Helsinki office is the third overseas office of Hokkaido University following its offices in Beijing (2006) and Seoul (2011).
With the establishment of these offices, Hokkaido University intends to help foreign students to study at our University; to encourage our students to study abroad; to promote research exchanges; and to strengthen inter-university relationships.
The special mission of the Helsinki office is to broaden the links of Hokkaido University not only with Finnish universities, but also with European universities, including those in Russia. Our University has concluded 30 university-wide agreements with our counterparts in Europe, in which 26 agreements include student exchanges. We have placed our European office at the University of Helsinki, since we hope that Helsinki will function as a hub for Japanese scholars going to Europe.
In Finland we have three partners: the University of Oulu; the University of Helsinki; and the University of Lapland. Especially, student exchanges with University of Oulu have been active since 2001. Research collaboration with Finnish scholars has developed because our University is strong in the studies of Northern area and both in natural and social sciences. It is our strong aim that the Helsinki office will promote these academic exchanges further in the future.
Shinichiro Tabata,
Director, Helsinki Office
Professor of Economics, Hokkaido University Slavic Research Center