Through the Biodiversity education network, students at the University of Eastern Finland have a possibility to take biodiversity-related courses from other universities.
The University of Eastern Finland, together with the Universities of Turku, Oulu, Helsinki and Jyväskylä and Åbo Akademi University are collaborating in biodiversity education. A common agreement on cross-institutional studies has been signed and the course catalogue for this academic year has been published. The courses are targeted mainly at students studying biology, environmental sciences, geography or agriculture and forestry but there are also courses suitable for all disciplines. These courses offer a good possibility to deepen one’s understanding of biodiversity loss and biodiversity protection.
The format of the courses differs: some courses are online, while others are field and exercise courses. All the courses are free of charge for students, and the course catalogue has been planned to complete the degrees available in students’ home universities. Through the Biodiversity education network, students have the possibility to learn new topics and collaborate with students from other universities. Before the studies, it is important to make sure that the course can be included into the degree, and the right to study the courses needs to be applied for separately for each course.
For this academic year, there are altogether 15 courses (some in Finnish), and the first courses are starting soon. The course catalogue of the network will be updated for each academic year. This year, there are courses on, for example, species identification, tropical ecology, fish biology, winter ecology and environmental protection.
Hopefully students will find these courses and eagerly widen their knowledge on courses which are not organised by their own university, hopes the coordination group of the network.
Courses offered by the Biodiversity education network in English academic year 2022-2023:
- Tropical ecology
- Tropical plant families
- Flora of subarctic Europe
- Flora of southern Europe
- Biodiversity.now A
- Fundamentals of conservation
- Boreal winter ecology
- Exercises in fish and fisheries biology
- Nature under Threat 1
- Nature under threat 2
For further information, please contact:
Elina Oksanen, Professor, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, elina.oksanen@uef.fi
Elli Hämynen, Coordinator, Biodiversity education network, elli.hamynen@uef.fi