Ancient Languages and Culture can be studied by any student presently registered and enrolled at the University. To begin the studies it is essential to acquire a sufficient knowledge of Latin/Greek. If such language skills have not been acquired in high school, for example, elementary and advanced language courses are continually provided in both languages. An elementary course in Latin is sometimes offered by the Summer University as well. Besides English, other languages which may be of use when studying Latin are Swedish, German, French and Italian. As there is a limited amount of contact teaching, prospective students should be motivated and capable of independent work.
Both lines of study (Latin language and Roman literature, Ancient Greek and Greek literature) are open to all students only as a subsidiary (minor) subject, and students can choose either one of the study lines or both. Ancient Languages and Cultures examines the Greek and Roman culture of the Mediterranean, the Latin and Greek languages, and utilizes original sources in Latin and Greek. The goal of programme is to utilize historical linguistics in order to familiarize the students with Greco-Roman culture as well as its influence on modern cultures and languages.
Ancient Languages and Culture is an especially suitable minor subject for students of history and archaeology, but it is also suitable for students of languages, arts and culture and other students also because of its general nature.
The programme enables students to qualify as Latin teachers. It is also beneficial for those who plan to become researchers or teachers and for those who plan to work in positions that require an education in the Humanities (e.g. with modern languages, history, art history and literature, libraries and museums, education services and public relations).
Study guidance is offered by Timo Sironen, the University Lecturer of Ancient Languages and Culture, tel: +35850 3595424 , timo.sironen(a)oulu.fi.
Art History is the history of images (visual arts) and architecture (the art of construction). Considering eras, Art History is interested in history from prehistory to modern times, and geographically the interest is, besides Europe, often on cultures outside of Europe.
As a discipline Art History of course also studies pictures and architecture from perspectives other than just historical. Research in the field has recently begun to pay more and more attention to questions concerning the examination and the observer of the picture or work of architecture.
Despite its name, Art History also focuses on contemporary art. But Art History cannot be studied without an understanding of the ancient myths of Classical Antiquity and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Art History adds to our knowledge of our European roots, by considering the Western and Eastern traditions. Therefore, Art History also has an important educational significance.
At the University of Oulu, Art History can only be studied as a subsidiary (minor) subject, covering 60 ECTS credits. Art History is a beneficial subsidiary subject for students of various subjects in the Faculty of Humanities (subjects such as History, Literature, Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, languages etc.).Students from other faculties are also often interested in completing the Basic studies (25 ECTS credits).
Study guidance is provided by the University Lecturer Jorma Mikola, tel. +358 29 448 3334, jorma.mikola(a)oulu.fi.
Available to selected students of the Faculty of Humanities, Communication Studies may be taken as a minor subject comprising 25 ECTS credits. This package is based on theoretical courses organized in cooperation with the Master’s Degree Programme in Science Communication (TIEMA), and it can be completed within two years. Communication Studies is a subject of wide relevance, useful in all fields and most professions. In addition to communication professions, communication studies are useful in customer service and various expert and management positions.
Digital Humanities is an interdisciplinary field of study located at the intersection of humanities and computational technologies. More than a strictly defined field of study Digital Humanities is an umbrella term used for computer-aided research methods applied in humanities and more broadly for the study of digital cultural and social phenomena. The courses are open for all students in the University of Oulu. The modules (each 5 ECTS) can be included either in the studies of different disciplines or in the Digital Humanities minor (25 ECTS).
Digital Humanities aim at developing a broad understanding of the cultural, historical, and social aspects of current digital humanities research. Interdisciplinary collaboration, critical thinking, innovation and practice-based digital skills will be emphasized in the studies. The studies provide students with computer-aided research methods but it also employ traditional humanistic skills to analyse digital data and contemporary digital culture.
This minor program draws on expertise offered by a wide range of disciplines at the Faculty of Humanities including archaeology, cultural studies and literature, history, information studies, language and linguistics, Saami language and Saami culture. In addition, the minor could include courses offered by other Faculties. Students can construct their studies emphasizing for example linguistics, cultural studies or quantitative research methods depending on their academic and professional aspirations. The courses offered can be in Finnish or in English.
The studies address the growing demand for expertise in combining humanistic and digital skills. The Digital Humanities minor provides students with digital knowledge and skills relevant in a variety of professional environments from cultural and memory institutions to the emerging job markets of information management and online content delivery.
Digital Humanities is closely linked to the Oulu University strategic focus areas Digital solutions in sensing and interactions and Understanding humans in change.
Environmental research has its beginnings in the Natural Sciences, originally studying the negative effects of human activity on the natural environment. It might be argued that the main emphasis of the discipline was on studying the environmental impact of man in the context of natural phenomena. The traditional approach was largely a diagnostic one: identifying and describing environmental risks and searching for technological remedies.
Environmental Studies changed greatly with the arrival of the Humanities and Social Sciences into the discipline. This new combination of fields has begun to describe and explore the cultural and social causes behind environmental problems, and has also strived to understand man’s culturally bound relationship with nature more deeply. At this point, many have realised that Humanistic Sciences have an important role in solving current environmental problems and in protecting the environment. From a humanistic viewpoint man is an essential part of the environment.
Common topics of environmental research in the Humanities have been subjects such as the concept of nature in different cultures, the values placed on nature, ethical principles, and analyses of different forms of interaction between culture and nature in the past. There have always been environmental problems caused by human activity, and they have even led into the downfall of entire civilizations.
On the other hand, special focus is placed on understanding the reasons behind the modern environmental crisis: what is wrong with the modern Western relationship with nature? A number of interrelated factors have been identified that have brought our relation with nature to a crisis: among others, the modern view of nature as simply a tool or raw materials for economic growth. The humanistic view of nature seeks sensible alternatives to this tradition, which could lead to a more sustainable way of life. This means the search for new, ecologically sustainable values on which to base our actions in everyday life and in the spheres of economics and technology.
Efforts have also been made to combine the needs of protecting cultural heritage and environmental protection. Cultural sustainability is seen as an important part of sustainable development, and, accordingly, preservation of cultural diversity is a central tenet from the viewpoint of sustainable development. In order to create favourable social and cultural conditions for promoting ecological sustainability, it is essential to preserve cultural diversity, cultural heritage, and cultural identity. For these reasons, Environmental Studies in the Humanities forms an important part of the multifaceted training of environmental specialists and researchers.
Understanding environmental problems and addressing them requires a humanistic view of the diversity of the field. Natural phenomena, social customs, economics, technology, cultural concepts and values are all interrelated. For this reason, even at the onset of the studies the aim is strong multidisciplinary expertise and development of critical thinking.
Study guidance is provided by Senior Research Fellow Esa Ruuskanen, tel. +358 29 448 3229, esa.ruuskanen@oulu.fi
In Finnish schools, Ethics is taught to pupils who do not belong to any religious denomination or who are not provided teaching on their own religion.
As a subject, ethics is a multidisciplinary entity, based on philosophy as well as social and cultural sciences. Ethics considers humans as agents who create and renew their culture, experiencing and creating meanings through interaction with one another.
Worldviews, human practices and their meanings are the result of interaction between individuals, communities and cultural heritage. Ethics emphasizes the rational ability to study one’s own world and actively steer one’s own life.
In schools, the aim of teaching ethics is to provide the pupils with tools to help them grow into independent, tolerant, responsible and discerning members of the community. The teaching of ethics fosters the pupils’ growth into goods citizens in a democratic society, which, in a globalizing and rapidly changing world, requires the development of ethical thinking and actions, extensive knowledge and related skills, and increasing of one’s general knowledge of worldviews and cultures.
The teaching of ethics is guided by the idea that pupils can grow into free, equal and critical builders of a better world.
Studying the Basic and Intermediate Level (60 ECTS credits total) study packages provides students with the qualification to teach ethics in the Finnish school system.
Study guidance is provided by University Lecturer Erkki Urpilainen, tel +358 29 448 3305, erkki.urpilainen(at)oulu.fi.
The primary object of study in Film Studies is film. However, film is part of a wider audiovisual media culture and is closely related to “traditional” audiovisual media such as television and radio as well as a wide range of so-called new media. Courses in Film Studies familiarise students with film and audiovisual media culture as historical, cultural and aesthetic phenomena.
The main focus of the studies is on technologically, aesthetically and institutionally established film, the history and presence of which also provides a perspective for analysis of the development and present state of wider audiovisual culture.
Film Studies provides the students with the fundamental skills needed for theoretical analysis and examination of aesthetic features and institutional relations of films and their development.
In addition, Film Studies aims to provide students with an understanding of media culture and its development and technological manifestations in a wider historical context. Audiovisual media culture is such a fundamental part of contemporary society that acquiring an understanding of it is essential for all cultural studies. Therefore, taking Film Studies as a subsidiary (minor) subject is particularly beneficial to all cultural disciplines oriented towards the humanities or social studies.
Students who aim for careers in the fields of culture, art and communication will find a background in film studies useful. In addition, the subject provides the students aiming to become teachers with the official qualification to teach the subject in the Finnish school system.
The Finnish as a Second and Foreign Language programme offers a Basic Level study package (25 ECTS credits) as well as an Intermediate Level study package (35 ECTS credits). The studies are aimed at students who are interested in teaching Finnish as a second language in Finland or as a foreign language abroad. The programme familiarizes the students with Finnish as a foreign language as well as gives the students the qualifications to teach the subject in schools. The subject examines Finland as a multicultural country and Finnish study materials, and also acquaints the students with characteristics of learner language and assessment of language proficiency as well as with teaching in practise.
Students taking Finnish as a Second and Foreign Language as a subsidiary subject typically have little trouble finding employment teaching Finnish to foreigners. The demand for S2 teaching has been constantly growing in Finland, and also in northern Finland as well. In addition, Finnish is taught approximately in 100 universities abroad. Taking the programme as a subsidiary subject offers students of Finnish Language an alternative in addition to a career teaching Finnish literature and Finnish as a mother tongue.
Study guidance is provided by Lecturer Sisko Brunni, tel. +358 29 448 3472, sisko.brunni(a)oulu.fi.
The aim of the French Language study programme is to provide the students with a firm command of French and familiarise them with research in the field as well as with the contemporary situation, literature and culture of France as well as other French-speaking countries.
The goal is providing the students with the tools, knowledge and skills necessary for scholarly work as well as encouraging them to work independently, critically and analytically.
French Language as a subsidiary subject (minor) is composed of 60 ECTS credits: 25 ECTS of Basic Studies and 35 ECTS of Intermediate Studies. The smallest package for taking French as a subsidiary subject is the Basic Studies (25 ECTS) plus the French Supplementary Course. Advanced Studies in French Language can be completed, for example, at Turku or Tampere University.
French is the mother tongue for 100-115 million people; approximately 220 million people worldwide speak French. It is the second most important mother tongue in the EU and an official language in 32 countries.
The French Language study package provides the students with excellent skills needed for advancing their understanding of the multi-centric world politically, economically and culturally.
In addition to language skills, studies of French Language emphasise the study and understanding of cultural backgrounds. Literature, culture and history form an essential part of the identities of France and French-speaking countries.
The international character of French enables students to familiarise themselves with the multicultural world outside Europe as well. Thanks to numerous EU programmes, students also have the possibility to complete part of their studies in in France, at the universities of Artois or Rennes.
Study guidance is provided by Lecturer Heli Heinonen-Aho, tel: +358 29 448 3345, heli.heinonen-aho(a)oulu.fi.
General Linguistics programme at the University of Oulu offers students 60 ECTS credits of instruction (Basic Studies 25 ECTS credits and Intermediate Studies 35 ECTS credits).
General Linguistics cannot, however, be studied as a major subject in the University. Studies in the programme aim to familiarize the students with the general principles of the scientific study of natural language. General Linguistics uses concrete language materials from different languages as data and utilizes various theoretical and methodological approaches.
General Linguistics is a particularly suitable subsidiary (minor) subject for students of the Finnish Language, Saami or other foreign languages or students in the Logopedics programme. For native speakers, General Linguistics provides a novel perspective on Finnish, Swedish and Saami in connection to other languages of the world.
Students of foreign languages, too, can benefit from studies in General Linguistics, as the programme provides the skills to analyse the structure of the languages they are studying.
Subsidiary studies in General Linguistics helps prepare the students for various careers. General Linguistics is a useful subsidiary subject not only for researchers but also for students planning to become teachers as it provides a wide perspective on the nature of language and grammar.
Study guidance is provided by Lecturer Santeri Palviainen, tel +358 29 448 3482, santeri.palviainen(at)oulu.fi.
Japanese Studies is a multidisciplinary programme which offers the student a varied and comprehensive perspective on Japanese society, culture and language. The programme is intended for all students enrolled at the University of Oulu. Japanese Studies is implemented by the Faculty of Humanities, and there the Department of History. Welcome to study Japanese Studies and Japanese language courses.
The aim of the Museum Studies study package is to provide the students with information on the prospects of museum studies (museology). The teaching focuses on both theoretical and practical museology. The studies are composed of lectures, book exams, practical training and courses related to museum work.
The programme studies museums, their functions as well as their sociocultural relations. It examines the past and describes and clarifies the processes of preserving, researching and communicating as part of human activity.
Studies in museology aim to provide the students with a view of museum work and its goals as well as the history and presence of the museum as an institution as well as the practical operation of museums. The Basic Level Museum Studies study package (25 ECTS credits) is commonly a prerequisite for jobs in museums. Therefore the Museum Studies programme enhances the student's prospects of employment.
Museum Studies is also beneficial for professions which deal with old artefacts and cultural work as well as for professions in the commercial antique business.
Study guidance is provided by Janne Ikäheimo, University Lecturer of Archaeology. Tel: +358 29 448 3345, janne.ikaheimo@oulu.fi.
Philosophy is considered the oldest of all sciences. It studies the methodological problems common to all disciplines and eras, as well as ideological questions concerning human knowledge, language, argumentation and questions irreducible to these problems. Philosophy also explores questions concerning social and ethical principles as well.
Central fields of study in Philosophy are metaphysics, logic, epistemology, philosophy of science, principles of natural and social sciences, values, ethics, aesthetics and social philosophy. The history of philosophy provides an overall view of the entirety of which these fields consist.
The history of sciences explores how as sciences evolve the connection between science and philosophy is constantly renewed. Studies in the Philosophy programme provide a suitable foundation for analysing the advance of sciences through the study of principles, methods and values. Studying ethics and values from the viewpoint of philosophy is also useful in promoting social discourse.
Philosophical methods have proven especially beneficial in the academic education of researchers. Therefore the Philosophy study package is a suitable optional or additional subsidiary (minor) subject for all degree programmes in the Faculty of Humanities as well as programmes in the fields of the natural sciences, technical and medical fields, social and educational sciences and cultural research. Studies in philosophy can also be an advantage for postgraduate studies in various disciplines.
In addition, philosophy has recently become a compulsory subject in Finnish upper secondary schools, and demand for qualified teachers has increased significantly. Therefore it is a suitable subsidiary subject for students from various fields who aim to become teachers.
Any student enrolled at the University of Oulu can choose Philosophy as a subsidiary subject.
For further information, please see Peppi Study Guide.
The Scandinavian Studies Programme is an introductory level programme that is designed to give the participants a broad overview of Scandinavian history, culture and everyday life. Upon completing the programme, students will be able to identify various aspects of Finnish and Scandinavian culture, history, political systems, literature and everyday life. The programme has courses from different disciplines that are represented at the Faculty of Humanities. The courses are offered to both Oulu University degree students as well as international exchange students.
