Current issue: 58(5)
The Agricultural University Committee recommended in its first report that the higher education in agriculture and forestry should be transferred to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The same arguments that were presented on the education of agriculture and forestry can be applied to education of agricultural engineers, surveyors and veterinaries.
According to the proposal of the Committee, the Government reserved in 1931 buildings in Wiik and Malmgård estates for the education of agriculture and forestry. Thus, the higher education of agriculture and forestry have been appointed training areas near Helsinki, where also the education of agricultural engineers, surveyors and veterinaries could be located.
Connections to the University of Helsinki has proven invaluable to the development of higher education of agriculture and forestry. However, the Committee recommends the establishment of separate agricultural university for the sectors, because the other faculties support the separation of the faculty from the university. It seems to the Committee that education in agriculture and forestry no longer poses sufficient opportunities of development within the University of Helsinki. The education in veterinary science should remain in connection to education in agriculture. The education of surveyors and agricultural engineers are at present arranged partly at the Technical University, and their location remains to be decided. A proposal for the organization, staff, education, decrees and professors is included in the article.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The article is a proposal for organizing higher education on agriculture and forestry in Finland. The committee assessed that the best location for both forestry and agriculture education is the capital of Helsinki, where are situated the University of Helsinki, the College of Technology, the College of Commerce, most scientific institutions of the country, and the central government departments. Because the degree programs cannot be extended to include all the subjects of the developing fields of agriculture and forestry, it is suggested that the studies of agriculture will have four, and the studies of forestry three disciplines. The students would specialize in one main subject. The faculty should be divided into agricultural science and forest science sections.
The present teaching staff is considered insufficient. Thus, the committee proposes several new posts of professors, lecturers and teachers. Another problem is shortage of suitable premises. Therefore, new buildings should be constructed for the education of agriculture and forestry, and the Forest Research Institute. Agricultural experimental estates are proposed to be established in the Wiik estate and in the Malmgård estate. Accordingly, forest experimental station would be established at Korkeakoski. To enable the education of scientifically schooled personnel, grants should be provided for both studies abroad and for scientific work in Finland.
The PDF includes a summary in English.