (2006-2011)
- Computational Complex Systems Research [4] (2006-2011)
- Computational Nanoscience (2006-2011)
- Low Temperature Quantum Phenomena and Devices (2006-2011)
- Systems Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Research (2006-2011)
- Generic Intelligent Machines Research (2008–2013)
- Algoritmic Data Analysis Research (2008–2013, 2002-2007 as "From Data to Knowledge Research Unit"), with University of Helsinki
- Helsinki Brain Research Centre or HBRC (2002-07, with University of Helsinki and the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa)
- Applied Electronics Laboratory, as a part of Helsinki Brain Research Centre, HBRC (2002-2007)
- Inverse Problems (2006-2011, with University of Helsinki, Helsinki School of Economics, University of Oulu, and Lappeenranta University of Technology)
[edit] Campus
TKK is located in Otaniemi, Espoo. Several high-tech firms, the forest industry's experimental laboratory KCL, and business incubators Innopoli and Technopolis are also situated there. It is also directly adjacent to Keilaniemi, with Life Science Center and the headquarters of several firms (Nokia, Fortum, etc.). The area is connected by a 15-minute bus ride to the center of Helsinki.
[edit] Culture and student life
TKK is known to have an active student community and technology students (teekkaris) are highly noticeable, as they wear a distinctive hat and often brightly colored overalls to many of their happenings. The community has also organised important charity events and a term of their invention, tempaus, has entered common language. TKK students are also famous for, and Finland's leading practitioners of, student pranks (similar to MIT hacks). Their most widely publicised stunt took place in 1961, when a team of students smuggled a statue of Paavo Nurmi onto the 300-year-old wreck of Regalskeppet Vasa just days before its lifting from the bottom of the sea[4].
[edit] Student Union
The Student Union of Helsinki University of Technology (TKY, Finnish: Teknillisen Korkeakoulun Ylioppilaskunta) is the interest group for the students of the university. In 2006 it had 11,187 members[5], which includes all the students of the university, as is stipulated by Finnish law[6]. It was founded in 1872.
[edit] Student Nation
TKK is also one of the two universities in Finland to host one or more Nations, a Finnish type of student corporation. The only nation at TKK is Teknologföreningen (TF) and its goal is to unite Swedish-speaking students at TKK. Teknologföreningen was founded in 1872, that is, prior to the student union. Teknologföreningen also has its own building opposite to Dipoli called Urdsgjallar, completed in 1966. TKK also used to have a Finnish-speaking student nation Tekniikan Ylioppilaat, but it was disbanded in 1972 and its functions given to the university student union. The system with a separate Finnish-speaking nation in a university with an overwhelming majority of Finnish-speaking students was considered unnecessary. Most regional Finnsh-speaking nations at Helsinki University also accept TKK-students as members.[7][8].
[edit] Campus
The Otaniemi area is known as the only actual campus in Finland, where student housing is immediately adjacent to the university buildings. The housing area, known as Teekkarikylä (technology student village), is owned mostly by the student union and partly by HOAS (Helsinki Student Housing Fund). The housing is characterised by the presence of foreign students of many nationalities. As of 2005, the village offers housing for approximately 2,600 students[9].
Construction of the Otaniemi campus was started in 1950, in order for the first buildings to host the athletes of the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. An interesting fact is that some of the building material originally used for the campus came from the former Soviet Union embassy, which had been destroyed during World War II[10], as a result of bombings by Soviet Union itself. Later the student housing has been used for housing athletes again in a number of athletics events, sometimes to the dismay of the students that have to move out during the events. The quality of the Otaniemi student housing holds a high standard in international comparison.
The campus includes the former student union building and convention centre Dipoli, named as the second Poli, the second building of the polytechnic students. The original first building being located formerly in the Helsinki centre. Dipoli was designed by Reima and Raili Pietilä and was completed in 1966. However in 1993 the building was transformed into a training centre of the university. Although the student union has rented out the property due to high maintenance costs it is still regularly used for conventions, congresses and student parties.
[edit] Associations
In addition to the student union TKK students have formed numerous associations for studies, cultural activity and sports. In 2007, there were some 150 associations maintained by university students. In 2006, two-thirds of the student union members were members of "the guilds"[5]. The guilds are student associations uniting students inside their faculty, e.g. the Guild of Electrical Engineers.
[edit] List of student associations of the Helsinki University of Technology
Currently this list includes only the associations known to have English Wikipedia articles.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Education available at TKK
- ^ Kemia-lehti. http://www.kemia-lehti.fi/pdf/gustafkomppa.pdf
- ^ fi: [1] en: [2]
- ^ Ilta-Sanomat 5 July 1961 "Vasan veijarit", scan available at archive.org dump of ttky.fi.
- ^ a b Student Union of Helsinki University of Technology annual report 2006. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ Yliopistolaki (Finnish law of universities), 40 §. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ Osakunnat - Nationerna. Osakuntien yhteistyövaliokunta ry. Retrieved 1-12-2008. (Finnish)
- ^ Suomalainen, M. (2007) Tunnetko jo osakunnan? Polyteekkari 12/2007. Retrieved 1-12-2008. (Finnish)
- ^ Student Union web pages for the student village. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
- ^ History of Teekkarikylä. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
[edit] External links
- Helsinki University of Technology (English)
- Helsinki University of Technology (Finnish)
- Student Union of Helsinki University of Technology
- Helsinki University of Technology building map
- Helsinki University of Technology at Google Maps
- The TKK's Study Programme ECTS Guide book
