Faculty of Humanities

A wide range of disciplines are represented in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oulu. The Research Unit for History, Culture and Communications includes degree programmes in Archeology and Cultural Anthropology, History, History of Sciences and Ideas as well as Information Studies. In addition, the research unit offers a Master’s Degree Programme in Science Communication. Disciplines represented in the Research Unit for Languages and Literature include English, Swedish Language, German Language and Culture, Finnish Language as well as Literature. Logopedics forms a research unit on its own. Teaching and researching Sami language and culture is a special national duty of the Faculty of Humanities and is the responsibility of the Giellagas Institute. The disciplines mentioned above can be studied as a major subject. In addition to this, the Faculty of Humanities offers studies in nearly twenty minor subjects, which can freely be included in different degrees.

Research

At the Faculty of Humanities, research is carried out in all represented disciplines. Research is focused on people, their activities and interactions – especially in northern Europe. In its research activities, the Faculty follows the Strategy of the University of Oulu as well as the Faculty’s own strategic plan. Of all the university’s focus areas, Understanding Humans in Change is connected to research conducted at the Faculty. The cross-cutting theme in research is the Arctic.

University of Oulu hosts multidisciplinary focus institutes, and Eudaimonia Institute brings together scientists in human sciences. It has an important role in offering opportunities for collaboration and funding.

Four main themes unite the research carried out in the Faculty:

Cultural change, interaction and human agency

Several humanistic disciplines in the Faculty research cultural phenomena in human societies, often in the long term/ diachronically. Interaction between human beings is investigated on the individual and group level.

Learning, language development and difficulties

The Faculty’s research on learning is linked in particular with different stages of language development and language learning, in different situations and environments. The majority of this research is related to teacher training.

Man, well-being and environment

Under this theme research focus is on human-environment relationship and well-being, especially in the context of northern Finland. Utilisation of nature and human-animal relationship are part of research on environmental studies.

Northern cultures

Researchers in many disciplines at the Faculty carry out research on northern cultures. They investigate global cultural processes and phenomena from North-European perspective and in northern context.

Research Units

Multi-disciplinary Research Centres

Researchers

Studying

Education that the Faculty provides is of high quality, focuses on learning process and improved constantly. Individual students have an active role in the learning process. The Facylty has been awarded prizes for quality education both on national level as well as on university level.

There are about 2300 students at the Faculty and about 150 staff members.

Admissions

The University of Oulu welcomes over 600 exchange students from all over the world every year. Would you like to be one of them? High quality teaching and excellent programmes are offered in all of our ten faculties.

Organization and contact information

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