Final Report

Study tour 2015 3rd of May – 16th of May Finland & Estonia

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Day 5 – May 7th, 2015 Scientific staff, committee, and all participants in front of the Cathedral, Helsinki

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Content

Preface 4

Scientific staff 5

Arno Kentgens 5 Hugo Meekes 6

Preliminary studies 8 Finland’s History and International 8 Relationships Franziska Schwarz

A Brief Summary of Estonian History 19 Peter Betlem

Molecular Life Sciences in Finland and 36 Estonia Rosa Stolper

Industry and Universities, Exploring the 47 Sources of Innovation Birthe Lagendijk

The Dutch and Finnish Education System 58 Chantal Palmen

Case studies 68 Bio-organic Chemistry 68 Ilze Donderwinkel and Suzanne Timmermans

Practicum Molecular Sciences 68 Jochem Evers, Qin Ong, Mike Ruth, and Maud Wuts

Biochemistry 68 Laurie Kuppens

Synthetic Organic Chemistry 69 Katinka Redert and Vicky Mertens

Theoretical Chemistry 69 Tim Offermans

FELIX 69 Koert de Roos

Program 70 Day to day-program 70

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Daily reports 72 Day 1 – 3 rd of May, 2015 72 By Peter Betlem

Day 2 – 4 th of May, 2015 73 By Mike Ruth and Suzanne Timmermans

Day 3 – 5 th of May, 2015 76 By Ilze Donderwinkel

Day 4 – 6 th of May, 2015 78 By Birthe Lagendijk

Day 5 – 7 th of May, 2015 79 By Jochem Evers

Day 6 – 8 th of May, 2015 80 By Freek Hoogstede

Day 7 – 9 th of May, 2015 83 By Laurie Kuppens

Day 8 – 10th of May, 2015 84 By Vicky Mertens

Day 9 – 11th of May, 2015 86 By Qin Ong

Day 10 – 12th of May, 2015 87 By Tim Offermans

Day 11 – 13th of May, 2015 89 By Koert de Roos

Day 12 – 14th of May, 2015 89 By Chantal Palmen

Day 13 – 15th of May, 2015 90 By Maud Wuts

Day 14 – 16th of May, 2015 92 By Franziska Schwarz and Rosa Stolper

Committee members 95 Secretary – Suzanne de Bruijn 95 Treasurer – Mitchell van der Hulst 96 Sponsor commissary – Evelien Huijs & 97 Laura Rozing Travel Commissary – Britta Helwig 98 Travel Commissary – Chris Prüfert 99

Financial report 100

Participants 101

Acknowledgements 103

Colophon 105

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Preface

While writing this preface, the Study Tour is already one month behind us. It is remarkable how it still seems only such a short while ago that we were still on our adventure through the intriguing countries Estonia and Finland. To define something as remarkable however, is essentially different from defining it surprising. Of course the study tour was going to be a major experience, one I personally expect to last close to a lifetime.

The tour took us to Estonia’s capital Tallinn and three of the major c ities in Finland: Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. The cities, people, history and nature were stunning and intriguing, but here I have to stop. Even though I feel a distinct pride that I was granted the privilege of writing the – so to say – appetizer for the combined experiences that formed our Study Tour, it also means that it is not yet appropriate for me to boast with stories. Otherwise it might spoil the literary brainchildren of the participants. So instead I’d just like to state how interesting the expe rience was, how we came to know the interesting cultures and the corresponding people but most of all the intense amount of fun that came along with it.

I wish you all a pleasant read!

Jeroen van de Wiel

Chairman Study Tour 2015 Finland & Estonia

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Scientific staff

Arno Kentgens

Ik vond het fijn om door de studenten gevraagd te worden om mee te gaan op studiereis. Helaas liet mijn agenda het niet toe om de volle twee weken mee te gaan, maar gelukkig lukte het wel om een week vrij te maken. Een aangename eerste kennismaking met de groep waren de voorbereidende presentaties. Het was erg positief om te zien dat iedereen de voorbereiding serieus nam. De presentaties met betrekking tot de geschiedenis, cultuur en onderwijssystemen van Finland en Estland waren uitstekend. Uiteraard bleef er nog veel over om te leren, wat voor Hugo en mij pijnlijk duidelijk werd toen we stijf onderaan eindigden in de pubquiz!

De eerste etappe was Tallinn, een oude Hanzestad met een prachtig middeleeuws centrum. Bij de eerste activiteit, het bezoek aan de lokale universiteit met minisymposium, leken de gebeurtenissen op het wereldtoneel even roet in het eten te gooien; nagenoeg de hele Estse studentenpopulatie was opgeroepen voor een grote NATO legeroefening om Rusland duidelijk te maken dat men de Baltische staten zal verdedigen. Dit werd echter goed opgevangen en mondde uit in een interessante discussie over studeren in Estland en Nederland, selectie aan de poort etc. ofschoon ik de stad al kende heb ik dank zij de diverse activiteiten waardevolle nieuwe ervaringen opgedaan; Het maritiem museum en het diner in een van de middeleeuwse herbergen van de stad waren zeer de moeite waard. Gelukkig bleek Mitchell’s vrees dat de bankrekening was leeggeroofd ongegrond en konden we zonder af te hoeven wassen door naar de kroegentocht. Het bezoek aan de Labor Bar was een mooi hoogtepunt; Cocktails uit erlenmeyers en absint uit reageerbuizen, knap dat de meesten (inclusief Hugo!) de volgende ochtend weer tijdig paraat waren voor het bezoek aan het NICPB waar we veel hardcore fysica en biofysische chemie voor de kiezen kregen.

Een enorm prettige bijkomstigheid van het meereizen als begeleider met de studiereis is dat alles geregeld is. Je hoeft je niet druk te maken over welke bus, trein of boot er genomen moet worden. Je krijgt een kaartje in je hand gedrukt en volgt de groep! Zo maakten we een relaxte oversteek per veerboot van Tallinn naar Helsinki.

In Helsinki stonden wederom zeer gevarieerde activiteiten op het programma. Nadat we het hostel hadden gevonden en waren ingecheckt was het tijd even de omgeving te verkennen. Dat betekende dat ik mijn grenzen danig moest verleggen; een avondje zingen in een karaokebar! Gelukkig werd ik door Hugo (met ervaring in het karaoke-mekka Japan) over de drempel geholpen en na ons eerste duet was het ijs gebroken. De volgende dag leerden we Helsinki kennen in de vorm van een stadsspel, ook een nieuwtje voor mij. Het was een uiterst leuke en effectieve manier om veel van de stad en haar inwoners te zien. Om iets meer te leren over de historie van Finland, zijn Hugo en ik vervolgens nog het Fins nationaal museum ingedoken, waar we de ontwikkeling van Finland vanaf de prehistorie konden bekijken. Uiterst amusant was het bezoek aan de Nederlandse ambassade in Helsinki. De ambtswoning van de ambassadeur van Nederland bleek een van de oudste houten villa’s van de stad te zijn. Hier werd contact gelegd met de Finse studentenvereniging Helix. Het was gezellig en niemand lette op de tijd, totdat Hugo en ik er door de vice-ambassadeur fijntjes op werden gewezen dat we ons “natuurlijk overwicht” moesten aanwenden om iedereen naar buiten te werken.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Opvallend was dat we veel jonge mensen in de stad zagen met gekleurde overalls aan. Het bleek de week te zijn waarbij alle studenten in overall gekleed naar feesten en voorlichtingsactiviteiten gaan. Overalls blijken een Finse studenten traditie te zijn. Verschillende faculteiten en studierichtingen hebben hun eigen kleuren, verder krijgen de studenten emblemen van feesten en evenementen die ze op hun overalls naaien. Overigens heb ik gelezen dat zo’n overall alleen gewassen mag worden als je hem aan hebt.

Op de universiteit van Helsinki werden we goed ontvangen en kregen we aan de hand van een serie lezingen een duidelijk beeld van het chemische onderzoek dat daar gebeurt. Op de nationale biosciences dag bezochten we de Viikki campus waar presentaties werden gegeven over het life science georiënteerde onderzoek en de daarbij horende onderzoeksfaciliteiten konden worden bekeken. Daaruit blijkt dat in Finland hoogwaardig onderzoek wordt gedaan. Ik hoop echter ook dat het de studenten inzicht heeft gegeven in hoe goed de onderzoeksfaciliteiten in Nijmegen zijn.

Samenvattend kan ik zeggen dat ik het een heel leuke, leerzame en ontspannen week heb gevonden. Het was allemaal uitstekend georganiseerd en ik vond het leuk om een voor mij grotendeels onbekende groep studenten te leren kennen in al zijn variëteit van karakters. De sfeer was opperbest en ik vond het jammer om na een week afscheid te moeten nemen. Verder was Hugo een uiterst plezierige reisgenoot en medebegeleider. Begeleiding was overigens niet nodig want alles was tot in de puntjes verzorgd. Kortom, het was een unieke ervaring om met een groep studenten een kijkje in de academische en culturele keuken van Tallinn en Helsinki te nemen.

Hugo Meekes

Zondag 3 mei, vroeg voor mijn doen, zeker voor een zondag, word ik door mijn geliefde afgezet bij een iets te grote groep studenten voor het Huygensgebouw. De helft van de mensen ken ik niet – die blijkt afkomstig van een andere studie en ook op reis te gaan-, maar ook met de goede helft heb ik nog een beetje moeite. Ik heb de avond voor het vertrek nog driftig zitten oefenen op de 23 namen onder de foto’s, die de organisatie had verstrekt en waarvan ik er pas 6 of 7 kende. En dan zaten er ook nog eens twee Suzannes bij.

Eenmaal in de bus kwam ik naast Koert te zitten en dat resulteerde in interessante gesprekken, zodat we vrij snel op Schiphol waren. Koert kende ik al langer, maar de twee weken die we voor de boeg hadden zouden voldoende lang blijken om te ontdekken uit wat voor een gemêleerd gezelschap de rest van de crew bestond. De vlucht naar Estland verliep voorspoedig, zoals eigenlijk de hele studiereis,

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 ondanks de soms lange wachttijden op vliegvelden en onverwachte tegenslagen zoals een mobilisatie, wegens Russische dreiging, van zo’n beetje de volledige academische populatie bij een van de universiteitsbezoekjes. Het verliep allemaal gesmeerd, allemaal op conto van de organisatoren. Ik heb veel gezien, gehoord en genoten en zal daar geen verslag van doen, want de reisverslagen van de studenten spreken voor zich. Veel gehoord, gezien en genoten, niet alleen van Estland, Finland, universiteiten, bedrijven en natuur, maar vooral ook van de reisgenoten. Ik zal die laatsten allemaal even langsgaan.

Peter, onze gids in de natuur, struinde door moerassen alsof hij er gisteren nog was geweest, de rest van het groepje als natte eendjes achter hem aan. Ilze, de kleine donder die het niet laten kon om toch nog een potje te dobbelen. Dobbelen kan Jochem als geen ander, van hem leerde ik hoe je een pokerface moet opzetten, met een brede grijns. Freek altijd goed voor een vreemde draai in een gesprek; goed dat je weer gezond rond loopt. Laurie bescheiden op de achtergrond, maar ja, bij de studentenfeesten was ik er niet bij. Birthe daarentegen eerder op de voorgrond, maar houdt het gezelschap levendig. Vicky, weer bescheiden, maar wel een MLW-er die thermo 2 kiest. Tim, van de computers en met baard, dus dat zit wel snor, alleen die zie ik niet. Qin, met de schalkse blik die ik al uit de OLC kende. Chantal, met een geweldig verhaal over het Finse onderwijs al in de ouverture van de studiereis, degelijk en duidelijk. Koert, onze ambitieuze reisgenoot, die nogal eens zoek was. Mike, de reisfotograaf, die me nou eens tot in detail heeft uitgelegd hoe de cel werkt. Franziska, die met Maud op mijn schouder tijdens de fotowedstrijd, onverwacht een te zware last voor me was en bovendien indrukwekkend serieus karaokeerde. Met Rosa had ik tijdens een mooie wandeltocht een prettig gesprek op dat rare forteiland, waar de vijand gewoon omheen kon varen. Suzanne T net als Birthe duidelijk aanwezig en aan haar gewaagd qua bron van leven in de brouwerij. Met Maud heb ik een keertje gevlogen in een vliegtuig en een keertje studentje gedragen voor de foto. Dan zijn we bij de commissie aangekomen. Jeroen, onze commissieoppersmurf, soms een beetje in paniek, maar hield uiteindelijk alles in het gareel. Suzanne, het meest stabiele commissielid, misschien wel de rots in de branding. Mitchell, onze accountant, de hele reis in de weer met bonnetjes, buskaartjes en waarschijnlijk spreadsheets. Evelien, ook al niet makkelijk in paniek te krijgen en hetzelfde geldt voor Laura. Britta maakte zich zorgen of ik me wel vermaakte. Chris blijft Chris een prima georganiseerde chaoot.

En tenslotte natuurlijk Arno, mijn medebegeleider, met wie ik de eerste week met veel plezier heb doorgebracht. Hoewel er eigenlijk weinig te begeleiden was, hebben we in ieder geval voor een hoogtepunt gezorgd met onze karaoke interpretatie van Lola van de Kinks. Het publiek lag aan onze voeten. Nee, die studiereis kan niet meer stuk!

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Preliminary studies

Finland’s History and International Relationships Franziska Schwarz

Abstract Finland is a country in Northern Europe with Russia as Eastern neighbor and Sweden in the West. It is the only member of the EU sharing a 1340km border with Russia. This has influenced the country’s history and the many wars its neighbors Sweden and Russia led, have been carried out on its territory. Finland has been under foreign sovereignty for 767 years until its independence in 1917. Important Russian buildings can be found in the Finnish capital Helsinki and the oldest universities of the country can be traced back to the Swedish governors. Those were founded in Turku and the oldest one has been transferred to Helsinki by the Russian rulers. Helsinki therefore has profited from the Russian government, being announced capital due to its proximity to St. Petersburg. Although, Russia stays an important economical partner, the government of Finland orientates more towards Western Europe to achieve international importance.

Introduction Finland is the most northern country of the European Union and lies between the 60th and 70th northern degree of latitude and the 20th and 30th eastern degree of longitude. Its official name is Suomen tasavalta in Finnish and Republiken Finland in Swedish (Finnland in the EU, 2014). The English translation is “Republic of Finland”. It has a geographical size of 338,434.7 km² of which 69% are forest, 10% water and 8% agricultural area (Information Finland, 2014). It has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish (Finnland in the EU, 2014). The two national churches are the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Finnish Orthodox Church. Those have a special status and are also allowed to ask taxes (Korpela, Finnish Church aims to be down-to-earth, 2012). The population in January 2014 was 5,455,580 inhabitants of which 620,982 lived in the capital Helsinki by 30 September 2014 (Information Finland, 2014). The country’s population density is 16,04 inhabitants/km². The total nominal GDP estimate of 2014 is $276.275 billion (Report for selected Countries and Subjects (Finland GPI), 2014). Helsinki also is the largest city of Finland and located in the Uusimaa region at the Southern part of the country on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (Finnish Regions, 2013). Helsinki be-longs to the urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area as well as Espoo, Vantaa and Kaunainen. Surrounding commuter towns also belong to the Helsinki metropolitan area which has more than 1 million inhabitants (Helskinki: Brief Information). The area of Helsinki are 715.55 km² (Ordnance Survey Finland, 2010) and has a population density of 2,906.4 inhabitants/km². Other important cities of Finland include Turku, the oldest city of Finland and Tampere. Turku was the seat of the Bishop of Turku and still is the seat of the Archbishop of Turku. It also was the capital of Finland and Finland’s most important and largest city since its foundation in 1229 for four centuries. Currently, Turku has 183,811 (30 September 2014) (Population Registry Center Finland, 2014) inhabitants and a size of 306.41 km² (Ordnance Survey Finland, 2010). This makes its population density 748.1 inhabitants/km² and the city the sixth largest in the country. It is situated at the mouth of the river Aura and at the Bothnic Sea in the region Varsinais-Suomi (Finnish Regions, 2013) and is seen as Finland’s door to Sweden.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Tampere lies in the region Pirkanmaa (Finnish Regions, 2013). It has a population of 222,512 by 30 September 2014 (Population Registry Center Finland, 2014) and an area of 689.59 km² (Ordnance Survey Finland, 2010). This makes the population density 423.8 inhabitants/km². Tampere is the third largest city of Finland after Helsinki and Espoo (Tampere Information, 2014). The neighbor countries of Finland are Sweden in the west, Norway in the North and Russia in the East. It is the only member of the EU sharing a 1340km border with Russia (Korpela, A border that once divided now unites, 2008). The governments of Russia and Sweden have always fought about governing the country until its independence in 1917 (Bohn, 2005). Therefore the question arises how this history of wars on the Finnish area influences the modern Finland and its research.

History The first settlers in Finland lived around 9000 to 10000 years after the last Ice Age. They originated from tribes from the Artic, Sibiric, Baltic and Germanic area. Even though they had trading relations to their neighbors, no political system was established (Bohn, 2005).

Swedish government In 1155 the area where Finland is now located was annexed by King Erik IX of Sweden and got a Grand Duchy by 1284 (Bohn, 2005). While the Swedish Christianized the country, the orthodox faith is spreading in the area around the borders to Russia, Karelia (Bohn, 2005). In 1229 the town of Turku was founded by the Swedish and in the years thereafter a conflict between the Russian and Swedish arose about the area of Karelia (Bohn, 2005). This conflict was ended in 1323 when Karelia got divided by Russia and Sweden (Bohn, 2005). Eastern Karelia got Russian whereas Western Karelia stayed under Swedish government (Bohn, 2005).

Russian government However, conflicts stayed between Sweden and Russia and during 1700-1721 and 1741-1743 two wars were fought which ended with Finland being occupied by Russia (Bohn, 2005). After the Finnish war in 1808 Finland got the status of an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia under Tsar Alexander I. (Bohn, 2005). In this time the Swedish law persisted in Finland and Swedish was the official language with Finnish being added as second official language by 1892 (Bohn, 2005). Finland even had an own senate and autonomy in domestic political legislation but the successors of the tsar restricted those freedoms (Bohn, 2005). This lead to a national strike in 1905 during the Russian revolution (Bohn, 2005).

Independence One year after the general strike the autonomy was restored and the Finns got the first parliament (Bohn, 2005). Also females got the right to vote in 1906 which makes Finland being the first country in Europe to do so (Bohn, 2005). After the independence was achieved on 6 December 1917 the Finnish civil war broke out in January 1918 (Bohn, 2005). There the “Red Guards” fought against the “White Guards”, who were from the governmental army (Bohn, 2005). The White guards won the war in which more than 20000 people lost their lives (Bohn, 2005). In 1919 Finland finally got a Democratic Constitution and Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg was elected as first president of the newly born Finnish republic (Bohn, 2005).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

World War II With begin of the Second World War in Europe the security of Finland was threatened again. In 1939, the Russian army marched into Finland and the Winter War begun (Bohn, 2005). It ended with the loss of Karelia which led the Finns to ally with Germany to get back their lost areas (Bohn, 2005). With the peace treaty in 1944 Finland ultimately lost Karelia which resulted in 400,000 people losing their homes (Bohn, 2005).

Finnish republic After the Second World War Finland tried to stay political neutral and to please Eastern and Western Europe (Bohn, 2005). In 1955 it became a member of the UNO and the Nordic Board and in 1985 of the EFTA (Bohn, 2005). It signed the “Declaration of Neighborhood” with Russia in 1992 (Bohn, 2005). After the Soviet Union had broken down it became a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995 and of the Schengen area in 1996 (European Union, 2015).

History Turku The city of Turku was founded in 1229 by the Swedish and the bishopric was transferred to it (Turku, 2011). The Swedish name of Turku is Åbo. In 1640, the first university in Finland, The Royal Academy of Turku, was founded (Turku, 2011). Until about 1809, it was almost established as the capital of Finland but lost the title to Helsinki in 1812 (History, 2014). In 1827 a large section of Turku was destroyed by a fire (Turku, 2011). The university subsequently was transferred to Helsinki (History, 2014). However, the city was rebuild in a safer mode and stayed the largest city of Finland for another 20 years. In 1918, Åbo Akademi, the only Swedish language University in Finland (The History of Abo Akademi University, 2015) and in 1920 the Finnish language university “University of Turku” were founded in Turku (The History of the University of Turku). In 1996 it was appointed Finland’s Christmas City and in 2011 it was the European capital of Culture together with Tallinn (Turku, 2011).

History Tampere Tampere was founded in 1779 by Gustav III of Sweden and grew out to the industrial pioneer of the country (The City of Tampere, 2013). The first paper mill was located in Tampere as well as the first cotton factory (The City of Tampere, 2013). In the modern production facilities of this cotton factory, Finlayson’s, the first electric light in the Nordic countries was lit in 1882 (Bohn, 2005). The city’s engineering industry was bolstered by the manufacturer of grinding machines and water turbines Tampella, which was established on the upper reaches of the Tammerkoski rapids in 1861 (The City of Tampere, 2013). This after Tsar Alexander I. had recognized the industrial possibilities of the region. Nowadays, it’s the Finnish industrial center (The City of Tampere, 2013).

History Helsinki Helsinki has not always been the capital city of Finland. It was founded in 1550 by the Swedish king Gustav as the city “Helsingfors” to compete with Tallinn which was growing out into a trading metropolis (Helsinki city museum, 2014). In 1748, the sea-fortress Suomenlinna was built on an outlying island (History, 2014). In 1809, however, Russia took control of Helsinki and due to its proximity to Saint Petersburg was pronounced as new capital of Finland whereas Turku lost its title (Helsinki city museum, 2014). After the Great fire in Turku, the Royal Academy of Turku was moved to Helsinki, to improve its importance (History, 2014). In 1852 the Lutheran Saint Nicholas Cathedral (now Helsinki Cathedral) was inaugurated (Helsinki city museum, 2014) and in 1868 the Orthodox Uspenski

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Cathedral (History, 2014). In the 19th and 20th century, Helsinki grew in all economic aspects. In 1952, the Olympics were held in Helsinki and in 2000 it was awarded as “European Capital of Culture” (History, 2014).

International Relationships When looking at the history of Finland and seeing Finland sharing a large part of its history with Sweden and Russia the question arises what the relationships of Finland with Europe and Russia are and how it is influenced by its Eastern neighbor.

The Finnish political system In contrast to the Netherlands, Finland is a parliamentary republic. The President of Finland is the head of state and leads the foreign policy (President, 1988). He also is the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces and can veto decisions of the parliament, although, the parliament can overrun it (President, 1988). The president is elected for 6 years directly by the in-habitants with two years of tenure possible. The right to vote is granted for Finns from 18 years (President, 1988). The current president was elected in 2012 and is Sauli Niinistö from the National coalition (KOK) (Information Finland, 2014). In 2000, the first female president, Tarja Halonen from the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), was elected and took office on 1 March 2000. The Prime minister, however, is the head of government, the Council of State, exercising executive power (Council of State, 1988). The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and the current one since 24 June 2014 is Alexander Stubb of the KOK (Information Finland, 2014). The former Prime minister Jyrki Katainen was appointed in 2011 and is now vice president for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness of the EU from 2014-2019 (European Union, 2015). Legislative power is performed by the parliament. This is called Eduskunta in Finnish and Riksdag in Swedish. In contrast to the Dutch Parliament, it is unicameral (Legislature, 1988). Moreover, it may alter the Constitution of Finland and is the supreme legislative authority, being able to overrun presidential vetoes (Legislature, 1988). Its 200 members are elected for four years by proportional representation through open list multi-member districts (Legislature, 1988). Even though the regular parliamentary term is four years, the president may dissolve the eduskunta and order new elections at the request of the prime minister and after consulting the speaker of parliament (Legislature, 1988). The Finnish civil law system is based on the Swedish law. No juries are used in the proceedings, the judge presides, conducts finding of fact, adjudication and gives sanctions, for in-stance sentences (Legal System, 1988). The court system consists of local courts, regional appellate courts and the Supreme Court. The administrative branch consists of administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court (Legal System, 1988). Finland also has a special court for criminal charges (for an offence in office) against the President of the Republic, the justices of the supreme courts, members of the Government, the Chancellor of Justice and the Ombudsman of Parliament which is called the High Court of Impeachment (Legal System, 1988).

What is the relationship of Finland with Europe? Finland is a member of the United Nations (UNO) since 1955 and of the EU since 1995. This after a long period of neutrality where the Finnish government tried to please both neighbours, Russia which still was part of the Soviet Union and Sweden, orienting more towards Western Europe (Bohn, 2005). A membership in the EU only was possible as the Soviet Union had broken down. Since 2002, the Euro is

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Finland’s currency (Finnland in the EU, 2014). The former prime minister of Finland Jyrki Katainen is the current vice president for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness of the EU with a tenure from 2014 until 2019 (European Union, 2015). The country had the council presidency of the EU already two times. Those tenures were from July until December 1999 and 2006 whereas the next tenure only is from January until July 2020 (Finnland in the EU, 2014). Its current political aims are the stabilization of the Eurozone, the development of the economic and currency union as well as the strengthening of the competitiveness, growth and employment (Finnland in the EU, 2014). An important point for Finland is the cooperation in the Foreign and Security Policy especially regarding the current conflict in Ukraine (Finnland in the EU, 2014). Moreover, the strategy of the EU regarding the Eastern Sea is significant for Finland as well as the Northern Dimension. In principle, the country is positively set against the extension of the EU (Finnland in the EU, 2014). Finland still is no member of the NATO and the current president also excluded a membership before the end of the current tenure (European Union, 2015). Finland, however, is a member of the Nordic Board, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Europe Board, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) and the Artic Board (Finnland in the EU, 2014). It also is a member of the Conference of Dis-armament (CD Member States). This is the only multilateral forum for discussions over glob-al disarmament and arms control (An Introduction to the Conference). Furthermore, it has signed the “Biological Weapons Convention” (Membership of the Biological Weapons Convention) and is a member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons (OPCW Member States). It is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and its goal is to prevent chemistry from ever again being used for warfare including destroying all existing chemical weapons under international verification by the OPCW and monitoring chemical industry to prevent new weapons from re-emerging. It is an autonomous international organization with close collaboration with the UN (About OPCW). The Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN) is member of CHEMSEA (chemical munitions search and assessment) which aims to retrieve the chemical arms dumped in the Eastern Sea by Soviet Union after WWII (CHEMSEA).

How does Russia influence Finland and its research? Russia had a great impact on the Finnish History and the Finnish population. Therefore, the question arises whether Russia still influences Finland and its research. To answer this question, the language of research is analyzed as well as the relationship of Finland to Russia. From the Middle Ages until the late 19th century, Latin was a dominant language in research in Europe and also in Finland. At the time of the Reformation in Germany, German’s importance in research increased, but didn’t exceed Latin (Haarmann & Holmann, 2001). Interestingly, Swedish didn’t get a language of research before Finland got a Russian Grand Duchy. Russian, however, only had a minor influence in research (Haarmann & Holmann, 2001). In the time of 1640 until 1827, the time the old University in Turku was in use, the literature produced was written in Latin, Swedish, Finnish, German, French, English and Russian (see Table 1) (Haarmann & Holmann, 2001).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Table 1: Languages of publications Number of written in Finland during 1640 and Publications 1827 (Haarmann & Holmann, 2001). Language Latin 211 Swedish 84 Finnish 15 German 11 French 3 English 1 Russian 1

During Finland’s time as a Russian Grand Duchy, Tsar Alexander I. built a Lutheran cathedral, the Helsinki cathedral in the capital. This shows the tolerance of Alexander I. and his effort to please the Finns. Finland emerged from a backward Swedish province to a showcase of the Russian empire. The successors of Tsar Alexander I. tried to increase their influence by de-creasing the Finnish freedoms (Bohn, 2005). Russia has impact on Finland’s economy. Finland’s main export partners are Sweden, Germany and Russia, but at the imports Russia is on the first place, followed by Germany and Sweden. Russia imports wood products and electronics from Finland which in turn imports gas from Russia (European Union, 2015). Therefore, the sanctions of the EU and Russia regarding the Ukraine crisis both have impact on Finnish economy. As Russia does not import goods from EU members anymore, Finland misses exports from its biggest partner. The University of Finland in Helsinki has 600 partner universities worldwide (Partner universities, 2014). The 250 partner universities of Tampere University are located worldwide including Russia, Sweden, Germany and the United States (Partner universities, 2015). The University of Turku has 300 partner universities in the whole world including Russia, Sweden, Germany, United States and The Netherlands (Partner universities, 2015). The Radboud University is listed as a partner university of Turku University. The Finnish-Russian Cross-border university (CBU) is a collaboration between Finland and Russia and offers master studies in “Forestry”, “International Relation” and “Public Health”. The four teams of expertise are led by a Finnish university (Finnish-Russian Cross-Border University). Students perform their chosen program at least at one Finnish and one Russian university. Thereby they can chose from two Finnish universities and five Russian universities. The two Finnish universities are the University of Eastern Finland at Joensuu and the University of Tampere (Finnish-Russian Cross-Border University). Even though the largest confession in Finland is Lutheran, the Finnish Orthodox Church has the status of a national church (Korpela, Finnish Church aims to be down-to-earth, 2012). During the Russian Government, the Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral and the orthodox Uspenski Cathedral have been built (History, 2014). The Aleksanteri Institute is a research institute affiliated to the Helsinki University (Utti, 2007). It is mostly focused on social sciences and humanities and concentrates solely on the former Soviet bloc countries. It publishes widely on Russian politics, economics and society (Utti, 2007). To conclude, Finland still has close bands to Russia and its influence can be seen throughout the country.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Comparison to the Netherlands After having answered these questions regarding Finland’s history and relationships, a comparison to the Netherlands is made. In comparison to Finland, the political system of the Netherlands is a parliamentary monarchy (Parlement & Politiek). The head of state is the King, Willem-Alexander I since 30 April 2013. The present monarchy was founded in 1815 and at this time the United Kingdom of the Netherlands included present day Netherlands and Belgium (The Dutch Political System in a Nutshell, 2008). The King has to co-sign every law to make it valid and appoints the ministers. The cabinet ministers form the government of the Netherlands together with the King (Parlement & Politiek). However, the King does not interfere in decision making and his role in limited to the formation of the government. When a cabinet fails, the King may dismiss it on request of the prime minister. The parliament, called the States General, consists of two chambers which both discuss legislation and review the actions of the cabinet (Parlement & Politiek). The members of the Second Chamber are elected directly every four years with a list proportional representation. Members of the First Chamber, however, are elected indirectly by provincial councilors, every four years just after the elections of the provincial councils. This leads to a proportional representation (Parlement & Politiek). The Council of State advises the cabinet on constitutional and judicial aspects of legislature and policy. Furthermore, the Council is the highest administrative court (The Dutch Political System in a Nutshell, 2008). As well as Finland, the Netherlands stayed neutral regarding their policy for some decades. However, after the Second World War the Netherlands became a member of a large number of international organizations (European Union, 2015). In contrast to Finland, the Netherlands are a full member of the NATO, yet, they are both members of the European Union (European Union, 2015). Moreover, the Netherland maintain close relationships to its former colonies. Although, the Netherlands got a member of the EU in 1952, 43 years before Finland, they both became a member of the Eurozone in 1999 (European Union, 2015). The main ex-port partners of the Netherlands are Germany, Belgium and France (European Union, 2015), so the Netherlands is oriented more towards the South than Finland, even though they both trade with their Eastern neighbour country. The main import partners are Germany, China and Belgium (European Union, 2015). Although Finland is a lot larger than the Netherlands (338,434.7 km² vs 41,540.4 km²), the Netherlands have a bigger population (16,730,348 inhabitants the Netherlands vs 5,455,580 inhabitants Finland) which makes the population density a lot higher (European Union, 2015).

Conclusion The Republic of Finland has a history full of wars and conflicts fought on its territory. It was ruled by foreign sovereigns for 767 years, of which 659 years fell under Swedish government and it was a Russian Grand Duchy for 108 years. This long period of dependence on other countries has influenced the Finns and its cities, most of them being founded during this time. Although the most popular confession in Finland is Lutheran, the Orthodox Church has the status of a National Church. After the Soviet Union broke down, however, Finland orientated more towards Western Europe and also joined the EU, Schengen area and Eurozone. It therefore is even more involved in European politics than its neighbour countries Sweden and Norway who are not members of the Eurozone. Nevertheless, Russia is an important economic partner and most tourists visiting Finland are of Russian origin. In research, Finnish universities have more European partner universities than Russian ones. Also Russian never became the language of research, Finnish, Swedish and English are the most important languages in this respect. Nonetheless, Finland has a university which collaborates closely with Russia,

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 the Finnish-Russian Cross-border university. In conclusion, Finland is oriented towards Europe but still has close bands with Russia, regarding economy and education.

In conclusion, Finland is oriented towards Europe but still has close bands with Russia, regarding economy and education.

References About OPCW. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: http://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/ An Introduction to the Conference. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from The United Nations Office at Geneva: http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/%28httpPages%29/BF18ABFEFE5D344DC1256F3100311CE9? OpenDocument Bohn, I. (2005). Finnland Geschichte der Länder Skandinaviens. Regensburg: Verlag Friedrich Pustet. CD Member States. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from The United Nations Office At Geneva: http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/%28httpPages%29/6286395D9F8DABA380256EF70073A846 ?OpenDocument CHEMSEA. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from Chemical Munitions Search and Assessmen (CHEMSEA): http://chemsea.eu/ Council of State. (1988). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from A Country study: Finland : http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/fitoc.html European Union. (2015, January 28). Retrieved February 10, 2015, from Official website European Union: http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/finland/index_en.htm 9 Finnish Regions. (2013, December). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from This is Finland: http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=283876&nodeid=41804&culture=en-US#!lightbox/17/ Finnish-Russian Cross-Border University. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2015, 2015, from CBU: Cross-Border University: http://cbu.fi/ Finland in the EU. (2014, October). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from Auswärtiges Amt: http://www.auswaertiges- amt.de/DE/Aussenpolitik/Laender/Laenderinfos/Finnland/Aussenpolitik_node.html Haarmann, H., & Holmann, E. (2001). The Impact of English as a Language of Science in Finland and its Role for the Transition to Network Society. In U. Ammon, The Dominance of English as a Lan The Dominance of English as a Language of Science: Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities (Contributions to the Sociology of Language, 84) (pp. 229-258). Walter de Gruyter. Helsinki city museum. (2014, 10 21). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from History: http://www.hel.fi/hki/Museo/en/History+of+Helsinki Helskinki: Brief Information. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from City of Helsinki: http://www.hel.fi/www/Helsinki/en/administration/information/general/ History. (2014, April 18). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from City of Helsinki: http://www.hel.fi/www/Helsinki/en/administration/information/history/ Information Finland. (2014, October). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from Auswärtiges Amt: http://www.auswaertiges- amt.de/sid_437D1A64672DA6A6403655020AC58334/DE/Aussenpolitik/Laender/Laenderinfos/01- Nodes_Uebersichtsseiten/Finnland_node.html

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Korpela, S. (2008, June). A border that once divided now unites. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from This is Finland: http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=160134&nodeid=41815&culture=en-US Korpela, S. (2012, April). Finnish Church aims to be down-to-earth. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from This is Finland: http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=160099&nodeid=41800&culture=en-US Legal System. (1988). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from A country study: Finland: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/fitoc.html Legislature. (1988). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from A country study: Finland: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/fitoc.html Membership of the Biological Weapons Convention. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from The United Nations Office at Geneva: http://www.unog.ch/__80256ee600585943.nsf/%28httpPages%29/7be6cbbea0477b52c12571860035f d5c?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1#_Section1 OPCW Member States . (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: http://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/member-states/ Ordnance Survey Finland. (2010, January 1). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from Maanmittauslaitos: http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/sites/default/files/pinta_alat_kunnittain_01012010.pdf Parlement & Politiek. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from Parlement & Politiek: http://www.parlement.com/ Partner universities. (2014). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from Helsinki University: https://university.helsinki.fi/en/studying/during-your-studies/individualize-your-degree#exchange- studies-as-part-of-your-degree Partner universities. (2014, November 27). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from University of Tampere: http://www.uta.fi/studies/intcoop.html Partner universities. (2015, February 23). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from University of Turku: https://apps.utu.fi/apply/partners/ Partner universities. (2015, February 11). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from University of Tampere: http://www.uta.fi/opiskelu/opiskelu_ulkomailla/vaihtopaikat/partnerit/anyfield.html Population Registry Center Finland. (2014, September 30). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from Väestörekisterikeskus: http://vrk.fi/default.aspx?docid=8639&site=3&id=0 President. (1988). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from A country study: Finland: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/fitoc.html Report for selected Countries and Subjects (Finland GPI). (2014, October). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2014&ey=2014&scsm =1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&pr1.x=52&pr1.y=16&c=172&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP %2CPPPPC&grp=0&a= Tampere Information. (2014, March 24). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from The City of Tampere: http://www.tampere.fi/english/tampereinfo.html The City of Tampere. (2013, April 22). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from History: http://www.tampere.fi/english/tampereinfo/tampereinbrief/history.html The Dutch Political System in a Nutshell. (2008). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy: http://www.nimd.org/wp- content/uploads/attachments/documents-T-the_dutch_political_system_2008.pdf The History of Abo Akademi University. (2015, February 11). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from Abo Akademi University: http://www.abo.fi/public/akademihistoria

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The History of the University of Turku. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from University of Turku: http://www.utu.fi/en/university/traditions/history/Pages/home.aspx Turku. (2011, January 25). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from Brief History: http://www.turku.fi/Public/default.aspx?nodeid=4905&culture=en-US&contentlan=2 Utti, O. (2007, January). Finland and Russia: Expertise through experience. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from This is Finland: http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=160118&nodeid=41805&culture=en-US

Retrospective view: Finland’s history and international relationships As a preliminary study before we departed on our study tour, I looked into the history of Fin-land and its international relationships. After having visited Tallinn for two days, we went to Helsinki by ferry, so I could compare my impression of the reality with my previous work. This report summarizes this comparison. When we arrived, we took the tram to our hostel and the first thing I recognized inside was that the stations were shown in Finnish as well as Swedish. This was the same on the traffic signs and also the menu in many restaurants was written in both languages. The reason is, that Swedish is Finland’s second official language. However, Russian, the language of the second foreign governors of Finland (between 1808 and 1917) has never reached the status of an official language. This probably is as this governance was much shorter than the Swedish one which lasted from 1155 to 1808. Swedish is also taught in the university as a mandatory subject. Nevertheless, the Russian influence can be seen in the orthodox and Russian style cathedrals in Helsinki and Tampere. However, it is less as I expected and Helsinki in total is a modern city with high buildings. The Western influence is reflected by several Art Noveau buildings of the Finnish capital. Most cathedrals in Finland are still Lutheran, as is the confession of most Finns. On Sunday we went on a day trip to Suomenlinna (Sveaborg in Swedish) a fort built on 6 is-lands in the Baltic sea. Nowadays, only 4 islands can be visited, however, two of them are military area. Its construction by the Swedish governors started in 1747 and lasted for about 40 years. So it was finished only about 20 years before the Russian army occupied Helsinki in 1808. The rocks on the islands were blown up to create bricks for the construction. Moreover, our guide told us that the canons located on Suomenlinna had only a reach of 2 km and were left after when the fort surrendered. The Russian ships could easily avoid being hit, as the bay of Helsinki is much wider than 2 km, and occupy the city. The occupation of Helsinki by the Russians and the surrender of Suomenlinna is a source of hypotheses. One is that much more workers as soldiers were located on Suomenlinna who did not have experience in fighting. Another one, which I read in purpose of writing the preliminary study, was, that the higher educated Finns wanted to get rid of the Swedish governance and to become Russian, as the many wars fought between the opponents had impoverished the country. After regain of independence in 1917, the Russian-orthodox cathedral on Suomenlinna has been rebuilt in Lutheran style. Nowadays, the cathedral is used for festivities only. Moreover, the Swedish influence can be found throughout the Finnish cities. In the second week we first visited Turku and afterwards Tampere. 5.2% of Turku’s population is Swedish speaking and the city is officially has two languages. Moreover, the only Swedish language university of the country is located in this city. Also quite some shops in Turku are Swedish such as the ”Akademisk Bokhandel” and the oldest church of Finland, a nowadays Lutheran church, is located in Turku. Sauna is an important part of the Finnish culture and we also went to the sauna one day. In contrast to

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 in the Netherlands, the universities often have their own sauna on the highest floor of a building. Another difference is the time of going to a sauna. Many families have their own sauna and so they use it almost every day. In the Netherlands, the sauna is often used on special occasions on a wellness day. Our last stop was Tampere. It is the Finnish centre of industry but due to the time we were there, we did not see much of it. However, the Finlayson’s old cotton factory lies in the city centre and is now a museum. Also the house of the former owners of Finlayson’s is still pre-sent and is used as a café and for festivities. During the tour we also learned a lot about the relationship Finland has to its neighbour countries and also Europe. It is a modern country and has close relationships to Europe but also to Russia especially in economy. Russia’s decision during the Ukraine crisis to shorten its export to EU member states which affects Finland whose main import partner is Russia. Because of their long shared border of 1300 km, Finland is afraid of Russia’s military power. Finland has a good relationship with Europe concerning higher education. Many Finnish students perform a semester at a university in Western Europe for example Germany and also Finland is a popular country for studying abroad. In conclusion, my impressions of Finland correlated well with my preliminary study. Especially the relationship to Russia and Europe (including Sweden) can be found throughout the country by Russian orthodox cathedrals or just by the architecture of the cities. Nevertheless, I still learned many new things about the country and its population.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 A Brief Summary of Estonian History Peter Betlem

Abstract Estonia (Eesti) has a rich history dating as far back as the end of the last glacial era. Being uniquely situated between West and East, and South and North, it was already known to the Romans (ca. 98 C.E.) and mentioned in the great Scandinavian Sagas. Up until the 12th century Estonian tribes participated in trade and raided settlements from the Baltic Sea to as far south as Byzantium and the Orient. This would come to a halt as Christianity spread further and further across the continent. By 1193 Pope Celestine iii had called for a crusade against the pagans in the North which ended the reign of the ancient Estonian tribes. After almost a millennium of foreign-rule, home-rule was regained on 2 February 1920. Foreign-rule was briefly reinstated after its annexation by the Soviet Union during World War II. Since re-establishing its independence in 1991 Estonia has once again styled itself as the gateway between East and West. Joining organisations like NATO, EU, WTO, and embracing the connectivity that the modern times have to offer, it has been become one of the most wired and advanced countries in Europe. After a millennium, it seems, Estonia’s international role has finally come back full circle.

Once upon a time…

Estonia has a long history dating back to the end of the last glacial era. Throughout its history, Estonia has had a prominent role in Northern Europe. Although occupied or controlled by foreign-powers for most of the past millennium, it has only been under the inﬂuence of foreign laws for a relatively short time span.

1.1 Early Estonia

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During the Viking Age (c. 800 – 1050 c.e.) in Northern Europe, Estonian tribes participated in trade on waterways from the Baltic Sea to as far south as Byzantium and the Orient. Although Vikings occasionally raided Estonia and the Baltic states, Estonia became an important transit station on the Varangian (Viking) trade route through Russia to Byzantium. As the Varangian route to the east fell into disuse, the Estonians pursued an active trading and plundering policy to the west on the Baltic Sea while still holding on to Estonia’s importance as a trade hub between Novgorod and the West. [5] The improved economic conditions led to the establishment of great walled fortresses and alliances between villages and parishes in the name of defence. Through a higher level of political and military organisation, counties (maakond) began to form which are still the administrative units found in Estonia today. By the end of the thirteenth century several major counties had formed (see Figure 1). Although some of these counties were occasionally dependent on foreigners, Estonia as a whole did not fall under outside rule for another couple of centuries.

The earliest traces of human settlements on Estonian territory belonged to the Kunda culture found on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, with archaeological evidence of these sites dating back to circa 9000 b.c.e.. In the following millennia this culture of meolithic hunter-gatherers would gradually shift to single-farm settlements during the Bronze Age in Estonia (c. 1800 – 500 b.c.e.). It is during the Roman Iron Age (c. 50 – 450 c.e.) that the name of Estonia occurs first in the form of Aestii in the work Germania (c. 98 c.e.) by Roman historian and author Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56 – 117 c.e.).[1, 2] The Iron Age is a remarkable period of growth in the economy and culture of the Estonian tribes. In Southern and South- Western Estonia closer ties than before were formed with peoples to the South and South-West. Northern Estonia, however, sought to communicate with their neighbours mainly by sea, resulting in differently defined tribal dialectical areas.[2] This meant that by the end of the period Estonia could be divided into three distinct parts: Northern Estonia and Southern Estonia alongside Western Estonia (including the islands) had emerged with the population of each having formed its own understanding of identity.[3] Smaller political and administrative subdivisions appeared in the form of parish (kihelhond ). The parish consisted of several villages, and many of the villages established in that era are still inhabited to this day. Nearly all parishes had at least one fortress and the defense of the local area was directed by the highest official, a parish elder. During the Viking Age (c. 800 – 1050 c.e.) in Northern Europe, Estonian tribes participated in trade on waterways from the Baltic Sea to as far south as Byzantium and the Orient. Although Vikings occasionally raided Estonia and the Baltic states, Estonia became an important transit station on the Varangian (Viking) trade route through Russia to Byzantium. As the Varangian route to the east fell into disuse, the Estonians pursued an active trading and plundering policy to the west on the Baltic Sea while still holding on to Estonia’s importance as a trade hub between Novgorod and the West. [5] The improved economic conditions led to the establishment of great walled fortresses and alliances between villages and parishes in the name of defence. Through a higher level of political and military organisation, counties (maakond ) began to form which are still the administrative units found in Estonia today. By the end of the thirteenth century several major counties had formed (see Figure 1). Although some of these counties were occasionally dependent on foreigners, Estonia as a whole did not fall under outside rule for another couple of centuries. [5]

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Figure 1: The counties of ancient Estonia until 21 September 1217. Obtained from [4].

1.2 A loss of autonomy

Centralization of authority in Scandinavia and Germany in the eleventh century took place on a much bigger scale than in the Baltic states. Throughout the last centuries Christianity had spread throughout most of Europe, with Estonia and the Baltic states remaining as one of the last corners of medieval Europe to be Christianised. By 1193 Pope Celestine iii had called for a crusade against the pagans in Northern Europe which led to the establishment of the stronghold of Riga (in modern Latvia) and ultimately the founding of Medieval Livonia – a loosely tied group of small states included in the German ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire.[2] Northern Estonia had already been conquered by Danish crusaders led by King Waldemar II, who arrived in 1219 on the site of the Estonian town of Lindanisse (Rävala) which is nowadays known as Tallinn.[6] Within a decade of these events all of Estonia would be foreign-ruled and most of theemaining pagans ostensibly Christianised. Estonia Northern Estonia would remain a nominal possession of Denmark until 1346.

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Figure 2: Estonia in the fifteenth century as a part of Livonia. [7]

During the early forties of the century Estonians attempted to free themselves from foreign powers. Their uprising was crushed and the number of Estonians in power was reduced severely. Following these events Northern Estonia came under the power of the Livonivan branch of the Teutonic Order in 1347, indirectly putting all of Estonia under control of the Holy Roman Empire. [2] The old Scandinavian way of life was now disappearing throughout the Northern regions. The resulting power-vacuum was eventually ﬁlled by an extensive trading alliance originating from the German city of Lübeck, better known as the Hanseatic League. Several Estonian towns and cities belonged to the League, including Tallinn, and the Leage would reign the Baltic region for over a century. [8] The Baltic German elite – using their extensive connections and powers – promoted Lutheranism throughout the 1520s. The language, education system, religion and politics were all greatly transformed. It is also during this period that the ﬁrst book was printed in Estonian, one of the great milestones in Estonian history. [9] Although the Baltic German elite would eventually lose control, Lutheranism remained an important aspect of Estonian culture. By the mid-sixteenth century the region had been organised in a decentralised and religiously divided Livonian Confederation. [10]

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

1.3 A key area of control

Throughout the following decades, the Livonian Confederation would gradually turn weaker and weaker due to internal rivalries and the demise of the Hanseatic Leage. The internal bickering, threats by the political machinations of its neighbours and with no support of the once dominant League, Livonia was in no state to resist an attack. [11] And so it happened. The Russian-Livonian War (1558 – 1583) would spell the end of Livonia. Fought between the Tsardom of Russia and a varying coalition and opposition of Denmark-Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the intervention into Livonia began a period of struggle for control of the Baltic region that would last for almost three decades. [11] At the same time the Northern Seven Years’ War – although mainly fought in western and southern Scandinavia – Involved important naval battles fought in the Baltic region. As Sweden had taken control of Northern Livonia, including Tallinn, the region was actively attacked by Denmark – Sweden’s Scandinavian rival at the time – and a power-hungry Tsardom of Russia. [11] Although Denmark-Norway won the Seven Years’ War and became the dominating power in Northern Europe, Sweden managed to seize much of Estonia in the subsequent decades, with all of Estonian territory coming under Swedish rule in 1645. [2] It is during Swedish rule that the University of Tartu was founded in 1632, the ﬁrst institute of higher education in Estonian history. Eventually, Sweden’s unfavourable conditions set out under the Treaty of Stettin that ended the Seven Years’ War led to a series of conﬂicts that only ended with the Great Northern War in 1721. [12] Sweden was ultimately defeated by Russia and was unable to regain much of its former glory. As had previously happened in Livonia, the Estonian authorities were able to keep their own observed law and order on the basis of truces and charters. [2] The Baltic German elite had managed to remain in power throughout many of the transitions of rule. Following the defeat of Sweden and Estonia’s succession to Russia, a self-governing Baltic region formed that was characterised by its administrative and legal order, education system, German-language record-keeping, and preference for the Lutheran church. Though the University of Tartu was closed due to the Great Northern War in 1710, it had been reopened in 1802 as a German-language university and was a bastion of power for the German elite. [13]

1.4 Enlightenment

This was a stepping stone for educated German immigrants and local Baltic Germans in Estonia to the Enlightenment ideas of rationality. Events in the rest of Europe – e.g., the French Revolution – provided a powerful motive for the local upper class to create literature for the peasantry. [16] The latter had been freed from serfdom on the nobles’ estates in 1819 which had given rise to a debate on the future fate of the former enslaved peoples. The ability for peasants to participate in the development and governing of their land created an economic foundation for nurturing of the local national identity. Like many other European countries in the mid-19th century Estonia was caught up in a current of national awakening. Many longed for a return to their ancient culture, an era of freedom before the conquests by the Danes and Germans in the 13th century. [3] The German character of the Lutheran churches further alienated many nationalists, who emphasised the secular in their subcultures. [17] Towards the second half of the 19th century the national movement gained momentum with the adoption of Estonian as the language of instruction in schools, the development of a national literature and the publication of Estonia’s national epic – Kalevipoeg, Figure 3 – in 1862 in both Estonian and

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German. [18] The national song festival tradition that continues to this day has its origin in the same period, and the blue-black-white flag of the Estonian Students’ Society later became the national flag and the state flag. [2]

Figure 3: Illustration to Kalevipoeg by Oskar Kallis. The epic is based on an oral tradition within Ancient Estonia of legends explaining the origin of the world. In the folklore, a malevolent giant appears and battles with other giants and enemies of the nation. [14, 15]

Interestingly, the central imperial power of Russia attempted to carry out Russification in Estonia and Livonia during the same period. As a result, many of the Baltic German legal institutions were either abolished or had to operate using the Russian language. The Russification was counteracted within a decade as the revolutionary activity that began in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century quickly spread through the empire. By 1906 the first Estonian political parties had been established, with the Estonian nationalists gaining a greater role in Estonia’s socio-political and economic life. [2] At the time, the Estonians called for freedom of the press and assembly, for universal franchise, and for national autonomy.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

1.5 A long winding road to independence

For the duration of control by Imperial Russia, Estonia was divided between two governorates. In April 1917 Russia’s Provisional Government – formed after the collapse of the Russian Empire during the First World War – granted national autonomy to a unified Estonia. There would still be a long road ahead. As would happen just two days later in the Russian Republic1 , the Bolshevik leader Jaan Anvelt violently took over the country in a coup d’état on 5 November 1917. [19] As peace talks between Soviet Russia and the German Empire came to a halt, mainland Estonia was conquered by the German army. With the Red Army and the Bolsheviks on their retreat, there was just about enough time for the Estonian Declaration of Independence to be declared in Pärnu on 23 February 1918. [19, 20] It would take another eight months for the German troops to retreat, and a two-year Estonian War of Independence with the Red Army before the Estonian Constituent Assembly was finally elected on 5 – 7 April 1919. [19] The first constitution – following the Treaty of Tartu in February – was adopted on 15 June 1920, sealing Estonia’s independence. Estonia became a member of the League of Nations within a year – after centuries of occupation, Estonia would be truly free once more. The young state turned out to be surprisingly successful in administrative and economic areas. A national currency was adopted even before the War of Independence in 1918 and land reform ended the hundreds of years of economic and political supremacy of the Baltic German minority. In a relatively short period, tens of thousands of new farms were established and industry and trade developed rapidly. Although now independent, relations with the communist Soviet Union were exceptional: despite sharp ideological opposition, the internationally isolated Soviet Union needed an outlet to the world market, and the young Estonian state was desperately in need of the income earned through transit trade. It would take an economic setback during the early 1920s to show the excessive dependence of the Estonian economy on Soviet trade. [21] Also through ideology did Soviet Russia cause instability for the young state. This would come to an and following a failed coup on 1 December 1924. After said event the communist movement lost all support. Estonia integrated more and more with the Western world. By the late 1920s Estonia’s dependence on the Russian market had been greatly reduced, turning Estonia into an international trading partner heavily dependent on the Western world. Before the start of the next decade a worldwide economic depression hit the international markets that eventually reached Estonia in 1930. [22] Estonia’s finances were dealt a heavy blow and in the 1931 – 1933 period the Cabinet changed six times. Although the situation had slightly improved by the beginning of 1934, Konstantin Päts and General John Laidoner carried out a military coup d’état on 12 March 1934. A six-month general state of emergency was proclaimed, political meetings and demonstration were banned, and all further elections were postponed. The so-called Silent Era had begun. Political parties were replaced by the sole official party, journalism was subjected to censure and state control was asserted over all significant fields. [23]

1.6 Return of the Soviets

Meanwhile the foreign policy moves of the Soviet Union were keenly observed. To prevent any further Soviet transgressions, a political, military and economic union was planned between the Baltic States (i.e., Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and – to a lesser extent – Poland). This, however, never fully materialised as the Scandinavian countries avoided being associated with the Baltic states, and Finland

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 elected to do the same in 1935. This caused Estonia’s international role and security to deteriorate further, and its fate was once again sealed through German-Russian inﬂuences: the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia carved up Eastern Europe into spheres of inﬂuence (see Figure 5). From now on Estonia belonged to the Soviet sphere of interest and it was to be ruled de-facto by the latter. [24] As Germany invaded Western Europe, knocking on the doors of Paris, the Soviet Union threatened the three Baltic States. Estonia was occupied by the Red Army on 17 June 1940, with its government replaced by a pro-Soviet puppet government. Estonia became known as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Estonia (Estonia SSR) and joined as a union republic into the Soviet Union. Within a year all non-Soviet elements were removed or altered to fall in line with the Soviet ideology. The Baltic German minority was actively relocated to Germany – as had been agreed upon in the pact. [26] Nevertheless, Stalin’s invasions of the Baltic region were a severe irritant to Berlin as the intent to occupy these territories was not communicated to the Germans beforehand. Relations were further strained following, amongst others, Germany’s armistice with France, the Soviet war with Finland and Soviet’s policies regarding Romania. [27]

Figure 4: The agreed upon (left) and actual (right) territorial changes as a result of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. [25]

On 22 June 1941 Germany declared war against the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). [29] As the Soviet Union had set up bases in the Baltic States, the German command sought to neutralise these as soon as possible. On 7 July the German army crossed the Estonian border, conquering mainland Estonia by early September, and the islands ﬁnally on 21 October. They were aided by the Estonian resistance group known as the Forest Brothers, which seized power and restored local governments as the Red Army was on their retreat. After the Soviet troops were forced out, the Estonian militias were

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 disbanded by the German army command as Germany had no intention of restoring the independence of the countries occupied by the Soviets in 1940. [30–32]

1.7 Quite a different story

The Baltic countries and Belarus were united into one state commissariat (Ostland) with laws valid before 20 June 1940 restored as long as they were compliant with German laws. Unlike much of the other German occupied territory, Estonia enjoyed a relatively relaxed occupation. The reason being Estonia’s ﬁerce anti-Soviet sentiments, Estonians’ higher standing in the German race table, the closeness of Finland and Estonia’s strategic importance as a rear area (i.e., a purveyor of agricultural products and the producer of oil shale). [32] Still, Jews present in Estonia were exterminated alongside 8000 other Estonian citizens. The main non- racial accusation was not even being part of the resistance, but rather cooperation with the Soviet regime. This remained so even after the Estonian people lost hope that the Germans were going to restore Estonia’s independence. Despite the anti-German orientation of the underground Estonian resistance, the movement considered it essential to oppose the Red Army at all cost, even if that meant some cooperation with the German – and Finnish – forces. [32]

Figure 5: Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe after World War II. [28]

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

1.8 The Soviets strike back

Warfare once again reached Estonia in February 1944 as the Red army quickly moved westwards following the removal of the Leningrad blockade. Despite some pessimism among the German commanders, Hitler considered it important to hold on to Estonia at all cost. Estonian territory safeguarded the delivery of strategic goods from occupied Sweden to Germany, guaranteed the delivery of Estonian oil shale to the war industry, and strengthened Germany’s ally Finland position. Although a large number of troops were sent to Estonia, the Red Army – under heavy losses – eventually managed to break through and take over Latvia and Lithuania, and posed a serious threat to the German forces still remaining in Estonia. Tallinn was given up on 24 November 1944. [33] With the defeat of the German forces, there was nothing stopping the Soviet forces of actively suppressing the Estonian resistance movement. All forms of resistance were cracked down upon and any Estonian tied to German – and Finnish – aﬀairs arrested. In less than a year over 10000 people were arrested and deported to labour camps in Russia. A great many more ﬂed right before the Soviet’s occupation. All-in-all, during World War II Estonia’s population dropped by 2000004, with material damage being relatively minor compared to other territories. [2, 33] Through the deportations following World War II, Estonia permanently lost one of its historical ethnic minorities – the Baltic Germans. Although this group had long held the reigns, the Soviet authorities deported the last 400 of them in August 1945. Soon afterwards, discussion started among the Soviets on

1.9 Independence

Stalin’s death in 1953 led to several turbulent years, in which Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (17 April 1894 – 11 September 1971) eventually became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union. His policy of destalinization had widespread repercussions throughout not only the communist world, but also led to peaceful coexistence with the capitalist West. [35] The widespread Soviet policy of violence was stopped, and progress in economy was accompanied by a rise in living standards for the population. The stabilisation of social life is characteristic for this period – Khrushchev’s thaw – and allowed for greater criticism against the state. By the mid-1960s, the existing underground movement was gradually replaced by a rather different democratic movement. This movement could be seen throughout all of the Soviet Union and had better defined ideas and political foundation. Not independence, but a drive for democracy was its aim as no subjugated nation could achieve the former fighting on its own. The first cracks in the Union had formed but it would take another two decades to show. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union’s economy was in a critical situation. The leader of the Soviet Union at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev, was watched cautiously by most people, including the Estonians. His innovative policies continued the trend set out by Khrushchev which was significantly enhanced by Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika. [36] An extensive protest campaign against phosphorite mines in northern Estonia in spring 1987 made clear that civil rights were expanding and the regime was changing. Soon, environmental issues were supplemented by political topics. [2] From the beginning of World War II, the Estonians were longing for clarity regarding the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact, through which they lost their sovereignty. In August 1987, a group was formed that openly demanded that the secret protocol of the 1939 pact be made public. This set loose a chain of reactions that led to the admittance by the Soviet leadership of the existence of the pact in 1989. The

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 pact was declared invalid from the moment it was signed. [2] In August 1988 the first Estonian political party was founded in the form of the Estonian National Independence Party. Many members were part of the group that questioned the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact a year earlier. The party aimed for the Republic of Estonia to be restored based on the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920. A second group was represented by the Popular Front, a party that did not seek independence on the basis of legal continuity but rather on the declaration of a new state. Both would eventually come together. Estonian independence was on its way, and the Soviet Union seemed unable to combat movements of independence due to the transformations taking place: the Language Act – declaring Estonian to be the only official language – was passed in January 1989; Estonian SSR was renamed to the Republic of Estonia in May 1990; the blue-black-white flag (see Figure 6) of the Republic of Estonia was re- adopted as the Estonian national flag on 7 August 1990; and the Declaration of Sovereignty was adopted on 16 November 1990. [37]

Figure 6: A possible source for Estonia’s tricolour national ﬂag: a forest in winter underneath a clear sky. [28]

Still, the Soviet Union considered Estonia and the other Baltic States part of the Union, which it was willing to maintain by force. Estonia was spared violence but violent events in Vilnius and Riga, capitals of Lithuania and Latvia respectively, took place in January 1991. After the January crisis, Moscow planned a referendum to preserve the Union. Estonia refused to take part, and instead voted in favour of Estonian independence with 77.8% of the votes. The turbulent times – mass protests throughout the Soviet Union, an attempted coup d’état in Moscow in August 1991 – sped up the restoration of Estonian independence. On 20 August 1991 Estonia proclaimed independence and the Republic of Estonia was restored after 51 years of illegal occupation. Diplomatic relations and recognition of the newly reformed republic quickly followed. Russia and the Soviet Union, however, only recognised

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Estonia as a new country within the former Estonian SSR borders – these diﬀer from the borders established by the Treat of Tartu and remain a disagreement between Estonia and Russia. [2, 37] Tallinn

Modern-day Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It’s almost half a million citizens make up about a third of Estonia’s total population. [38] It has one island (Aegna) and two lakes (Harku, 1.7km2 , and Ülemiste, 9.4km2 ) within its city borders. [39]

2.1 A modern capital of old

A city at Tallinn’s current location was first mentioned in 1154 on the map of the Muslim Cartographer Muhammed alldrisi as Qalaven. Qalaven may have denoted a predecessor town of today’s Tallinn as the first fortress was already built in 1050. [39, 40] Ideally situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, it was an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia. Like the rest of the Baltic region, it became an interesting target for expansion by other countries. Danish rule of Tallinn and Northern Estonia started in 1219, and by 1285 the city, then known as Reval, became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League after it acquired Lübeck Rights in 1248. [41] Tallinn got the coining right in 1265 and the warehousing right in 1346, which meant that for every trade a portion of the profit would end up in the city’s coffers. As Danish reign lapsed, the northern parts of Estonia were sold to the Teutonic Order in 1346, and heavily influenced by Baltic Germans in the centuries that followed. This was strongly aided by the conversion of the city to Lutheranism as The Reformation spread throughout the Baltic States. Following the Northern Seven Years’ War, Reval became a dominion of Sweden in 1561. It was during this time that Reval became the centre of a new administrative unit – the Estonian government. A period of general decline followed due to the decline of Hansa trade, and through it a decrease in wealth and independence of the town. The big plague epidemic ravaged the town in 1602 – 1603, and a great fire destroyed most of the buildings at Toompea – one of the three main parts of Reval. [39, 42]

Figure 7: Tallinn’s location on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. 59° 26 N; 24° 46 S.

Following Sweden’s defeat to the Russian Empire, Reval was passed on to Russia along with the rest of Estonia – it was however allowed to keep its local autonomy under the subsequent centuries of Russian rule. On 24 February 1918, the Independence Manifesto was proclaimed in Reval. Reval would be occupied brieﬂy by Imperial Germany before ﬁghting a war of independence with Russia. From that moment onwards the city would be called Tallinn, with the exception being its occupation by Nazi Germany that reverted its name to Reval. [39, 42] As an independent democratic Estonian state was re-established in 1991, Tallinn became the capital of

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 a de-facto independent country once again on 20 August 1991. Since then it has developed into a highly modern European capital. Tallinn beneﬁts from a high level of economic freedom, liberal economic policies and has a highly diversiﬁed economy with particular strengths in information technology. Being at the heart of Estonia and Estonia’s dreams to become the centre of online activity, Tallinn already generates over half of the Estonian GDP and is the birthplace of many digital applications. [39, 43]

Modern Estonia

Of all the Union republics that achieved independence, the Baltic States have shown remarkable economic growth and reforms. Although it was not until 1994 that the Russian armed forces finally withdrew from Estonia, the latter had already implemented monetary reform as early as June 1992, and the new constitution had come into force on 3 July 1992. [2] Since its independence, Estonia has emerged once again as the gateway between East and West. Free trade agreements, trade relations with new foreign trade partners, improved quality and assurance have led to strong growth among many different sectors. Although it still trades actively with Russia (11%), the Scandinavian countries were and are Estonia’s biggest trading partners. From the reimplementation of the Kroon in 1992 up to the switch to the Euro in 2001, the Kroon had a fixed rate of DEM 1 = EEK 8, after which it was pegged with the Euro. Estonia eventually joined organisations like the WTO (1993), NATO (2004), EU (2004), and Euro (2011) and greatly solidified its global economic importance and sovereignty. [44–46] Embracing the connectivity that the modern times have to offer, Estonia has become one of the most wired and advanced countries in Europe, leading the way in many online fields. In addition to being the birthplace of Skype and several other digital applications, Estonia boosts a state-of-the-art expertise in computer security since it was the victim of major data pirating and denial of services in 2007 – ostensibly orchestrated by its big neighbour Russia. [47] With the introduction of Estonia’s e-Residency – a state-issued secure digital identity that allows digital authentication and the digital signing of documents – to the rest of the world in 2015, Estonia is turning itself into the de-facto heart of the digital world. It seems, after a millennium, Estonia’s international role has finally come back full circle. [48]

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

A First-Person Perspective

Unlike most of the Finnish cities visited during this study tour, Tallinn will be remembered for its warm feeling and cosy atmosphere. Although listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world, Tallinn’s technological powers are mostly hidden underneath layers of historical and foreign influences. Street and building architecture often showed the latter. Buildings in Toompea, for example, had several distinct styles: medieval towers, walls and the Lutheran Cathedral showed clear signs of a German influence; a czarist era governor’s palace – alongside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral – was a perfect example of the period of Russification and a perfect symbol of the czarist rule and (former) Russian dominance; and last, the building of parliament exhibited an expressionist feeling fitting well into the period of Estonia’s first wave of independence. Like parts of Toompea, Tallinn’s Old Town has managed to preserve its structure of medieval and Hanseatic origin, forming a strong bastion of remaining German influences. The original cobblestone streets with medieval churches and grandiose merchant houses, barns and warehouses are still intact, with Town Hall Square still being the unofficial heart of Tallinn – even after more than 7 centuries. Similar observations could be made throughout the remainder Tallinn, but were most strikingly seen at the state-operated Estonian Open Air Museum. Historical buildings from all over Estonia were brought together and reconstructed at this site. These buildings gave me an impression of the architectural – and therefore cultural – changes that took place during the past couple of centuries. Different settings corresponded to the regions where they originated from, with farmyards from North, South and West Estonia all having distinctive ornamentals and layouts. Not only the distinct identities of the counties of Estonia, stemming all the way back to Estonia’s tribal periods, were easily distinguished, but also the advances made throughout the last millennium. It is always most interesting to see the different parts of a pre-departure report come to life, so to speak, and see the great resemblances between written and reality. Estonia’s – and perhaps Tallinn’s – technological advancements do shine through the layers of old every so often. For starters, Wi-Fi is provided throughout most of Tallinn free of charge, with medieval wagons functioning as both hotspots and nuts stands. Perhaps that is one of Tallinn’s greatest strengths: deeply intertwining the world of high-tech with that of the Middle Ages and its Hanseatic origin. Still, despite having been independent for a quarter of a century, external influences are still part of everyday life. Tallinn’s rather cheap public transport – free for Tallinn residents – was introduced by a mayor, seen by many as pro-Russian, for political gains. Ethnic Russians make up almost a third of Estonia’s population and there exists quite a bit of resentment towards this group and Russia in general. Especially the older generation’s frown upon anyone who is even remotely connected to Russia, and the fear of being conquered by the Russian Bear remains still very much alive to this day. Although the former is diminishing in the younger generations, the latter is pretty much felt throughout all of society, more so considering Russia’s recent operations in Ukraine. Even during our relatively short (and local) visit to Estonia we experienced the effects of Russia’s (and Europe’s) geopolitical agendas. The scheduled symposium in Tallinn at which both Estonian students and students from our study tour would hold talks was cancelled due to military drills. Overnight Estonia had recalled thousands of reservists and volunteers for its largest-ever military drill on 4 May. With barely any students not on duty, the proximity to and country’s fear of Russia became very apparent. Being caught up between two seemingly lasting strong spheres of influence, Estonia has seen a

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 sometimes harsh past that continues to define its present-day existence. Based on our rather short visit I would say Western Europe is slightly more influential, at least to Tallinn. The people, food, and cultural aspects encountered would not be out of place in most of Western Europe, and most certainly not in Germany. The Baltic Germans and Hanseatic League seem to have set up a proper Western- oriented foundation that even holds after decades of Russification and Russian influences. While the Western foundation influences Estonia through tradition and rule, Russian influences seem to affect modern-day life through fear rather than respect, as became apparent through the military drill we witnessed. In the end, I believe Estonia’s sometimes harsh history has defined its character: Estonia would have been a very different country without it, and would most certainly lack the possibility to transform itself into one Of the world’s leading digital states. Considering just how far 25 years have brought this beautiful Baltic country, just imagine where it will be in another quarter of a century. Time is in its favour.

References [1] Wikipedia. Tacitus. 2015. url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 3). [2] Hille Lepp. Estonia’s history - estonia.eu. 2015. url: http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/history/estonias- history.html (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on pp. 3–5, 7–10). [3] Jean-Jacques Subrenat. Estonia: identity and independence. Vol. 2. Rodopi, 2004 (cit. on pp. 3, 5). [4] Wikipedia. History of Estonia. 2015. url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Estonia#mediaviewer/ File:Ancient_Estonian_counties.png (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 3). [5] Toivo U Raun. Estonia and the Estonians. Hoover Press, 1987 (cit. on p. 3). [6] Runeberg.org. 496 (Salmonsens konversationsleksikon / Anden Udgave / Bind VII: Elektriske Sporvejeiesole). 2015. url: http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/7/0518.html (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 3). [7] Wikipedia. Kingdom of Livonia. 2015. url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Livonia#/media/ File:LIVONIAE_NOVA_DESCRIPTIO_1573-1578.jpg (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 4). [8] Hille Lepp. Dates from Estonian history - estonia.eu. 2015. url: http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/country/ dates-from-estonian-history.html (Retrieved 03/01/2015) (cit. on p. 4). [9] Hille Lepp. Estonian Language - estonia.eu. 2015. url: http://estonia.eu/about- estonia/culture- a- science/estonian-language.html (Retrieved 03/01/2015) (cit. on p. 4). [10] Michael North. Kultureller Austausch: Bilanz und Perspektiven der Frühneuzeitforschung. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2009 (cit. on p. 4). [11] Robert I Frost. The northern wars: war, state and society in northeastern Europe, 1558-1721. Routledge, 2014 (cit. on p. 4). [12] Byron J Nordstrom. Scandinavia since 1500. U of Minnesota Press, 2000 (cit. on p. 4). [13] University of Tartu. Facts about the History of the University of Tartu | University of Tartu. 2015. url: http://www.ut.ee/en/university/general/history (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 4). [14] Wikipedia. Kalevipoeg. 2015. url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevipoeg#/media/File:OKallis- Kalevipoeg.jpg (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 5). [15] Lauri Honko. Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World’s Epics: The Kalevala and Its Predecessors. Vol. 30. Walter de Gruyter, 1990 (cit. on p. 5). [16] Toivo Miljan. Historical dictionary of Estonia. Scarecrow Press, 2004 (cit. on p. 5). [17] Hank Johnston. “Religion and nationalist subcultures in the Baltics”. In: Journal of Baltic Studies 23.2 (1992), pp. 133–148 (cit. on p. 5). [18] Juri Talvet. “Kalevipoeg, a Great European Epic1”. In: (2003) (cit. on p. 5). [19] Estonica. Estonica.org – Estonian War of Independence. 2012. url: http://www.estonica.org/en/History/ 1914- 1920_The_First_World_War_and_Estonian_independence/Estonian_War_of_Independence/ (Re- trieved 03/01/2015) (cit. on p. 5).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

[20] The Council of Elders. Declaration of Independence. 1918. url: http://president.ee/en/republic- of- estonia/declaration-of-independence/index.html (Retrieved 02/28/2015) (cit. on p. 5). [21] Ago Pajur. Estonica.org – Years of parliamentarian democracy. 2012. url: http://www.estonica.org/en/ History/1920-1939_The_Republic_of_Estonia_between_the_two_World_Wars/Years_of_parliamentarian_ democracy/ (Retrieved 03/09/2015) (cit. on p. 6). [22] John Arthur Garraty. The Great Depression: an inquiry into the causes, course, and consequences of the worldwide depression of the nineteen-thirties, as seen by contemporaries and in the light of history. Harcourt, 1986 (cit. on p. 6). [23] Ago Pajur. Estonica.org – Years of the authoritarian regime. 2012. url: http : / / www . estonica . org / en / History / 1920 - 1939 _ The _ Republic _ of _ Estonia _ between _ the _ two _ World _ Wars / Years _ of _ the _ authoritarian_regime/ (Retrieved 03/09/2015) (cit. on p. 6). [24] Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Nichtangriﬀsvertrag zwischen Deutschland und der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, 23. August 1939. 1939. url: http://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html? c=dokument_de&dokument=0025_pak&object=facsimile&pimage=1&v=100&nav=&l=de (Retrieved 03/09/2015) (cit. on p. 6). [25] Wikipedia. Occupation of the Baltic states – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. url: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Baltic_states#/media/File:Ribbentrop-Molotov.svg (Retrieved 03/22/2015) (cit. on p. 6). [26] Toomas Hiio. Estonica.org – Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Soviet military bases. 2012. url: http : / / www . estonica.org/en/History/1939-1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact_and_Soviet_ military_bases/ (Retrieved 03/09/2015) (cit. on p. 6). [27] Tobias R Philbin. The Lure of Neptune: German-Soviet Naval Collaboration and Ambitions, 1919-1941. Univ of South Carolina Press, 1994 (cit. on p. 6). [28] Wikipedia. History of the Soviet Union (1927 – 1953) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. url: http: / / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / History _ of _ the _ Soviet _ Union _ %281927 % E2 % 80 % 9353 % 29 # /media / File : EasternBloc_BorderChange38-48.svg (Retrieved 03/22/2015) (cit. on pp. 7, 8). [29] Trumbull Higgins. Hitler and Russia. Macmillan, 1966 (cit. on p. 7). [30] Toomas Hiio. Estonica.org – Summer War (1941). 2012. url: http://www.estonica.org/en/Summer_War_1941/ (Retrieved 03/11/2015) (cit. on p. 7). [31] Toomas Hiio. Estonica.org – German invasion of Estonia in 1941. 2012. url: http://www.estonica.org/ en/History/1939- 1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/German_invasion_of_Estonia_in_1941/ (Retrieved 03/11/2015) (cit. on p. 7). [32] Toomas Hiio. Estonica.org – German occupation in Estonia 1941-1944. 2012. url: http://www.estonica. org/en/History/1939- 1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/German_occupation_in_Estonia_1941- 1944/ (Retrieved 03/11/2015) (cit. on p. 7). [33] Toomas Hiio. Estonica.org – The Red Army invasion of Estonia in 1944. 2012. url: http://www.estonica. org/en/History/1939-1945_Estonia_and_World_War_II/The_Red_Army_invasion_of_Estonia_in_1944/ (Retrieved 03/11/2015) (cit. on pp. 7, 8). [34] Hille Lepp. Soviet deportations from Estonia in 1940s - estonia.eu. 2015. url: http://estonia.eu/about- estonia/history/soviet- deportations- from- estonia- in- 1940s.html (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 8). [35] Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev. 2015. url: http://www.britannica.com/ EBchecked/topic/316972/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 8). [36] Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Mikhail Gorbachev. 2015. url: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/ topic/238982/Mikhail-Gorbachev (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 8). [37] Einar Värä. Estonica.org – The road to independence. 2012. url: http://www.estonica.org/en/History/1985- 1991_Restoration_of_independence/The_road_to_independence/ (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on pp. 8, 9). [38] Estonian Tourist Board. Tallinn – the capital city of Estonia. 2015. url: http://www.visitestonia.com/en/ holiday-destinations/city-guides/tallinn-the-capital (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on p. 9). [39] Tallinn City. History of Tallinn > Tallinn. 2014. url: http://www.tallinn.ee/eng/History- of- Tallinn (Retrieved 02/15/2015) (cit. on pp. 9, 10). [40] Alan W Ertl. Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration. Universal-Publishers, 2008 (cit. on p. 9). [41] Histrodamus.ee. Tallinn receives town privileges under the Lübeck law | Histrodamus.ee. 2015. url: http :

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/ / www . eestiajalugu . ee / index . php ? event = Show _ event & event _ id = 1618 & layer = 152 & lang = eng # 1618 (Retrieved 03/01/2015) (cit. on p. 9). [42] Eeva Teder. Tallinna Ülikool – Informaatika. 2014. url: http://www.tlu.ee/~eeval/referaat/referaat% 20pdf.pdf (Retrieved 02/21/2015) (cit. on p. 9). [43] Kaja Koovit. Half of Estonian GDP is created in Tallinn. Baltic Business News – bbn, 2008. url: http : //www.balticbusinessnews.com/?PublicationId=f47e445a - e234- 432f- b7b0- 137ca0bff47d (Retrieved 03/01/2015) (cit. on p. 10). [44] WTO. WTO | Estonia – Member information. 2015. url: https : / / www . wto . org / english / thewto _ e / countries_e/estonia_e.htm (Retrieved 03/11/2015) (cit. on p. 10). [45] Tere euro. Euroveeb. 2014. url: http : / / euro . eesti . ee / EU / Prod / Euroveeb / index . html (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 10). [46] Estonia.eu. Changeover to the euro in Estonia from 1 January 2011 – estonia.eu. 2014. url: http://estonia. eu/about- estonia/economy-a-it/euro.html (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 10). [47] Romain Gueugneau. Estonia, how a former Soviet State became the next Silicon Valley. 2013. url: http : //www.worldcrunch.com/tech-science/estonia-how-a-former-soviet-state-became-the-next-silicon- valley/tallinn-skype-developers-internet-high-tech/c4s10988/#.VQWfg-H1_yQ (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 10). [48] e Estonia. About – e-Estonia. 2015. url: https://e-estonia.com/e-residents/about/ (Retrieved 03/15/2015) (cit. on p. 10).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Molecular Life Sciences in Finland and Estonia Rosa Stolper

Introduction Molecular Life Sciences are not a traditional research field, but an emerging discipline at the interface of biology and chemistry. As such it is very broad and diverse, and difficult to determine what it includes and what not. However, to be able to explore and reflects on its status in Estonia and Finland it is necessary to, at least attempt, to define Molecular Life Sciences. As this literature study is done as a preparation for the study tour of the master Molecular Life Sciences, its content and subjects could be a good starting point for drawing the borders of the discipline.

The Radboud University describes the study Molecular Life Sciences as follows: “Working at the interface of chemistry, biology and medical science, you will not only explore the basic principles of molecules and cells, but also their role in health and disease.” (Radboud University, 2015)

Students of Molecular Life Sciences do their internships at many different departments within the university – the research departments of the Radboud UMC, the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) and at the Faculty of Science. All the research topics from these departments can be included in the definition of Molecular Life Science, which shows how very broad it is. As Molecular Life Sciences are so very broad, to describe all the research in this field in Finland and Estonia would be beyond the scope of this literature thesis. I therefore decided to focus on universities that we will visit during our study tour.

Chemistry is of course closely related to Molecular Life Sciences, and as the literature study of Chemistry in Finland and Estonia was cancelled, it will be touched upon a little bit in this study.

The Academy of Finland appoints every few years Centres of Excellence in research. They are funded for 6 years by the Academy of Finland together with universities and research institutes. They might consist of multiple groups working together. Important is that they are innovative and target- oriented. Because they provide a good overview of cutting-edge research in Finland, they are used as a starting point in this literature study (Academy of Finland, 2015).

Helsinki The university was founded in Turku in 1640 while Finland was still under Swedish rule (University of Helsinki , 2015). This university stood at the beginning of chemistry research in Finland, with the famous chemist Johan Gadolin. He studied at this university and after writing his dissertation at the university of Uppsala, he returned to Turku where he became a professor in chemistry. He discovered yttrium oxide, which he thought was an undiscovered element. Later the pure element was named after him, gadolinia. It is the 43rd most abundant element and has applications as a fluorescent agent, for instance as a paramagnetic contrast media used for magnetic resonance imaging. He was also already active with innovation and the translation of research results for business purposes. For instance, he was involved in the founding of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce. While visiting the Royal Society in the United Kingdom he presented his own theory on the importance of oxygen in combustion and he later became the first chemist in Scandinavia to accept and promote the theory of Lavoisier on combustion. In 1798 he published the first modern

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 chemistry textbook in Scandinavia and it remained in use for almost half a century, becoming his most important book (Dean & Dean, 1996).

Two researchers of the University of Helsinki won Nobel prizes in a topic of interest for our study tour – Chemistry and Molecular Life Sciences. Artturi Ilmari Virtanen won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1945. He studied at the University of Helsinki and also obtained his doctors degree at that university. In 1931 he became director of the Biochemical Research Institute at Helsinki and professor of Biochemistry at the Finland Institute of Helsinki. In 1939 he also became professor at the University of Helsinki. He was interested in the different bacterial fermentations and he and his coworkers were the first to chemically determine the complete fermentation of dioxyaceton to glycerol and glyceric acid in the presence of phosphates by the effect of Coli bacteria, in 1929. Later his research became directed to the chemical characterization of higher plants. They isolated many organic sulphur compounds that can be important for the nutritional value of plants. Especially the method he established for the preservation of fresh fodder was important in the effective utilization of protein-rich crops and the production of milk of high nutritional value. (Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942-1962, 1964)

Another alumnus of the University of Helsinki, Ragnar Granit, shared the prize in Medicine in 1967. In 1935 he became professor of Physiology at the University of Helsinki, but in 1940 he left for Stockholm where he worked at the Royal Caroline Institute. In the beginning of his career his main interest was in the field of vision. First he focused on psychophysics but he shifted to electrophysiological field and finally he worked with neurophysiology. (Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1963-1970, 1972) The Faculty of Science has a chemistry department, which includes research departments in Analytical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry and Radiochemistry (Faculty of Science, 2015). Molecular Life Sciences research is found at these departments, and at the faculty of medicine, biological and environmental sciences, and pharmacy.

On interesting example of research within Molecular Life Sciences is the group of Professor Kari Alitalo that works on oncogenes and mechanisms of angiogenesis. He was one of the first to discover factors that influence the lymphangiogenesis. The final aim of his group, Translational Cancer Biology, is to provide new treatment options for cancer and cardiovascular diseases, which are the most common diseases in the western world. They are interested in endothelial growth factors and their signal transductions and in particular they focus on vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) and angiopoietins. Among the many results of his lab are the findings about VEGF-C and its importance in cancer. They demonstrated that it induces tumor angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis and that VEGF-C is associated with tumor metastasis. Furthermore they found that this process can be blocked by inhibitors of the VEGFR-3 (VEGF-receptor 3) and these are now entering phase I clinical trials (University of Helsinki, 2015).His work uses a molecular basis, but has clear applications in clinical biology. Kari Alitalo is the second most cited author in cell biology in Europe between 1996 and 2007 (Neumann, 2009). In 2014 he won the Heineken prize for medicine, awarded by the KNAW every two years to a pioneering medical researcher (KNAW, 2015).

Tampere In Tampere the BioMediTech institute, a joint institute of the University of Tampere and the Tampere University of Technology, focuses on research in Life Sciences. Their themes of interest include

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 research into human spare parts, that is, regenerative medicine. This research program is focused on clinical goals, such as developing protocols that produce bone and cartilage transplants in vitro and in vivo, but also on technological goals, such as making biomaterials for tissue engineering (BioMediTech, 2015). Another research theme is found in the Prostate Cancer Research Center, which is a fairly new research centre as it was established in 2012, but many of the groups existed already for years. Research focusses, among others, on biomarkers, genetic predisposition and the molecular biology of prostate cancer (Prostate cancer research center, 2015).

FinMIT is also part of the BioMediTech institute and is a Centre of Excellence. It consist of seven research teams that all work on mitochondria, ranging from basic research to developing strategies for new therapies for mitochondrial disorders. Some of the research teams are based in Helsinki (FinMIT, 2015). The group of Howy Jacobs, Molecular Biology, is part of the University of Tampere and uses mammalian cells and fruit fly for their research into mitochondria. It was long believed that mitochondrial DNA was replicated by a unique, strand-asynchronous mechanism, but the work of this group showed that there are most likely to mechanisms in which mtDNA is replicated. They currently focus on the role of two mtDNA binding proteins, namely TFAM and mTERF, and their role in mtDNA metabolism. They are also interested in the role of mtDNA in ageing, infertility and deafness. It is thought that the accumulation of somatic mutations in the mtDNA is closely related to aging, because it comprises to energy metabolism of cells. To study this idea they use mice that have a proof-reading deficient form of the catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial polymerase. They also study ageing phenotypes related to mitochondrial dysfunction in Drosophila. Furthermore they study models of mitochondrial disease, in which their current approach is to study pathways that are induced in response to mitochondrial stress (University of Tampere, 2015).

Turku The University of Turku has research departments in biochemistry and chemistry. One of its strongest research subjects is molecular biosciences, in particular host defense and auto-immune disease research, biomedical research, and plant biological research on photosynthesis and bioenergy. The group Molecular Plant Biology, of Professor Eva-Mari Aro, is well known for their research into photosynthesis. Eva-Mari Aro is leading a Centre of Excellence for the second time in Finland, and they also collaborate with an Australian Centre of Excellence. Their research will be important for the future, to replace traditional energy sources with a way to produce clean, carbon dioxide free energy (Matikainen, 2015). To make this possible they study different aspects of photosynthesis, such as how plants, algae and cyanobacteria cope with stress caused by changes in the natural environment. The major focus of their study is the photosynthesis in algae and cyanobacteria, its mechanism and how it can be manipulated for bioenergy production. They also study protein components and energy transfer pathways (University of Turku, 2015). The Abo Akademi is another university in Turku, a Swedish-language university. It shares together with the University of Turku the Turku Centre of Biotechnology, in which research is centered on cell signaling. Areas of interest include Molecular Cell Biology, Molecular Immunology, Bioenergy and Structural Bioinformatics & Systems Biology (Turku Centre for Biotechnology, 2015). The Finnish Microarray and Sequencing Centre is situated in the Turku Centre of Biotechnology and offers several kinds of research techniques and services in genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics to research groups. They offer many techniques, among which next-generation sequencing with Illumina HiSeq and quantitative real-time PCR (Finnish Microarray and Sequencing Centre, 2015).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Other groups in which we can find Molecular Life Sciences include Epigenomics, of David Hawkins, that focusses on epigenomics and differentiation, and Cell Adhesion and Cancer, of Johanna Ivaska, that is interested in integrins and receptor tyrosine kinases (Turku Centre for Biotechnology, 2015).

Turku is also a very important place for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries in Finland. Almost half of the turnover of the pharmaceutical industry is generated by companies operating in this region. The industry is supported by BioTurku, which is coordinated by Turku Science Park. Some of the best known products are Benecol, a cholesterol lowering ingredient in food and drinks, and Xylitol, which prevents dental caries (Science Park Turku, 2015). Forendo pharma is one of the pharmaceutical companies that is based in Turku. It is a drug discovery and development company. Its main interests are in tissue specific regulation of sex hormone effects (Forendo pharma, 2015). Biotie Therapies, based in Turku, is a specialized drug development company that focusses on neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. It is mainly involved in the phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials for these drugs (Biotie Therapies, 2015). Another large company that is based in Turku, but also in other places in Finland, is Orion. It is active as a developer of pharmaceuticals and diagnostic test, but also manufactures and markets these products. Its research and development departments focus on central nervous systems disorders, mainly Parkinson’s disease, and oncology. Furthermore it also develops inhalable drugs for respiratory diseases (Orion corporation, 2015).

Other universities in Finland

There are of course more universities in Finland that we won’t visit, but that have interesting research programs. For instance in Oulu, one of the largest northern cities, is the University of Oulu. At the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine there’s, among others, a research program of the cell-extracellular matrix, which is of course important in many diseases, such as metastasis in cancer and arthritis. The group of Taina Pihlajeniemi focusses on the collagen protein family that are of major importance in maintaining the integrity of tissues. They specialize in to subgroups of collagens, the ones that occur in the basement membrane and the transmembrane collagens (University of Oulu, 2015).

Industry in Finland

During the last decades the chemical industry has become of increasing importance for the Finnish economy. As can be seen in figure 1, chemical products make up about a quarter of the export products nowadays (Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, 2015). The largest export partners of the Finnish chemical industry are, not surprisingly, its neighbours Russia and Sweden. However, the third most important export country is actually the Netherlands. Estonia is also in the top ten of export partners (figure 2) (Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, 2015).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Figure 1. Percentage contribution of sectors in Finnish export (Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, 2015)

Figure 2. Ten largest export countries of the Finnish chemical industry (Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, 2015)

Tallinn There are two universities in Tallinn, the Tallinn University and the Tallinn University of Technology. Especially at the later interesting molecular life sciences research can be found. One important research theme is chemical biology, which interdisciplinary approach really reflects molecular life sciences well. Their chemical biology research aims at providing tools to study and fight infectious diseases. To accomplish this they work together in a Center of Excellence with another university in Estonia, namely the University of Tartu. It seems that in this collaboration the chemistry related topics are more represented by the Tallinn University of Technology, as there is an organic synthesis group and a molecular modelling group involved. From the University of Tartu, there is a group focusing on antibiotics, especially on the molecular mechanisms behinds its action and behind antibiotic resistance. Other groups from the University of Tartu that are involved focus on RNA and DNA viruses and peptides (Center of excellence in chemical biology, 2015).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Other universities in Estonia

The University of Tartu is actually the oldest, largest and most renowned university of Estonia. It was founded in 1632 and has known many different names and regimes. It was also moved to Tallinn a few times, and closed for some periods (University of Tartu, 2015). Within the faculty of science and technology the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology has nine research groups, all doing molecular life sciences related research. One example is the group Molecular Biology, of professor Remme that uses Escherichia coli to study many aspects of the ribosomes. Another group, Cell Biology, studies stem cells and chromatin structure (Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 2015). The Estonian University of Life Sciences is also located in Tartu. It started as a faculty of the University of Tartu, but in 1951 it became an independent university, called the Estonian Academy of Agriculture. During the second half of the twentieth century and the first years of the twenty-first, the curriculum of the university became more elaborate. Topics such as environmental sciences, animal sciences and applied hydrobiology were introduced. In 2005 it changed its name to the Estonian University of Life Sciences (Estonian University of Life Sciences , 2015).

Summary

Molecular Life Sciences are found at all universities in Finland, often spread over several faculties and research departments. This reflects the multidisciplinary aspect of Molecular Life Sciences. Interest in Molecular Life Sciences is also apparent from the many research institutes that focus on this area, such as the Turku Centre of Biotechnology and the BioMediTech institute in Tampere. In industry Molecular Life Science is often found at pharmaceutical companies, of which many are having research & development departments based in Turku. The chemical industry is very important for the Finnish export, with an increasing share in the last decades.

In Estonia Molecular Life Sciences is also found at many departments of several universities. It seems that at the Tallinn University the Molecular Life Sciences are found at the chemistry departments, while at the University of Tartu the Molecular Biology part is represented. Because the universities work together they can complement each other in this research field. The Estonian University of Life Sciences has some Molecular Life Sciences aspects, but this originates mainly from its history as an agricultural university. It might be compared to the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, in that sense.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Retrospective study of Molecular Life Sciences in Finland and Estonia

During the study tour we visited many different research groups and heard about many different research projects. Many of them I did not describe yet in my preliminary study. This shows again that a lot of different kinds of research is done in the field of Molecular Life Sciences. In this retrospective study I have tried to select of all the research projects the once that are most interesting for Molecular Life Science students and thereby make the overview of Molecular Life Sciences in Finland and Estonia more complete.

In Tallinn we visited the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics. In the morning a seminar was scheduled in which some of the group leaders gave a short presentation about their research. In the afternoon we visited the labs. One of the mayor strengths of this institute is NMR research, which is of course more in the field of chemistry. They had also some groups working on more biological or life sciences projects. One example is the group of Dr. Anne Kahru, who works in the field of Environmental Toxicology. They conducts studies to find the toxicity of compounds present in the environment, such as nanoparticles or metals. One of the ways they do this is by using luminescent bacteria. During our visit they also showed us these bacteria. These bacteria can be used to sense the amount of metals in the environment. The bacteria has a luciferase gene as a reporter that is under transcriptional control of a sensor gene that binds the metal, or other signal, from the environment. If there is more of the metal available in the environment the amount of luciferase and thus luminescent signal will go up. Another interesting research project is directed by Dr. Tuuli Käämbre in Bioenergetics. They focus mainly on the metabolism of tumor cells and how the transition from a normal cell into a tumor cell takes place. Another aspect they focus on is the changes in the cytoskeleton of tumor cells.

At the University of Helsinki we visited the Department of Chemistry. We heard about several fields of their research. They for instance investigate ionic liquids that can be used as a more environmental friendly replacement for industrial volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These ionic liquids have generally favourable chemical and physical properties for research and analytical applications. However, they can still easily accumulate in the ecosystem because they are water soluble and not biodegradable. Therefore it is necessary to conduct toxicity studies. In Helsinki they mainly focus on phosphonium ionic liquids. Another interesting topic was VERIFIN, which is a Finnish institute where they work on the verification of the chemical weapon convention. They work together with the OPWC and perform analysis for this organisation. Furthermore they develop new methods for verification and analysis of toxic compounds. It is of course very important for them to work safely and the lecturer told us that they also sometimes receive substances like sarin, which most of us know from the course Toxicology.

We were also able to attend part of a Bioscience Event. This is an annual event held at a different university in Finland each year which gives biology students in Finland the opportunity to visit different universities and learn about the research at that university. It also allows them to meet other biology students and build a network. This was the last day of the event on which there were several lab tours scheduled and there were also some talks. Unfortunately we could only attend one lecture, because most of them were given in Finnish. The lecture was about using informatics and programming to allow researchers to simulate pattern formation processes in biology, such as shield

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 formation in turtles. The lecturer pointed out that these kind of studies can show us clearly what we still miss in our knowledge of biological processes, although they are not very popular by biologist because they involve differential equations. We also visited the Electron Microscopy facilities, which was really interesting as most of us were not really familiar with this field. They showed us how samples were prepared – they have to be really thin – and that samples can be kept for a really long time. The research director that gave us the tour told us she still used sample from her first work with electron microscopy, more than ten years ago! We also had a talk by Yulia Sidorova, who works on the GDNF mimetics project. They focus on the development of new drugs against Parkinson’s disease. Their strategy is to develop GDNF mimetics that can prevent the death of dopaminergic neurons. They try to do this by rational drug design. This project is a joint project between the University of Helsinki and Molcode, a company that is based in Estonia.

On our way to our next destination, Turku, we visited PerkinElmer, or as it is called in Finnish, Wallac. This is a large international company that produces all different kinds of analysis methods and machines. One of their major products lines nowadays, which is mainly present in Turku, is the prenatal, maternal and new born screening. Screening in the first trimester is possible for chromosomal abnormalities, assessing risk of neural tube defect and for monitoring of maternal health. The latter is especially important for assessing the risk of pre-eclampsia, which is very dangerous for the mother and infant.

It was interesting to note the specific things they have to pay attention to, because it is a company that is focused on making their products as easy to use for their costumers as possible. For instance, a lot of attention seemed to be focused on making the screening quick and easy. Most of their analysis methods rely on dried blood samples, which are convenient to take and require only small amounts of blood. It is also practical in storage, as it can be kept on room temperature. We also had a tour of the production site, so we could see how all the machines were made. It was interesting to know that they only make the machines on demand and that every machine is entirely made by a single person. Of course they do not make everything themselves, but order subcompartments from companies. The lady that was giving us the tour also showed us one of their newest and most advanced machines for new born screening and told us that Egypt had ordered many of those machines, because they started a new born screening centre in Cairo.

In Turku we have seen more of the industry at the Turku Science Park. This institute tries to help start-ups and fill the gap between the idea, which is the part of the university, and the products, which is the company’s part. Often universities think it is not their task to develop an idea further, but companies think it is too early for them to start developing. The goal of the institute is to apply more of the universities knowledge to society, and in this way fill the gap. They support start-ups by initiatives as the Biobank, a bank where a lot of anonymous patients material is available that can be used for testing by start-ups. One thing many of their companies focus on is point-of-care testing – we had already heard about that by PerkinElmer – in which the analysis should be performed next to the patient and ideally in less than one hour. An example of such a start-up company is Abacus Diagnostic, which develops chips for detection of infection based on DNA.

At the University of Turku we learned about many different research topics and also had some lab tours. One of the topics was the chemistry of plant defence compounds. They try to find new plant

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 components via UPLC and characterize the compounds by UV spectroscopy, MS/MS and NMR among others. One class of compounds that they are particularly interested in is tannins. These are large polyphenolic compounds that form strong complexes with different macromolecules, by their hydroxyl and other functional groups. This group also had a collaboration with Wageningen University. The lab tours were by Biochemistry and involved a lab that works in the food chemistry. The students were cooking, which was entertaining to see. We also heard a bit about research into the mechanisms by which a bacterial polymerase binds to DNA, how the elongation works and they are currently starting to become more focused on the release of the polymerase. We also visited the lab of Molecular Plant Biology where they are interested in factors that influence the effectiveness of photosynthesis under different conditions. This group of Professor Eva-Mari Aro was also mentioned in the preliminary study. They showed us how they measure the amount of light a leaf can absorb by using a large sphere-formed instrument.

Lab of Molecular Plant Biology. They study energy productions in algae under different conditions (left) and the influence of the colour of light on photosynthesis in plants

In Tampere we visited BioMediTech. We had a lecture about the bioinformatics group there. They were interested in cancer genomics and were sequencing tumour cell lines to find new mutations. One example the professor gave was the fusion gene FGFR3-TACC3 which they had found some time ago. It was overexpressed because of a specific micro-RNA that is found a lot in glioblastoma. Now a company are working on finding a drug to cure this specific mutation. We also visited the zebrafish facility, which I found personally quite interesting because we have learned a lot about zebrafish during our bachelor. We also saw them a few times in practical courses, but here we could really see a large facility where they perform experiments on large scale.

During the study tour we learned much about different research projects. I think we were quite a critical audience, most of the time we asked many questions. That is also something very useful to learn: How to quickly grasp the subject and critically evaluate it. The study tour offered plenty of opportunities for that.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

References

Academy of Finland. (2015, March 29). Centres of Excellence - Aims. Retrieved from Academy of Finland: http://www.aka.fi/en-GB/A/Programmes-and-cooperation/Centres-of-Excellence-/Aims/

BioMediTech. (2015, March 29). Human Spare Parts. Retrieved from Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology: http://www.biomeditech.fi/research/human_spare_parts_program.php

Biotie Therapies. (2015, March 29). Biotie in brief. Retrieved from Biotie Therapies: http://www.biotie.com/about- us.aspx?sc_lang=en

Center of excellence in chemical biology. (2015, March 30). Participating research groups. Retrieved from Center of excellence in chemical biology: http://www.cecb.ut.ee/indexeng_files/researchgroups.htm

Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. (2015, March 31). Economy. Retrieved from Kemian Teollisuus: http://www.kemianteollisuus.fi/en/figures/facts-figures/BsAcLEh-QReG7EPj5D2EHw/

Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. (2015, March 31). Foreign trade. Retrieved from Kemian Teollisuus: http://www.kemianteollisuus.fi/en/figures/facts-figures/2IDSueaLSPOYkhIhGSW8bA/#

Dean, P. B., & Dean, K. I. (1996). Sir Johan Gadolin of Turku: THe Grandfather of Gadolinium. Academic Radiology, 165-169.

Estonian University of Life Sciences . (2015, March 31). History. Retrieved from Eesti Maaülikool: https://www.emu.ee/en/about-the-university/history/

Faculty of Science. (2015, March 01). Research in departments. Retrieved from Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki: http://www.helsinki.fi/facultyofscience/research/departments.html

FinMIT. (2015, March 29). Research on mitochondrial disease and ageing. Retrieved from FinMIT: http://www.uta.fi/bmt/finmit/index.html

Finnish Microarray and Sequencing Centre. (2015, March 31). Microarray and Sequencing. Retrieved from Turku Centre for Biotechnology: http://www.btk.fi/microarray-and-sequencing/front-page/

Forendo pharma. (2015, March 29). Company (Homepage). Retrieved from Forendo pharma: http://forendo.com/

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. (2015, March 30). Chairs. Retrieved from University of Tartu, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology: http://www.tymri.ut.ee/en/chair-cell-biology

KNAW. (2015, March 29). Kari K. Alitalo. Retrieved from Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen: https://www.knaw.nl/en/awards/laureates/dr-a-h-heinekenprijs-voor-de-geneeskunde/kari-k-alitalo

Matikainen, J. (2015, March 31). Professor Eva-Mari Aro and her research group become partners in an australian centre of excellence. Retrieved from University of Turku - News: https://www.utu.fi/en/news/news/Pages/professor-eva- mari-aro-and-her-research-group-become-partners-in-an-australian-centre-of-excellence.aspx

Neumann, R. (2009). Publication Analysis 1996-2007 Cell Biology. Lab Times, 42.

Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942-1962. (1964). Amsterdam : Elsevier Publishing Company.

Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1963-1970. (1972). Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company.

Orion corporation. (2015, March 29). About Orion. Retrieved from Orion: http://www.orion.fi/en/Orion-group/about-orion/

Prostate cancer research center. (2015, March 29 ). Introduction. Retrieved from Prostate cancer research center: http://www.uta.fi/pcrc/

Radboud University. (2015, March 30). Master's programme in Molecular Life Sciences. Retrieved from Radboud University:

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http://www.ru.nl/english/education/masters/molecular-life/

Science Park Turku. (2015, March 29). BioTurku - health as a goal. Retrieved from Science Park Turku: http://www.turkusciencepark.com/en/about-science-park/bioturku/

Turku Centre for Biotechnology. (2015, March 31). Research areas. Retrieved from Turku Centre for Biotechnology: http://www.btk.fi/research/research-groups/

University of Helsinki . (2015, March 24). History of the University: The Royal Society of Turku 1640-1808. Retrieved from University of Helsinki: http://www.helsinki.fi/yliopistonhistoria/english/royal.htm

University of Helsinki. (2015, March 29). Alitalo Lab Translational Cancer Biology Research Program. Retrieved from University of Helsinki: http://research.med.helsinki.fi/cancerbio/alitalo/index.html

University of Oulu. (2015, March 30). Conserved Collagens in Cell-Matrix Homeostasis. Retrieved from University of Oulo: http://www.oulu.fi/fbmm/taina_pihlajaniemi

University of Tampere. (2015, March 29). Mitochondrial Genetics - Mitochondrial Biology . Retrieved from University of Tampere: http://www.uta.fi/bmt/institute/research/jacobs/contacts.html

University of Tartu. (2015, March 30). General info and History. Retrieved from University of Tartu: http://www.ut.ee/en/university/general/history

University of Turku. (2015, March 31). Molecular Plant Biology. Retrieved from University of Turku: http://www.utu.fi/fi/yksikot/sci/yksikot/biokemia/tutkimus/kfmb/Sivut/home.aspx

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Industry and Universities Exploring the Sources of Innovation Birthe Lagendijk

Introduction For the study tour 2015 to Finland I did a literature study to the universities and industry in both Finland and Estonia. In this written report about my literature studies I will discuss four major universities in the named part of Scandinavia and the industries of Finland and Estonia, keeping in mind the overall study tour theme of “Exploring the sources of Innovation”. This written report will largely overlap with my presentation of the symposium last March 4th, I hereby apologize for the repeated information.

Universities Tallinn The study tour in May 2015 will start off with a few days spent in Estonia. In this country, in the capital city Tallinn, we will visit a campus of the Tallinn University for Technology. This university was established in 1918 when the need for locally trained engineering specialists was recognized and the university has undergone many changes since, both in name and in appearance. This university currently consists of 8 faculties, 5 colleges, 4 research institutes and 2 regional competence centres all spread out over the country with a current level of about 14000 student including 900 foreign students originating from more than 60 different countries. These foreign students are more than welcome to participate in the 21 international courses offered by the Tallinn University of Technology in the fields of Engineering, IT, Business, and Social Sciences, all taught in English. On the campus in the Mustamäe district there are 55 buildings including faculty buildings, the science park, a museum, a library, student housing buildings, a bar, shops, restaurants, a sports centre and a stadium. It is a high-tech campus and very much suited for accomplishing the TUT’s mission of creating and intermediating values that secure Estonia’s development in the globalized world and generating a synergy between technological, exact, natural, health and social sciences. Thus enhancing the development of society. Besides this long term mission, the Tallinn University of Technology has a vision of how they want to be known to the world: they want to be internationally recognized as a research university and a promoter of economic development and innovation in Tallinn and all over Estonia.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Innovation is important at the Tallinn University of Technology. This is already shown in the mission statement, but it can also be found at the campus in Mustamäe. The campus contains the Innovation and business centre MEKTORY where the combined forces of companies, students and professors are put to use in innovative research based on practical needs. MEKTORY stands for Modern Estonian Knowledge Transfer Organization for You and it’s method is summarized in the flowchart. First there is formation of the problem. Research and development projects are initiated based on practical needs. Then interdisciplinary project teams that include students’ creativity and fresh view are formed. These are supervised by mentors (scientists and alumni) and they have the newest appliances and test laboratories at their disposal to finally come to novel solutions, products and services. Lastly the enterprise’s productivity, client satisfaction and export rate are increased in further research. Some examples of successful use of this MEKTORY methodology are research to the driving qualities of electric cars in Nordic conditions for Mitsubishi Motors, research for the production of intelligent electric cigarettes, research to the most energy efficient way to construct and maintain a building, research to providing power to vessels in the harbour of Tallinn for the company Energia and research, design, prototype and operate nanosatellites.

Helsinki After the visit to Estonia and Tallinn, Finland and its capital Helsinki are up next and this is where we find our second university. The University of Helsinki was founded in 1640 and is home to 40000 students making it the largest and oldest university in Finland. It currently consists of 21 campuses spread over the entire Finland, of which 4 are in Helsinki. These are the City centre campus of Human sciences, Kampula science campus, Meilahti campus for medicine and the Viikki campus for life sciences. This “green” campus is home to 6500 students and 1600 teachers and it consists of four faculties, two independent research institutes of the University of Helsinki and the Viikki Science Library. Apart from educational buildings, there is also a unique tropical garden and a nature conservation area surrounding the campus. The University of Helsinki has a different approach for their research than for example the Tallinn University of Technology has since the University of Helsinki focuses more on basic research. This does not mean they only do fundamental research, but they believe in understanding the basics to come up with new ways of putting it to use. And this has worked, the University of Helsinki is known for its high quality national and international research.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Research at the University of Helsinki is divided into ten main focus areas covering both exact and social sciences. For your understanding, these focus areas vary from the Basic structure of life to Changing environment-clean water to Social law. One example of cutting-edge research at the University of Helsinki is on the safety of 3D printers. This project is supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund and three different 3D printing companies. 3D printers typically melt thermoplastic materials in order to place the tiny droplets in a three dimensional space. During this melting process, emissions are created that may be harmful to your health. The aim of the project is to produce guidelines for safe working methods in 3D printing and for the safe use of the devices. This also taking into consideration that a time may come when everyone has a 3D printer at their house, where there is no extensive ventilation system that can effectively remove the emissions.

Turku The third university on the study tour is the University of Turku. The University of Turku is an international research university established in 1920. Nowadays it has 25000 students and staff, making it the second biggest university in Finland (after the University of Helsinki). Back in 1940, the university was located in an old hotel that was actually too small to house all of the university. But then one of the two Johnson brothers (who were from a small nearby village and had made their fortune with Yukon gold) left all his belongings, including his stone house and all his gold to the university. With this extremely generous donation the university moved to the Ryssänmäki or Vesilinnanmäki Hill. The University of Turku has 3 main campuses in Finland of which only one lies in Turku, the other two are located in Pori and Rauma. In Turku, the main building is in the centre of the campus, surrounded by the science buildings, the library, zoological museum, student housing blocks and the hospital. Research at the University of Turku is based around high-quality multidisciplinary research. It also holds freedom in very high regards, this means that students and researchers have more

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 freedom of choice on how and what they want to study or research. One field of research done at the University of Turku is on the subject of Atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease in which the arteries of the patient slowly clog up, putting great pressure on the artery walls. The detailed research to purine metabolism at this university has shown that the risk factors for atherosclerosis and especially smoking have a greatly adverse effect on the health of the artery walls. This understanding can probably lead to the development of a new medicine for atherosclerosis and can also greatly enhance personalized treatment. This is an example of the multidisciplinary research the University of Turku strives for. The Medicity research laboratory, the department of vascular surgery and the Turku Hospital have all collaborated to successfully complete this research, showing the importance of the cooperation between basic research and clinical research.

Tampere The fourth and last university on our list is the university in Tampere. The Tampere University of Technology actually started in 1965 as a subsidiary of the University of Helsinki but quickly gained independence after 7 years in 1972. The Tampere University consists of 4 faculties, each covering several of 19 different departments housing almost 11000 students. The faculty of natural Sciences holds 3 departments and a research centre. The departments of Chemistry and Bioengineering, mathematics, physics and the optoelectronics research centre. Besides these educational buildings, you can find parking lots, several restaurants and even a sauna especially for the students on the campus. The Tampere University of Technology’s ultimate goals in research are to generate research based knowledge for the benefit of society. It tries to achieve this goal by having main areas of research in the natural sciences of nanoscience and -technology, energy technology, biotechnology and biomedical engineering. Tampere University of Technology also collaborates a lot with companies ranging from long-term international multi partner projects to small-scale R&D projects and laboratory services. One example of these projects is based on results from research done by the company Tekes, where researchers at Tampere University of Technology have developed a new method for diagnosing and controlling childhood asthma. The data needed to diagnose asthma can now be non-evasively measured and monitored over time. Another thing is the collaboration of the Tampere University of Technology with world-leading propulsion system provider Rolls- Royce that has been lasting for over a decade already and is still going strong with the mutual exchange of expertise and knowledge. Lastly, in cooperation with 7 companies and 8 academic partners from all around Europe, researchers at Tampere University of Technology are developing micro robots that can measure the bond strength in paper cells fully autonomously. This for the paper industry to eventually create paper that is thinner, but just as strong as the paper we have now.

Industry in Finland Up until 1990, forests were Finland’s biggest form of industry. Not surprising if you think that 78% of Finland is covered in vast forests but after 1990, things changed. Globalization happened and Electronics and Services started to dominate the more traditional industries such as the forestry. The

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 current Industry in Finland is knowledge-based and high on innovation, this is at least partly due to the fact that the money spent on Research and Development in terms of money per inhabitant is in Finland amongst the highest of the world. Typical of Finnish industry is that companies all seem to be reasonably eco-friendly. Governments have strict regulations on emission reduction and waste water management and these restrictions have actually led to Finland having the fourth cleanest air and water in the world (according to EPI Environmental Performance Index). Because Finland itself does not have many fossil fuel sources, it is dependent for energy on import and bio-energy. The biggest sources of energy that Finland uses nowadays are nuclear energy, hydroelectric power and only about 20% is still from imports. At the moment Finland has 4 nuclear power plants, is building a 5th and has approval for building an additional 6th and 7th. So that it may better provide for its own energy demand in the future.

Metals and Engineering First there is the metals and engineering sector. Nowadays this is de biggest industrial sector in Finland with revenues of around 123 billion euros. Motor vehicles and machinery have driven most of the recent growth this sector has undergone. But the building of Icebreakers, luxury liners and other specialized ships is also big business. A big player in the Metals and Engineering business is the Finnish Metals and Engineering Competence Cluster (FiMECC). One of their recent successes was the production of new and lighter kind of Ramor steel (Ramor 550 protection steel) that can be applied where blast protection or high ballistic resistance is required such as in cars, security vans and military vehicles. During the course of this project, FiMECC has had research done on two different Finnish universities. First at the Centre for Advanced Steels Research (CASR) at the University of Oulu, where they studied the microstructure of the metal. And secondly at the Tampere Wear Centre at the University of Tampere where they studied the steels usability.

Electronics Another big industrial sector within Finland is that of Electronics and Electro-techniques. This particular sector has revenues of around 115 billion euros. The growth of this particular sector is mostly thanks to Nokia. Nokia started out as a pulp and paper concern in a city located 10 km from Tampere called Nokia. Then in the 1980’s Nokia started to invest in high-tech research and development and in 1999 this investment was an astounding 9% of their total profits. This eventually led to the concern growing to be what it is now, one of the biggest mobile communication companies in the world. Nokia still has a big part of its business situated in Finland and three of Nokia’s biggest research centres are located at the Universities of Tampere, Otaniemi (near Helsinki) and Oulu. The research here is in the areas of radio systems, media technologies and sensor- and material technologies. Other research

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 centres of Nokia throughout the world are located in Bejing, Moscow, Cambridge, Bengalore, Sunnyvale and Burkeley.

Forestry

Although forestry is not the biggest sector in Finnish industry any more, it still covers a respectable portion with revenues of over 75 billion euros. The future of this particular sector is lies in fronts, other than the most obvious ones you would think of with forestry. Of course there is still the plywood, paper and pulp industries but Research and Development have lately come up with several surprising applications. One example is the company Uusipuu. It uses the cellulose from birch tree fibres to produce clothes. And it turns out that these fibres are stronger than cotton or viscose and even feel pleasantly and look good. The process for this is by dissolving the cellulose from the birch in an ionic liquid and then pressing it through tiny holes, crystallizing the threads and spinning those into yarn to eventually create clothes.

In the development of this process, several Finnish universities have been involved. From 2010 research was done at the Aalto University School of Chemical Technology for the processing of the fibre. Research on the optimization of the ionic solvent was done at the University of Helsinki. You would think that with all these products made from woods, Finland would slowly but steadily start losing its forests. But Finland has a long history in responsible forestry and with their smart and systematic forestry programme they actually have an annual forest growth of 40 million cubic metres.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Chemical Industry

The chemical industry is a big sector of Finnish industry with 56 billion euros in revenues and is Finland’s most important export industry. This industry covers the production of a wide variety of substances from chemicals for the forestry industry to water treatment chemicals, paints and plastics but also oil refinery is considered to be a chemical industry. One example of a chemical company is Kemira which has a research centre in (among others) Espoo. This facility is specialized in water treatment solutions for municipal treatment plants and water intensive industries. For example their recently finished research into disinfecting waste water with performic acid which they performed in close collaboration with the department of environmental science of the University of Eastern Finland.

Industry in Estonia Estonia is, concerning nature and climate, quite similar to Finland. Therefore it is not a big surprise that its main industrial sectors also overlap quite a lot with the Finnish sectors. Thus since much of the information would be mere repetition, all of Estonia’s industry will be discussed in this small section. Estonia’s biggest industrial sector is that of metals and engineering as these take up 38% of that nations processing industry. In Estonia this sector has mostly grown from 1990 through the manufacturing of machinery and transportation equipment including shipbuilding, electric motors and excavators. Second on the Estonian industry list is the forestry sector. Even though (only) 50% of Estonia is covered in forests, this is plenty to ensure a lot of forestry namely 20% of all industry. Nowadays

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 most forestry products are exported throughout Europe in the form of wooden construction details, furniture and even complete houses. The chemical industry is, relative to Finland’s, quite small with covering only 10% of the country’s industry. Most relevant Estonian chemical industry is in the sector of oil shale. The most promising sector in Estonian industry is that of electronics. Even though it does not cover a relevant piece of Estonian industry yet, it is the fastest growing one. One large industrial sector of Estonia does not overlap with the one of the four biggest sectors of Finland. This is the agricultural sector. Where in Finland this sector is barely worth mentioning, in Estonia it covers 15% of the total industry. The products of the agricultural industry in Estonia range from cattle and milk to field crops and most of these products are for the country’s own usage since only 16% is exported. Estonians generally prefer locally produced products over imported products as these local products contain considerably less chemicals. This is probably the same reason why organic farming is gaining more popularity every year in Estonia.

Conclusion In short, the four universities that will be visited during the study tour 2015 to Finland are those in Tallinn, Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. Every one of these universities has their own approach to research but each successfully reaches their goals of innovative products, designs, ideas etc. Also all four universities have close relationships with relevant companies with whom they exchange experience and knowledge. The biggest industrial sector in Finland used to be forestry up to 1990, but globalization helped other sectors grow faster and the biggest industrial sectors of Finland now, starting with the biggest, are: metals and engineering, electronics, forestry and chemicals. In Estonia these appear in a slightly different order with metals and engineering as the biggest, then forestry, agriculture, chemistry and only lastly electronics.

References 1. (Tallinn) University home website and internal links. http://www.ttu.ee/university/ 2. (Tallinn) TopUniversities about Tallinn University of Technology. http://www.topuniversities.com/universities/tallinn- university-technology/undergrad 3. (Tallinn) TUT-MEKTORY homepage and internal links. http://www.ttu.ee/projects/mektory-eng/ 4. (Helsinki) University of Helsinki home page and internal links. https://university.helsinki.fi/en/university 5. (Helsinki) Viikki campus home page. http://www.helsinki.fi/viikki/english 6. (Helsinki) Article about 3D printing. http://www.helsinki.fi/facultyofscience/research/news/2015/3Dprinting.html 7. (Turku) University of Turku home page and internal links, history section. http://www.utu.fi/en/university/traditions/history/Pages/home.aspx 8. (Turku) Article atherosclerosis research. http://www.utu.fi/en/news/articles/Pages/Quitting-Smoking-Is-Highly- Important-for-Patients-with-Atherosclerosis-.aspx 9. (Turku) Overview of atherosclerosis course. http://mouseclique.jax.org/apoeko_or_ldlrko_mouse_models/ 10. (Tampere) Tampere University of Technology homepage and internal links. http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/index.htm 11. (Tampere) Article diagnosing childhood asthma. http://www.tut.fi/en/business-and-industry/success-stories/advances- in-diagnosing-childhood-asthma/index.htm 12. (Tampere) Article micro robots for paper industry. http://www.tut.fi/en/business-and-industry/success- stories/microrobotics-benefits-paper-industry/index.htm 13. (Industry) Invest in Finland homepage and internal links. http://www.investinfinland.fi/industries 14. (Industry) Article Finland 4th cleanest country in the world. http://www.finland.org/public/default.aspx?contentid=165396&nodeid=35833&contentlan=2&culture=en-US 15. (Industry) Systematic forestry. http://www.uusipuu.fi/en/phenomena

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16. (Industry) Encyclopaedia of Finland http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Finland.html 17. (Metals and engineering) Fimecc article Ramor steel. http://hightech.fimecc.com/results/ramor-550-protection-steel 18. (Electronics) Nokia homepage and internal links. http://research.nokia.com/research 19. (Forestry) Article birch wood clothes. http://www.uusipuu.fi/en/solution/clothing-from-birch-fibre 20. (Forestry) Annual forest growth. http://www.uusipuu.fi/en/phenomena 21. (Forestry) Figure forest growth. Statistical Yearbook of Forestry 2014, Finnish Forest Research Institute 22. (Chemical) Chemical industry Finland. http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/5075011/Chemical_Industry_in_Finland.html 23. (Chemical) Graph chemical industry. Board of Customs, Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, Helsinki, Finland, 2013 24. (Chemical) Kemira brochure. http://www.kemira.com/Materials/General-overview-brochure-web-kemira.pdf 25. (Chemical) Kemira article performic acid. http://www.kemira.com/Materials/General-overview-brochure-web- kemira.pdf 26. (Estonia) Overview industry. http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Estonia-INDUSTRY.html 27. (Estonia) Detailed per industrial sector. http://www.estonica.org/en/Economy/General_overview_of_Estonian_economy/Processing_industry/

Retrospective view

Overall I had a really good time in Estonia as well as in Finland and I had a lot of opportunities to enjoy the knowledge I had gained from my literary study. A lot of buildings, ideals, and organizations were familiar to me and since it is not very interesting to write about the things that were just as I expected, I will mostly discuss the things that deviated from my expectations, things that did not go as planned or things that surprised or amused me.

Tallinn The visit of the University on Tallinn did not quite go as planned. Since Estonia shares a border with Russia, and Russia is not as calm and peaceful as it used to be, the Estonian government had ordered a training for all military reservists during our stay. This meant that approximately 60% of the students, teachers and other employers could not be at the university, thus we visited a quite desert faculty. Still our guide improvised enough places for us to visit and the weather was very nice so we also spent some time outside. Here we had a discussion with a student about faculty politics and we learned something very surprising. While the university is all about presenting itself as an international research centre, the students have to study from books written in Estonian. All their exams are in Estonian. University students admitted that it would be very hard to study there if you could not speak or read Estonian, but the university is keen on taking in foreign students any way. There is a clear discrepancy here and the only reason they could come up with was that academic words in English would be too difficult for their students. Another thing that really struck me was the difference between buildings. The science faculty where we spent most of our time was indeed, as promoted on the internet, very high-tech and the library was beautiful with its nature influences. But the other buildings on the campus reminded me more of concrete shelters than of university buildings.

Helsinki Especially here, in Helsinki my literature studies paid off. Our visit to the university in the capital of Finland started with an introductory presentation about the university. Many of the general statistics and facts described in my preliminary study could be found in this presentation. The extraordinary

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 thing about this presentation was that it was given by the study advisor of the Finnish students. Therefore we had the opportunity to ask many detailed questions about actual student life in Helsinki and about what main problems for Finnish students were. It turned out that the biggest problem of the chemistry department was that people came to study chemistry for one year so they could perform really well on their matriculation and get into the medicine department, thus causing major drop-out rates for the chemistry department. Another really interesting part was that there was a student who was on the board of the student organization. In our group there were also several (ex-) board members of Sigma so there was a really good exchange of information on for example recruiting students to the organization and on participation in activities. This person also showed us some of the chemistry labs but since most laboratories are not meant to host over twenty people, not everyone could quite catch what was going on in there.

Turku The university in Turku complied with my preliminary studies very well. We had a lot of research presentations there and the multidisciplinary approach I described turned up in several presentations. One was in the study of the chemistry of plat defence compounds where tried to find for example which natural compound would act as the best antihelmintic drug for cattle and what concentrations would be needed for that. For such research chemists and biochemists are vital but also biologists who know how the insides of the cattle work and people with an expertise in cattle feed and people who actually take care of the cows all work together to find the best results.

Tampere For the benefit of society. That is what the university in Tampere strives for in their research. From what I have seen and heard, I can largely agree that they do indeed research things that can benefit society. But then, doesn’t most research eventually aim to benefit society in some way or another? There were a lot of research presentations at this university as well and we also got to see their laboratories. The most impressive lab to me was the room filled with thousands and thousands of zebra fish that they kept for immunological experimentation. Maybe it’s because I have an aquarium myself but I was impressed by the sheer mass of it all. Hundreds of fish tanks with each many dozen fish in them, a filtration system that could clean several hundred litres of water per minute and all the trouble of feeding every fish every day with home-bred artemia.

Industry We got to visit several companies in both Estonia and Finland. For me in the aspect of general industry information, there weren’t many surprises here. One thing that quite amused me was a thing about forestry. We all know Finland for its forestry, with 78% of the country’s surface covered in woods but Estonian industry is also quite proud of their forestry. In Tallinn someone was almost bragging about the amazing 50% of Estonia that was vast forests! A thing that slightly disappointed us was the lack of details in presentations and lab tours. This applied to all companies we visited in Finland where often the person doing the presentation was a graduate in business or something similar and thus was unable to explain the chemistry to us. It also appeared that sometimes the companies weren’t even aware that we were (bio)chemistry students and were actually really interested in these boring details that they would not bother us with. Only when we visited the NICPB (the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics) in Tallinn

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 we got presentations in depth. Here we got six different research presentations on subjects like NMR, toxicology, bioenergetics and absorption spectroscopy. After the presentations we got to visit all the labs corresponding to the presentations we just listened to and got to ask all other questions we might have left.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 The Dutch and Finnish education system Chantal Palmen

The Dutch Education system The Netherlands is a small country, which is part of the ‘’Koninkrijk der Nederlanden’’. In the north and west it is bordered by the ‘Noordzee’ (North see), in the east by Germany and in the south by Belgium. The Netherlands has 12 provinces and 16.902.220 people currently live in the Netherlands. In this chapter the education system of the Netherlands will be discussed.

History In general, current education is strongly determined by the history of a country. The Netherlands are no exception to this. In the beginning of the era, the Romans occupied the Netherlands. They knew how to read, write and they had schools, but the Roman culture didn’t penetrate to the population of the Netherlands. When they left Holland, all schools also disappeared. The period that followed was chaotic, contained a lot of changes and is known as the Middle Ages. The urge to commit the areas that belong to the empire of Charlemagne was probably the event that Figure 1 - ABC-plankje - to learn how to read promoted the rise of schools. But still this were not many schools and to go to school one had to travel great distances. In the 16th century there was Reformation of the church and this was also a main event in the creation of schools. Maarten Luther was the reason that the aim of the education was to learn children Protestantism. The school buildings were not special, they were often just empty sheds or a kitchen of the teacher. There were no differences in levels or years, but the teachers gave every child separate instructions. Teachers were often not educated and punishments weren’t rare. Children learned how to read with the so-called ‘’ABC-plankjes’’, a wooden board with the alphabet (figure 1). In the 18th century, more and more schools arose to discourage poverty. One could develop into a good and honest christen by means of education. The school buildings improved and it was also the beginning of the concept of classroom teaching. Teachers were educated, better learning methods arose and punishments were abolished. Instead, good behavior was rewarded. In 1900, compulsory education was founded. Every child of 7 and older had to attend school until they were 12 years old. A teacher had in that time his own class of pupils of about the same age. If at the end of the year not enough knowledge was obtained, a pupil had to retake the year, which meant also he lost his friends. It was only until after the Second World War that education changed drastically. Creativity of the child became important and the traditional class-system encountered more and more critics. Every child had to have the chance to develop at his own speed and manner. In 1968, the ‘’Mammoetwet’’ was introduced. The purpose behind this law was that every child should have a both a general and professional education. Children more frequently attended further

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 education after elementary school and since then there were no major changes to the education system.

Organization A characteristic of the education system of the Netherlands is division. Education is oriented towards the needs and background of the student. Policy concerning education is coordinated by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. A pupil in the Netherlands starts his/her education mostly at the each of four years in elementary school, although compulsory education starts at the age of five. From sixteen on, there is partial compulsory education, which means that a student has to attend some form of education at least two days per week. This compulsory education ends when the age of eighteen is reached or when a degree is obtained. There are different types of schools; public school, special (religious), general-special schools and private schools, the latter one being rare. The first three are funded by the government, but they can ask for parental contribution. Private schools have their own funding. Special schools are based on a particular religion, whereas general-special schools rely on equality between religions. Quality of education is very important and therefore all schools are regularly subjected to the Inspection of Education by the government. They can insist on changes in policies and quality. If these demands are not met, there is a risk of closure. Sometimes a pupil has to retake the year. This decision is made by the teachers, but it is not made lightly. As can be imagined, retaking the year has also an impact on the social life of the pupil.

Structure There are different educational levels of education in the Netherlands. As mentioned earlier, for children in the Netherlands school is mandatory at the age of five, but most of the children go already to school at the age of four. Elementary school has eight grades (group 1 to 8). At first group 1 and 2 were separated and called kindergarten, but since 1985 it is part of elementary school. In group 3, pupils learn reading and writing. In elementary school there are subjects which are mandatory. These include the Dutch language, English language, math, gymnastics, artistic orientation (drawing or music lessons) and orientation/reflection on yourself (history, biology, etc.). Each individual school decides how the lessons are given and which materials they use. Next to these mandatory subjects, there are also non-mandatory subjects, which can be German, French or religious education. No tuition has to be paid for elementary school. There is only the parent contribution which is completely voluntary. Schools often also offer activities next to the normal curriculum. This can be a Christmas celebration, swimming lessons or a trip to the zoo. At the end of elementary school, the pupils make a ‘’CITO toets’’, which is an exam that determines the level in secondary education. When a pupil enters secondary education, they are then usually 12 years old. Secondary school is divided into three levels; VMBO, HAVO and VWO. The ‘’CITO toets’’ is not a strict rule, as the parents also have influence. Sometimes these levels are clustered together at one school, but more and more is seen that VMBO has its ‘own’ school and HAVO/VWO share a building. The first year is really a connection year between elementary school and secondary school, as everything is new, they have to get used to the differences and increased responsibility. VMBO or ‘voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs’ (literally ‘prepatory middle-level applied education’) takes four years. Students choose between four levels, which differ in the ratio of practical vocational training and theoretical education. The most theoretical level prepares the student for attending HAVO. HAVO (‘hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs’ or ‘higher general continued education literally translated’) has five grades. The first three years are the same for each student and after three years they choose

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 a profile (differentiation or second phase). A profile emphasizes the interest in which the student specializes his/herself. There are four profiles: culture and society, economy and society, nature and health, and nature and technology. VWO (‘voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs’ or ‘prepatory scholar education’) lasts six years, where the first three years are also general and the last three years a profile is chosen. The profiles are the same as with HAVO, but more difficult. Furthermore, VWO is divided into ‘atheneum’ and ‘gymnasium’. When a student follows the normal program, a degree for athenaeum VWO is obtained. When the student also has Latin and Greek (language and culture) as courses in their program, they obtain a gymnasium degree. Secondary school doesn’t ask for tuition. The degree in secondary school enables students to go to tertiary education. Tertiary education exist of university, HBO or MBO. To enter university, one must have a VWO degree, for HBO one must have at least a HAVO degree and to enter MBO, the student must have a VMBO degree. At all three levels there are many studies to choose from and the length of the studies differ between each other. MBO usually takes 4 years, HBO 4 to 5 years and university 5 or 6 years. It depends on the study direction, for example studying medicine takes at least 6 years, whereas Chemistry and Molecular Life Sciences each take 5 years. When the whole first year of HBO is finished, it is called the Propedeuse. University is divided in a Bachelor and Master and after this one can obtain a doctoral degree. The first year of the Bachelor is just like HBO also called the Propedeuse. As was the case with secondary education, when one has obtained an MBO degree, he/she can enter HBO and with a HBO Propedeuse, one can enter university. Tertiary education asks for tuition. In the Netherlands there are 20 universities situated mostly in the biggest cities of the provinces, some, like Amsterdam, even have 2 universities. Teachers In the Netherlands, there are three different teaching qualifications. The first teaching qualification is for becoming a teacher in elementary school. One has to obtain a degree in the 4-year HBO study (also called PABO). This education can also be followed at the university. Next to this teaching qualification, there are first degree teachers and second degree teachers. First degree teachers did their education at university and may teach all levels of MBO, HAVO and VWO but they are especially qualified to teach the higher grades in secondary school (class 4 and above). Second degree teachers are only allowed to teach the first three classes of secondary education. They did their education at HBO. With all three teaching qualifications, they are allowed to teach vocational education and adult education.

The Education system of Finland Finland is one of the five Nordic countries, bordered by Sweden, Norway, Russia and the Gulf of Finland. On the other side lies Estonia. So Finland is a relatively small nation between much larger powers of the East and West. The population of Finland end 2013 was 5.5 million people. Most of the people live in the Southern of Finland and Helsinki is the largest city. The Lutheran National Church is the most abundant religion in Finland. In this chapter, the history of education in Finland will be introduced. Also the structure of education, the advantage of the Finnish education system and the Finnish paradoxes will be described.

History of education War poses the most imaginable crisis for any democratic nation and this is no different for Finland. In the period between 1939 and 1945, Finland had to struggle for its freedom and survived. Finland has

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 learned to accept the possibilities it has. After the war, a new political environment was created in which economic changes took place and new social ideas arose. The idea of equal education for all was born at that time. In the sixties, there was another period of changes as Finland discards old (moral) values and traditions. Three political commissions stand on the basis of revision of the current education. Educational goals are set and new regulations are determined, for example for compulsory education and principles in the new education system. The amount of applications for the so called grammar school increased tremendously and in 1963, the Finnish Parliament approved the proposal of general accessible publicly funded education. This is connected with the vision of Finnish society, which is built on knowledge and skills. Thus education was seen as a very important foundation in establishing the future and should be for free. The peruskoulu was born. In the peruskoulu, grammar school, elementary school and civic school are fused. The education system that emerged had a new structure and curriculum. Since then educational change in Finland can be described in three phases (figure 2): 1) rethinking the theoretical and methodological foundations of schooling (1980s), 2) improving through networking and self-regulated change (1990s) and last 3) efficiency of structures and administration (2000-present). First there was structural reform of the school system. The second phase was characterized by self-directed contacts between schools and between individuals and the last phase is started by the need to raise productivity in the public sector. There is constant reformation of structures and administration of education.

Figure 2 - Three phases of educational change in Finland

Education system Key to the successful education system of Finland are the peruskoulu for all children, curricula that are designed to learn, systematic care for children with specials needs in education and development and shared responsibility. Conventional beliefs are constantly challenged in the search for innovation and ways to raise the quality of student learning. Teachers and students are encouraged and stimulated to deal with new ideas, creativity is very important. In Finland there is no Inspection of Education. A diagram of the Finnish education system is depicted in appendix I (page 12). 6-year olds can attend pre-primary education. This is voluntary, but 90% participates. It will give all the pupils the same starting level in basic education. When the age of 7 years is reached, basic education (peruskoulu) starts. Basic education lasts nine years. After basic education, the student can choose between two directions; general upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education. Both last three years. Transfer between the two levels is possible and after these levels, one can drop out from school or continue their study at university or with a polytechnic education. Three years at university give you a Bachelor degree and four years at polytechnic education a polytechnic bachelor degree. A

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 master degree of 2 years can be done and then there is university education to obtain a doctoral degree or licentiate’s degree. General upper secondary education prepares the student to take the matriculation exam. This exam is taken at the end of secondary school to qualify for application to university. Each student is required to take at least four tests in order to pass. One of these is mandatory: äidinkieli (‘mother tongue’), which is Finnish for most students. Other subjects can be foreign language, mathematics, biology, civics, history etc. Each exam takes six hours and is graded by the teacher. Then each exam is re-graded by a national board, which results in a final grade. Grading is done with 7 grades; I-A-B-C- M-E-L, which range from not approved to praised. A ‘C’ is needed to pass, but there is also a system for compensation of one failed test. Vocational upper secondary education is intended to improve the skills of the students in the work field. It supports lifelong learning, which is very important in Finland. Citizens are stimulated to keep learning their whole life. Polytechnic education is the old term for education what is nowadays education at a University of Applied Sciences (UAS). The emphasis lies on the close contacts with business, industry and service sector. This is mainly focused at the regional level. The studies are designed to meet the changing requirements and developmental needs of the working world. The polytechnic master education program is only accessible for applicants which have at least three years relevant work experience after their Bachelor degree. University has the mission of conducting scientific research and provide instruction and post graduate education based on research. There are 25 Universities of Applied Sciences and 14 Universities. The academic year in Finland is divided into two terms; autumn (late August/early September to mid- December) and spring (early January to end of May). There are currently no tuition fees charged for education in Finland. The government covers the education. However, there are scholarships but these are intended and only available for Doctoral and PhD level. A student only needs to cover his/her living expenses (food, accommodation, insurance, travel etc.). Students are allowed to work part-time next to their studies, but places are scare.

THE advantage of the Finnish education system – teachers Education always has been a big part of the Finnish culture and society. One of the goals of education in Finland is the transfer of cultural heritage, values and aspirations from one generation to the next. Teachers think that they are the key in the development of the Finnish welfare. Now that the Finnish education system is huge a success, the importance of good teachers is understand. Teachers are the power of a good education system. Nowadays there are 5 categories of teachers; kindergarten teachers, teachers in primary education (teach grade 1 to 6 in peruskoulu), specialized teachers (teach grade 7 to 9 in peruskoulu), teachers for special education and teachers for vocational education. Only the best of the best students can become teachers. The amount of applications yearly is about 10 times as much as there are spots in the education program. So there is a tough selection and a lot of concurrence. Applicants are selected based on their grades, their diploma, out- of-school accomplishments and a common exam. After that, there is an interview in which an explanation should be given about their motives to become teachers. The education is research- based. To graduate a master thesis should be written which includes theory, methodology and critical reflection. Finnish students are appealed to this profession as they see it as noble, prestigious and obliged profession. They have the freedom to decide their curriculum. They teach less and therefore they have more time to collaborate with colleagues and for their administration. Teachers

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 and schools are really encouraged to work together.

Four paradoxes of Finnish education In many ways, Finland is a nation with strange paradoxes. Finland is the home of leading telecommunication (Nokia), but it is also known for its less-talkative people. They rather live in isolation than have social interaction. So here is some contrast. According to Sahlberg; ‘’paradoxes are more helpful than pure logic in understanding some of the key features of Finnish education.’’ There are four paradoxes; 1) less is more, 2) better learning with less testing, 3) more equity through diversity and 4) the better secondary-school graduates are, the more likely they will become teachers. The first paradox states less is more. Studies show that there is little correlation between intended instruction hours in education and the results the students obtain. More interestingly, the nations with the lowest instruction hours (Finland, Korea and Japan) are high-performing. Lower teaching hours give teachers the time to improve curricula planning and opportunities to personal professional development. Secondly, better learning with less testing. The Finnish have the strong belief that the quality of education is not approved by frequently standardized student testing. More equity through diversity means the ambition to have equal student achievements across social groups and geographical regions. Moreover, some schools have a limitation of the proportion of immigrants attending to avoid segregation. More distribution of immigrant student would be beneficial to both schools and students. Last, better graduates will more likely become teachers. Teaching is closely tied to the national culture. Therefore teachers and teaching stand main priority. As mentioned before, only the best of the best will be admitted to the education of teacher.

The Education system of Estonia Estonia is a small country in the North-East of Europe, bordered by Russia, Latvia, the Baltic Sea and the Finnish gulf. On the first of January 2015, Estonia is the home of 1,312,300 people. Estonia has set high goals in terms of quality of life and good economy. The importance lies therefore in the fact that citizens have modern knowledge and skills. The main goal of education in Estonia is developing an Estonian society into a learning society. People can learn their whole life. Education helps people to socialize, find an area of work which corresponds to their interest and abilities, and prepare them for their roles in work, public life and family. ‘’Education has been defined as the generator and maintainer of personal cultural and social values’’ according to the Estonian education strategy. It is a means to passing on knowledge from one generation to the next. This strategy has been drawn up by the Estonian Cooperation Assembly, Estonian education forum and the Ministry of Education and Research and it also defines five challenges of Estonian education: 1) Moving toward a development- and cooperation-based approach to study, 2) Improving the position and image of teachers, 3) Increasing participation in study, 4) Strengthening the connection between education and a knowledge-based society and innovative economy and 5) Developing digital culture as a part of the Estonian cultural space. In this strategy also a series of measures is suggested for meeting these five challenges.

History of education in Estonia As described above, education serves as a mechanism to spread culture. The education in Estonia is just as old as the nation itself, if we regard education as the passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next. In the first millennium, Estonians had their own expressions of heritage (songs, customs, taboos and folk religion). In the 13th century, after Estonia was conquered during

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 crusades by German and Danish feudalists, the first schools were started at cathedrals and monasteries of developing towns. First this was education to future clergymen, but also ‘ordinary’ people could encounter education. Some of these clergymen moved on their education at West European universities. When Protestantism arrived, problems of literacy became evident. Only after the Reformation, the standard of education began to improve. Lutheranism was the beginning of education of the written word of God. Therefore, the Reformation laid foundations of systemic native-language education. When the Swedish Kingdom had conquered Estonia in the 17th century, all Estonian church and schools were organized according to the Swedish model. One of the important names in the Estonian education history is Bengt Gottfried Forselius. He was the founder of public education and he also started the first teachers’ college. Forselius was also the one who republished the purified version of the Estonian alphabet.

Current education system The education system of Estonia is divided into four levels (appendix II page 13). These include pre- school (or pre-primary school), basic education, secondary education and higher education. Pre- school education can be acquired at an institution or at home and it is not mandatory. When you ‘graduate’ from pre-school, one goes usually immediately to basic education. This is where compulsory education starts (7 years) and it lasts until completion of this level or when the age of 17 is reached. There are 9 grades in basic education. Basic education is funded by the state budget and local government. The schools can be different buildings or they are situated at secondary schools. Attending secondary school isn’t compulsory. There are two types of secondary school; one where you learn a set of skills for a particular job (vocational education) or the general secondary education, which lasts from grade 10 to 12 (3-year program). General secondary school is funded by the state and by the local government, like basic education. In order to receive a degree for secondary school, a student needs to pass at least three state examinations and school examinations. With general secondary education one can attend higher education. Because secondary school is not mandatory, only 18% attends secondary school. The rest chooses work over school or they end up at vocational school. Vocational schools is also funded by the state and can also be attended when not obtained a basic education degree. Higher education began in 1632 with the establishment of the University of Tartu. It can be divided into professional higher education and academic higher education. All students with a secondary education degree can enroll to higher education. Also international students with similar qualifications may apply to higher education in Estonia. The standard professional higher education program takes 3 to 4 years and will be awarded with a diploma of professional higher education. Now one can enroll into a master degree in professional education or a master degree at university. At academic higher education institutes research is carried out and also education is given in Bachelor, Master and doctoral degree. The studies for medicine, veterinary training, pharmacist, dentist, architect, civil engineering and teacher lasts 5 to 6 years and include bachelor and master. Other bachelor levels take 3 to 4 years and master studies take 1 to 2 years. Like in Finland, lifelong learning is very important in Estonia. There is an Adult Education Act, which has the aim to increase the quality of adult education through clarified legal base and requirements for adult education institutions. And there are also so-called ‘Hobby schools’, where young people are provided with knowledge and skills. It is an informal education institute funded by local government as they have a budget for hobby education and adult education. In Estonia, there is state supervision or supervisory control which monitor activities of educational institutions. State supervision is done by the Ministry of Education and Research. The state has

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 established requirements which are called the national standards of education. The curricula of schools need to meet these requirements. Teacher education is provided by universities and professional higher education institutions. Primary school teachers are trained in a Bachelor and a Master phase and they obtain a diploma which is evidence for their teaching qualifications. The teacher training consist of three things; 1) general education studies, 2) study related to specific subject(s) and 3) professional study (didactics, psychology etc.).

Conclusion before the Study Tour Now that the education systems of the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia have been addressed, a comparison can be made. In the Netherlands people often say that ‘’Finland has kept its high position in education. Why can’t we?’’ Finland is describes as a Walhalla with the best of the best as teachers, high grades and no Inspection of education. This is already different from the Netherlands and Estonia, which have Inspection of education. This limits the freedom they have to design their curricula. Finnish teachers can design their own lessons, which of course also need to meet certain requirements but it is less strict than in the Netherlands and Estonia. Also in Finland, teachers have more spare time as the instruction hours are low. This is ideal for communication between teachers to optimize teaching methods. The structure of the education systems look very similar. One starts with compulsory education at basic education (Finland and Estonia) or elementary school (the Netherlands). After this one can enter secondary education. And after that a university degree can be obtained. However, there are differences in the way the countries think of examination. One of the paradoxes of Finnish education states ‘’better learning, with less testing’’, which can be translated to less exams. Finnish students therefore don’t have to learn because they have exams in the coming weeks, but because they want to learn something. In all three countries, lifelong learning is stimulated with adult education and several courses provided by the governments/state. A contrast between Finland and Estonia on the one hand and the Netherlands on the other hand, is the training of becoming a teacher. Teachers in Finland and Estonia are university schooled, whereas in the Netherlands they can be university schooled but also HBO. And especially in the Netherlands, a distinction is made between first degree, second degree and elementary school teachers. The conclusion of this literature study is that the general structures of the education systems in the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia are the same but that there are differences in teachers, curricula and principles concerning education and perhaps those things make use think of the education system of Finland as being an outstanding program with good results.

Conclusion about the education system in Estonia and Finland in comparison with the literature study performed before the Study Tour In my literature study I have written about the education system of Finland and Estonia in comparison with the education system of the Netherlands. In this concluding essay I will compare my conclusions made in the literature study with my experiences (visiting universities and conversations with students) with the education system in Finland and Estonia. The literature study was solely based on a book and the information on the internet, so it was really nice to see it in practice and to hear what students in the system of Finland and Estonia thought about it. First of all the fact that education is free in Finland and Estonia. This is perceived as useful but there is one catch. A student needs to pass 5 ECTS per month to receive this money from the government.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

This is seen as doable by Finnish students. However, a lot of Finnish students have a job next to their study to pay for rent and food. This is mostly done in the summer. They do internships at research groups. These jobs are very useful to gain experience in lab skills and therefore very popular, so one needs to search and apply very early in the year. Experience shows that if you do your job well, you can come back the next summer. In my literature study I didn’t pay too much attention to the build-up of studies at university. In Turku we attended Turun Yliopisto (Turku university) and we had one lecture with more information about this. Next to the general little things (mentioned in the literature study) that are different in Finland compared to the Netherlands, there are some more things. In Finland, you don’t need to have a bachelor degree to already attend master education. They can be intermingled. This is different from the situation in the Netherlands. About one third of the bachelor exists of lab-courses to gain skills in the laboratory. The ECTS’s are different. We have at the Science faculty courses of 3 or 6 EC’s, whereas in Finland there are courses from 1 to 13 ECTS. For most of the courses, Finnish students have three chances each year to pass the exam. So that is the same as in the Netherlands. In Finland, most of the universities are independent, which means that each university is going to specialize in one or few (research) fields. I think that’s also the same as in the Netherlands, for instance in Eindhoven, there is the TU (technical university), where they are very specialized on technical studies. In Finland, in the bachelor, there are general studies, which pay attention to obtaining both academic as study-related skills. These skills include writing in English and Finnish, communication and also statistics courses are included. In the Netherland, we only have one writing course and no communication courses. At BioMediTech (Tampere) I heard for the first time about the maturity exam. This exam is mandatory and deals with a research question. This research question is in the same field as the bachelor thesis, but is not about the same subject. In the bachelor it can be written in Finnish, but in the master it needs to be in English. No ECTS’s are obtained for this exam, whereas the comparable literature thesis at our university is rewarded with 6 EC’s. A lot of Finnish students are also tutors, as this also is rewarded with ECTS’s. These tutors give advice about basic things to students entering university. Board members receive ECTS’s. They are in charge of arranging excursions etcetera. Money for these excursions is obtained by giving their service to companies which have events. In exchange for serving coffee for example they are sponsored in their excursions. For some studies there is limited enrollment in the master. This makes the interaction between older and younger students stronger and is experienced as pleasant. During this study tour, we had contact with a lot of biochemistry and biology students and we heard that there is an admission exam for biology. Only 8-9% passes that exam and is allowed to start their study biology. I think that is a very low percentage when compared to the situation in the Netherlands. Here many students which are not admitted to the medicine study do biology and so there are about 200-300 students yearly. In Finland only ‘the best’ will get in, and the ones that don’t will do another study which they don’t like as much. This can of course be a reason for the drop-out rate. Also for medicine, an admission exam needs to be done which also contains chemistry and physics questions. This is the reason why students that don’t pass the exam go and study chemistry and after one year drop-out to try the exam again, with better results. As part of my literature study about the education system I was planned to give a presentation at the university in Tallinn. When we arrived there was a slight change in the program, which meant no presentations because a lot of students were called for the army (military exercise). Instead we had a very nice discussion about the education system and its flaws with a student. The conclusions for the

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 high drop-out rate was the high pressure on the students to achieve. Students are often not motivated and there is too less guidance for these students to maybe motivate them some more to finish their studies. In Estonia most of the students see university as the logic choice to do after high school. Polytechnic university is regarded as ‘’less’’, and therefore everybody wants to go to university even if it would be better to attend polytechnic education. One other probable reason for the high drop-out rates was the fact that universities get money based on the amount of applications instead of the amount of students that finish their education. This is the reason why universities promote their university based on ‘lies’, just to attract new students. For example the study ICT is promoted as very cool with programming robots and stuff, and in real life this is only done in the last year or not done at all. Students in their first year therefore are de-motivated, disappointed and drop-out. Overall, when comparing my literature study with my experiences in Finland and Estonia, I can say that they complement each other. It was a really nice and instructive study tour in which we have seen (for me less interesting) chemistry departments, (very interesting) biochemistry departments and companies (nice to see the other side).

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Case studies

Ilze Donderwinkel and Suzanne Timmermans Bio-organic chemistry – Prof. dr. ir. Jan van Hest

During surgery, often bleedings occur. These increase the risk of failure of the surgery, as they not only destabilise the patient, but also block the surgeon’s view. So when a haemorrhage develops, fast action is needed to stop it, in order for the patient to have the highest chance to survive.

In our case study, we helped in the development of a strategy to stop bleedings during surgery very rapidly. The approach consists of coating a collagen sponge with a material that induces fast coagulation. This sponge can be applied on a haemorrhage during surgery to stop it immediately. The coagulation-inducing material is made of NHS-containing polymers, which are able to bind to and activate thrombin. In this way they contribute to rapid blood clotting.

In this case study we got to see the whole pathway of the development of this coated collagen sponge. We started with the large scale synthesis of two monomers, followed by purification of these by distillation. We then determined the NHS-concentration in a polymer that had already been made (El-POx). We ended with coating collagen sponges with two different polymers and comparing their coagulation strengths with a rheology study.

We thought the case study was really fun to do and we have learned a lot. For example, we were both not used to doing a synthesis on such a large scale and we were surprised by the challenges that it brought about. In addition, it was a nice opportunity to be involved in a different research topic than the one we are doing for our internship and to experience how working in a slightly different field can be.

Jochem Evers, Qin Ong, Mike Ruth and Maud Wuts Practicum Molecular Sciences – dr. Tom Bloemberg

In the course 'Molecular structure' students get acquainted with several spectroscopic techniques. In order to teach students how to interpret IR, NMR and mass spectra, the software EduSpec is being developed. This case study involves building the NMR module of EduSpec. It can be divided in two parts. First, 1H NMR spectra are converted in such way that it can be used in the software. Afterwards, exercises are created in Eduspec utilizing the converted spectra.

Laurie Kuppens Biochemistry – Prof. dr. Roland Brock

As the department of Biochemistry is starting up a new system for storing their lab protocols, databases and lab journals, my task was to make a head start with this. I entered a lot of protocols into the digital lab environment so the department would have a database online before they were

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 really going to work on the web site. Apart from the protocols, I entered some lists with chemicals, antibodies or other materials so they immediately know where to find everything when doing an experiment.

Katinka Redert and Vicky Mertens Synthetic Organic Chemistry – Prof. dr. Floris Rutjes

We were asked to expand the existing matrix for the bachelor and master of Chemistry, Molecular Life Sciences and Science for prof. dr. Floris Rutjes. This matrix showed the courses of the programs coupled to the final qualifications of the different studies. However, they would like to further specify the matrix by splitting the courses into different learning goals and couple these to the final qualifications. This way the whole matrix is more detailed and gives you more information about the contribution of the different aspects of the course to the overall program.

Tim Offermans Theoretical Chemistry – Prof. dr. ir. Gerrit Groenenboom

The course ‘Programming in Matlab’ is a compulsory subject for the Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the Radboud University. During this course, students are familiarized with the programming environment Matlab by working on different problems with a background in the natural sciences.

The group for Theoretical Chemistry at the Radboud University, which is responsible for the course, recently scrutinized the design of the course. They found that the course in current form has a strong emphasize on learning programming skills specifically in Matlab, and less on learning programming skills in general. Offering the course in an additional programming language could reduce this focus. Python seems to be a very suitable language for this purpose.

The goal of this case study was to investigate how well Python is suited to solve the problems from the course ‘Programming in Matlab’. In order to do this, I first studied all problems from the course material, together with their solutions in Matlab. Next, I tried to find the same solutions using Python. It turned out that working in Python is a bit more devious than working in Matlab, but that all solutions can in principle be found with Python.

My solutions can help the group for Theoretical Chemistry decide whether the course will be offered in both Matlab and Python in the future.

Koert de Roos FELIX – Jos Oomens

The goal of this case study was to perform optic labeling of molecules using UV/Vis spectrophotometer.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Program

Day to day-program

Sunday 3 rd of May 07.00-09.00 Transfer to Schiphol 11.00-20.00 Flight to Tallinn 20.00-End Transfer to hostel, leisure

Monday 4 th of May 10.00-13.00 Conference Tallinn University of Technology 13.00-13.30 Lunch together with TUT 13.30-18.00 Laboratory tour, Seaplane Harbour, city tour 18.00-20.00 Dinner together with TUT 20.00-End Pubcrawl

Tuesday 5 th of May 09.30-12.00 Lab representative speeches NICPB 12.00-13.00 Lunch at NICPB (provide own) 13.00-15.30 Lab tour NICPB 15.30-End Leisure

Wednesday 6 th of May 12.00-14.30 Ferry to Helsinki 14.30-End Transfer to hostel, leisure

Thursday 7 th of May 10.00-14.00 Surprise activity 14.00-End Leisure

Friday 8 th of May 09.00-12.00 University of Helsinki, Dep. Of Chemistry 12.00-16.30 Leisure 16.30-18.00 Embassy 18.00-End Dinner (with student association Helix)

Saturday 9 th of May 09.00-16.00 Official program Bioscience Event 16.00-20.00 Pub tour in Kallio 20.00-End Concluding party

Sunday 10 th of May 13.00-16.00 Fort Suomenlinna 16.00-End Leisure

Monday 11 th of May 11.00-14.00 Transfer to PerkinElmer 14.00-15.30 Tour at PerkinElmer 15.30-16.00 Transfer to Turku 16.00-19.00 Leisure 19.00-End City tour Turku

Tuesday 12 th of May 09.00-17.00 Turku Science Park

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Wednesday 13 th of May 09.00-17.00 University of Turku, Dep. of (bio)chemistry 17.00-19.00 Leisure 19.00-End Activity with student association TYK ry

Thursday 14 th of May 11.00-13.00 Transfer to Tampere 13.00-End Leisure

Friday 15 th of May 10.00-14.00 Visit to Biomeditech 14.00-18.00 Visit to Kyynikki Ridge Park 18.00-19.30 Sauna 19.30-End Dinner

Saturday 16 th of May 00.00-03.00 Transfer to Airport Helsinki 06.00-10.00 Flight to Schiphol

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Daily reports

Day 1 – 3 rd of May, 2015 By Peter Betlem

*Beepbeep* *Beepbeep* *Beepbeep*. It is now 05:20 in the morning of 3 May 2015. I suspect most others will still be asleep and wake up in another hour or so before meeting up at Radboud University at 07:00. A quick shower, checking my bags a final time, and then off to Schiphol Int. Airport to have breakfast with my dad who is now en-route from the Americas. As there is barely any traffic, we arrive at the airport within

75 minutes, well before the rest of the group arrives by bus. Dad is slightly delayed but gets there in time for breakfast and to hand me some lovely Kenyan chocolate – I had packed stroopwafels as a back-up, but nothing beats Kenyan chocolate as a gift. An hour later, Freek sends me a text message: the group has arrived and is heading towards the check-in desk.

We head upstairs, say our goodbyes, and I join the group at Terminal 3. It turns out I am not even the last one to join. Prof. Kentgens will take a direct ﬂight and Chris will depart from Germany. Everyone else has checked in and we are now oﬀ to the gate. As we pass through customs, my bag is checked and I am asked to empty my bag – it has almost become part of the routine by now…. Out goes my pillow, USB cables, charging docks, and camera. Interestingly, while this jerk opens my private post, I am allowed to keep my bottle of water.

Anyhow, everyone goes through without any real problems and we head for the gate. It is still too early to board. Freek, Rosa and I return to the main shopping area of the terminal before returning to the gate once more. We depart on time and before we know it airBaltic touches down at Riga Int. Airport. The majority of the group decides to stay at the airport but Rosa, Qin, Freek and I split from the group and go to the nearest tourist information centre. We buy our public transport tickets and within 20 minutes we arrive at Riga’s Old City centre. Rosa has been here before, and tells us about some of the more interesting places to visit.

We set out walking straight through the Old City, passing by key points of interest. St. Peter’s Church, Riga Castle, Freedom Monument, and Nativity Cathedral, to name but a few – and in Qin’s case, a small bronze horse. With an hour left to spare we decide to go do some grocery shopping – something easier said than done. Apparently the English language is not as widespread in Riga as we had imagined. Asking the way is therefore slightly more interesting, with some primitive form of sign language being of more use than English. Ultimately we manage to ﬁnd a proper store, and woah, what are those pastries delicious! Heading back to the bus stop we once again cross through the Old City. Looking at the buildings and cobblestone streets, Riga’s Hanseatic and German past are still very much alive.

We reach the airport with more than an hour to spare till take-oﬀ. Others start joining us at the gate, but unlike down-town, the airport had been pretty boring. Besides some expensive – and mostly cold – pizza, there was not much else to get or even do at the airport. I think there are most certainly

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 some that regret not joining us, but alas, there’s always a next time.

With less than an hour of total ﬂight time, the plane barely reaches cruising altitude before descending towards Tallinn Airport. We meet up with Chris and leave for the hostel, United Backpackers. After checking in and unpacking some of our stuﬀ, smaller groups are formed and we start looking for a meal.

As dinner passes, I receive several text messages telling me there is a lovely Estonian waiting for me at the hostel. We return to the hostel shortly after. It turns out my friend has been at the hostel for more than an hour – what an awesome surprise! Especially since I haven’t seen her since last November in Iceland. We talk and talk – Koert joins us every now and then, but ultimately heads to his room with a full glass of beer at about 01:15. We call it a night slightly before three in the morning. Let’s see what tomorrow has to oﬀer. Study tour 2015 has ﬁnally begun.

Day 2 – 4 th of May, 2015 By Mike Ruth and Suzanne Timmermans

The first morning waking up in Estonia… on the first real day of our study tour. We don’t know about the rest of the people, but we were really excited about it! With a very packed program we were about to see, do and learn a lot on this day. So we will no longer keep you from reading all about it!

After having some breakfast in the small kitchen (and the reception area) of the hostel we were staying in, we took the bus to the campus of the Tallinn University of Technology. Although Laura had planned the route very carefully, we got lost a little bit. During our wandering we got to see the Skype headquarters, so it wasn’t so bad after all. When we finally found the Faculty of Science, we met with our guide of the day, Andres Joonsaar. He is a chemistry student at TUT, and, as we would learn soon, was one of the few students that were left at TUT. A large part of the (male) students was called in by the Estonian army for a two- weeks training. As a result, the symposium that we had planned with the TUT-students was cancelled (as there were no speakers or audience left), and Andres had to make up a new program for us on the spot.

Our improvised program started with a tour around the most important places on the campus. We went to the library (which was called the “brain tree”), the student council and unions and the student house, which had the great motto “work hard, drink hard”. We also went to the main hall

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 and the main corridors, which are more historic buildings that also house the mechanics and physics departments. From our visit to the library it became clear that the Estonians might be a little less English- oriented than we are. A little asking around confirmed this; in school Estonian and Russian are compulsory, but students can choose between English, German or French. So not all students learn English, although most of them choose English and thus speak it quite well.

During the tour, the great Estonian pride became really apparent. In the descriptions that Andres gave by everything that we saw, one could really sense that he was genuinely proud of what his fellow-countrymen had achieved. This became especially clear when he showed us a picture of the first Estonian satellite that was sent into space. The influence of Russia was also noticeable. During the tour, Andres showed us an exhibition about the Student Building Brigade. This was an initiative of the Soviet Union that employed young people at seasonal work, as they were cheap labour and could learn from this so-called “work education”. Of course, this is the influence of Russia in the past, but the Russian influence in Estonian daily-life and even on the future was also very apparent. Much of the research that Andres told us about is focused on being independent. For example, a lot of research is being done in finding new energy sources to overcome the need of using Russian gas for generating electricity. What struck me the most about the Russian influence on Estonian daily-life was the fact that the threat that the Estonians are feeling from Russia is so big that they even take university students from their studies for army training. This is something that is very difficult to imagine for us (at least for the students), and I therefore decided to have a talk about it with Andres. To be honest, I think that it was this talk that has left the greatest impression after the whole study tour. I learned that the Estonian army consists of only 1000 full-time soldiers, so the largest part of the army consists of soldiers that are drafted. Being so close to Russia, and the war in Ukraine being so nearby, makes that the Estonian army wanted to know how many troops they could gather, might Russia invade into Estonia one day. And that resulted in almost no students being at TUT when we visited it. Luckily for us there were still some students left, so we met with a friend of Andres and we had a great discussion with him, outside in the sun. As this evening the new rector would be elected at TUT, we shared ideas about some key issues in universities. We talked about student recruitment, the importance of English in science, the study load of beta studies compared to alpha studies, and student life (student organizations, extracurricular activities). I think the key point that we learned from this, is that the most important issues that we have at universities, the Estonians also have. For example, we are discussing the language of our courses at our faculty, and this is also a point of discussion at TUT. So in this respect, our university and TUT are not that different. After this great discussion, we were all very hungry and we went to eat in Pööning. This literally means attic, and it is a place for students and by students. This lunchroom/bar is at the campus of TUT, which also consist of buildings for student housing, a supermarket and a sports center. According to Andres, the campus of TUT is very compact, which makes it a great place to study and live (for some of the students).

From the compact campus of TUT, we then went on to explore the big city. O well, Tallinn is not that big of course… Our first stop was the Seaplane Harbor museum. This was a great place to spend a few hours (if only we had the time in our busy schedule…) as there were lots and lots to see. The whole museum was devoted to Estonian shipping, which apparently also is one of their triumphs. In

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 the large warehouse of the museum all kinds of boats were present: there were sailboats, fishing boats, row boats, and even a large submarine. You could even enter the last one, which was pretty cool as you could experience how it must have been to live in such a boat. In addition, the museum also housed some tanks and anti-aircraft guns, and you could even take a photo wearing traditional marine outfits. After our visit to the museum we went to the city centre for a tour of medieval Tallinn. The city was unexpectedly beautiful with a lot of medieval buildings still intact. In fact, it was quite the opposite of what most of us had expected, being in a former Eastern Bloc country. Andres showed us the gate, which was under construction unfortunately, the heart of medieval Tallinn, one of the large towers (Kiek-in-de-kök) and some churches. He also showed us the Parliament and a monument that depicted the independence of Estonia, which were from more recent times. To really complete our medieval tour, we went to eat in one of the medieval restaurants that Tallinn houses (the best if you would ask Andres, since he works there). We enjoyed a very festive meal that consisted of traditional Estonian and Baltic dishes. There were goat cheese, tuna and roast beef for starters, accompanied by some traditional bread. After that, we had a main course of salmon and pork with traditional potatoes and vegetables. We also had some cabbage dish, which was a lot like “zuurkool”. For desert we had a crème brûlée, which was perhaps a bit less traditional. Nonetheless, I think we had a great traditional meal!

After this cultural start of the evening, we went on with another tour that focused on a different kind of culture: we went on a pub crawl to discover Estonian drinking culture. Our first stop was at the Labor Bar, which was the best place to drink for chemistry and molecular life sciences students! The whole bar looked like the laboratory of some kind of mad scientist, with chemical glassware filled with all kinds of bright coloured solutions, toxic waste bins hanging everywhere and bartenders in lab coats. We were even allowed to do something that we would never be allowed to do at the lab: drinking out of Erlenmeyers and test tubes. After this great bar we also went to St. Patrick’s, which was more a regular bar and we went to an Irish pub. So also in Estonia there seems to be a bar for everyone’s taste, which is of course just the same for us in the Netherlands.

With the pub crawl our first day in Estonia was completed. And what a day I would say! We learned a lot about Estonian student life, Estonia and its relation to Russia and about Estonian medieval culture. Then, we also had a lot of fun with the Estonian marine history and Estonian drinking culture. So the first day of our study tour was a really good one and, as we now know, one of many great days in our study tour!

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Day 3 – 5 th of May, 2015 By Ilze Donderwinkel

Because we had ended the night before with drinks during the pubcrawl, the breakfastcrew which consisted of Peter and myself thought it would be a great idea to start the day with bacon and eggs. With Suzanne T. as our chef toast, we were able to satisfy everyone’s stomach. On this early morning we already learnt something. Even in Finland, it is not smart to pour just boiled water into a drinking glass. After cleaning up the mess of this silly mistake we wanted to head off to the NICPB. There was just one problem. Where was Koert? Because Koert had a single room he hadn’t woken up with the others. After the committee was able to wake Koert, he decided not to come with us. So we headed off to the NICPB with one man short.

At 10.30 a.m. we were welcomed at the Keemlise ja bioloogilise füüsika instituut, or National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, by the director Dr. Raivo Stern. As we walked to the conference room we passed some retired equipment, mainly NMR equipment. Among others there were a magnet of 1963 and the oldest NMR by Bruker of 1978, which consumes too much liquid nitrogen and helium to be used nowadays. The building NICPB houses in has some historical marks because it lived through the time Estonia just became independent. We then entered the conference room where we would have seminars by the group leaders till noon. First we got an introduction by Dr. Raivo Stern. Dr. Stern told us they have ties with Nijmegen. Sometimes they make use of the NMR equipment in Nijmegen. The NICPB was founded in 1980, therefore they celebrate their 7th lustrum this year. The NICPB is a general research institute with seven existing and three proposed main research themes. There are five labs, ten FP7 projects but they do not have an ERC yet. Because they are the only independent institute in Estonia, they may carry the name of national institute. Their research program is linked to H2020 and CERN. One of the board members of NICPB is Prof. Dr. Robert Kaptein, a Dutchman from Utrecht. Next to their own research they also offer internships for students. Around 22 students got their MSc or PhD through NICPB in 2010 till 2014. The NICPB is in the top 1% cited institutes of the world. They have five main research topics. Dr. Stern comes back to the ties with Nijmegen, or actually the HFML and FELIX. In their own test lab they have a maximum of 18.8 Tesla for their magnetic field strength. Dr. Stern tells us that he would like to see that universities in Estonia would orientate more on an international level. What is quite notable because the day before we told some students of the university that they taught too much in Estonian instead of English. Next, the group leaders will tell something about their work. We start with Dr. Toomas Rõõm, head of THz Spectroscopy. He gives an indication about the difference between the research in Tallinn and Nijmegen. For instance, the magnet in Tallin is 17 T or 0.5 THz while the one in Nijmegen is 33 T or 1 THz. He explains how optical absorption works and how they work with multiferroic and small-molecule enofullerenes materials. Two research fellows are now in Nijmegen to do some measurements. Second is Dr. Ivo Heinmaa of Solid State NMR. They work with MAS

(magic angle spinning) NMR, Cryo MAS with a MAS of T<77K and TiPO4 (spin-Peierls). After Solid State NMR we go to Solution State NMR wherefore Dr. Tõnis Pehk takes over. He introduces himself as the dinosaur of NMR. At Solution State NMR 90% of their work is in liquid state NMR and 10% solid state NMR. The spectra they produce can be simple to very complicated. The next speaker is Sophie de Reguardati (MSc) of Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy. She moved here from France and tells us something about her work here in Finland. Next is Dr. Anne Kahru of Environmental

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Toxicology. In their group they have physics and biology groups that work together. There are six PhD students. She tells us that the great amount of people on earth causes a lot of issues. To solve some of these issues they work on magic nanomaterials or C-NTs, which are very strong and light materials. They are one of the first that started with research on metal oxide nanoparticles. Last but not least the word goes to Dr. Tuuli Käämbre of Bioenergetics. They are the smallest lab in the institute and study mitochondria in situ. Overall, the seminar took quite some time without any breaks. A cup of coffee would have been nice during this more than two hour talk. What was notable about Estonian research was that they work a lot with others. They don’t seem to have the best equipment, but if they can use better equipment of friendly universities they make use of it. They get a lot of citations and let us know that with proud.

After the seminar we got to see the labs. We also went to see the Magnet Laboratory. Striking was that this Magnet Laboratory only had one magnet. Every room only had one or two devices. Nothing was indicated in English and it was not very clear that we were entering labs. Some equipment we recognized, because we have the exact same one in Nijmegen. But if we were looking at the amount of equipment we have in Nijmegen, they only have a few here. For a Tuesday it was also not very crowded. Also notable is that they are doing a lot of research that can make them energetic independent of Russia.

After our visit to NICPB we went back to our hostel. Most of us ditched their stuff to go see the city afterwards. With nine people we went to the old city. Where we went to a beautiful viewpoint. On the outward journey we passed the Dutch embassy. Because of the 5th of May it was closed, but of course we made a group photo with the logo to figure out that the front door was two meters further with an even bigger logo. Not long after that we could enjoy the beautiful sight over the historical old city. Meanwhile it was time for dinner. Because we wanted to spend the smallest amount of money we walked through the entire outer border of the old city. After walking far too long, we still hadn’t found a spot where we could sit with nine people and everyone being satisfied. So we decided to go to a restaurant near our hostel were another group had been two nights before. There we experienced something. We think the waitresses there never learned how to waitress. It all started with our beer. The first half of our order we got served on our table. The other half waited patiently on the bar for minutes while another waitress stood next to the bar two meters away of our beers, not moving. Eventually we decided to get the beers ourselves. While we enjoyed our half a litre drinks we could enjoy the view of an employer touching is girlfriends ass only one and a half meter of our table. Than we got our main dish. Not everything was served yet so we decided to wait till everything was served. But unfortunately this took quite some time, so we told the people who already had food to get started. While the rest almost had finished, Jochem and myself finally got food. We had just started eating when Suzanne T. put her fork on her empty plate. Two seconds later a waitress with a grumpy look and visible tattoos took away her plate and her napkin. Suzanne T. was very sad about the disappearance of her napkin, so we decided to test the waitresses on the etiquette bartack. First of all, we left a single pasta on a plate with the cutlery on the ‘not finished’ mode. Plate gone. Second we kept neatly folded napkins next to our plates, still they were taken away. Fun part was that there were buttons for when you needed service or something else. So when we needed service, Jochem had to push the button at least ten times. Then it was time for dessert. The dessert filled our stomachs so much more than the main

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 dish. But then the main dish was actually too small to be served as a main dish. Because the dessert was very good, Suzanne T. wanted to have it all. So she scraped her plate, and scraped her plate, while the waitress was waiting next to the table to take away Suzanne’s plate. Eventually the waitress got it and left our table. After that we were being ignored as far as they could and our plates were not taken away that fast anymore. Thankfully, the nice and smiling waitress took care of our bill. In conclusion, we learned that in Estonia they want to be energetically independent of Russia. They are proud of what they can achieve. What they should, because they are not independent that long. If you are unlucky, you get a waitress that does not know about etiquette.

Day 4 – 6 th of May, 2015 By Birthe Lagendijk

Breakfast had been announced at 9.00 in the morning, unfortunately it came a bit later but the sadness over late breakfast was quickly replaced with enjoyment over breakfast with eggs and pie. After breakfast it was time to pack our bags again, take the sheets off our beds and hand in the keys to the rooms. At this point, it turned out that the people sleeping in room number 8 had left their key at the reception when they went into town in and had never picked it back up again. The reception claimed to not have had the key handed to them en thus would not pay out the deposit which resulted in a fierce discussion with our master of finances concerning the room deposit of €5,-. At 10.15 we left for the harbor, by foot. The lesson of this day is to let the people who actually know which way to go, walk in the front of the group, not in the back. Still we managed to arrive at the terminal 30 minutes early as the boat only arrived at 11.00 and boarding started at 11.15. For the duration of the trip from Tallinn to Helsinki we stayed outside on the quarter deck playing games. Fortunately nobody suffered from severe motion sickness. About an hour before arriving in Helsinki we decided to do some tax-free shopping, especially alcoholic beverages since we had been informed that Finland would be very, very expensive. Re-entering the boat to go find the shop forced us to embrace the waves of the Gulf of Finland, which was mostly noticeable when we entered the liquor store. Suddenly the boat began to move and dizziness came upon us even though it was barely afternoon and we were fairly sure we had not had any alcohol yet. Thus for the last 45 minutes of the “booze-cruise” several people suffered from motion sickness. At 14.25 we arrived in Helsinki where the committee had to buy tickets for the public transport that we would have to use for the next five days. Too bad these tickets had to be bought one by one, were thinner than supermarket receipt paper, had to be handed in to the committee afterwards and had to be carried with you at all times because if someone came to check if you were traveling legally

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 and you weren’t, the fine was €80,-. When the committee had finally acquired all tickets we left for the hostel and took the tram. In order to get everyone with their suitcases in- and outside the tram in time we made up a sort of human conveyor-belt to get the suitcases to the door, down the stairs and out of the way. When we arrived in the hostel we had some time to settle down, pick a bed, play more games and make dinner plans. 21 of us decided to all eat together at the hostel and we made wraps. It was delicious but sometimes a bit difficult to eat since the hostel did not have enough plates and we had to resort to using the cardboard wrappings of the wraps as well to not spill sauce all over ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised when we found out that there were several other Dutch people at the hostel. We started talking and they pointed out that there was a very nice karaoke bar nearby. We spend the rest of Wednesday in this karaoke bar, starting at 21.00 and venturing well into Thursday but we had an amazing time. Nearly everybody participated in one or several songs, even Hugo and Arno! But the highlight of the evening must have been Nina, a local regular customer of the karaoke bar. She enthusiastically joined in our songs and during our attempt at a Finnish song called Keemia (chemistry) she played a vital role in supporting the pronunciation. So far Finland does not seem as expensive as we had feared. Dinner was only €3,15 pp and 0,4 liter beer during happy hour was €3,50. Little did we know back then, but as Hugo sang very well that night: Always look on the bright side of life.

Day 5 – 7 th of May, 2015 By Jochem Evers

Thursday 7th of May was the first day waking up in Helsinki and we had breakfast at 9 AM. It was the first time the breakfast did not contain chocolate spread because a small jar of Nutella costs €4.20, whereas in the Netherlands you would get a jar twice as large for that money. The only planned activity for that day was a photo hunt in order to get to know the town and of course, the Finnish people. One of the assignments was to make a photograph of something typically Finnish, but almost none of the groups were able to really find anything particular. None the shops and food chains were related to the Finnish culture. Like in every other country, they had a Lidl, H&M, Burger King. Although there is one alternative for the latter which is founded in Finland, the Hesburger. After a short while in the photo hunt, we started to notice that the Finnish people do not like to be in pictures. Upon asking people, they were willing to cooperate by taking the picture, but being in the picture is a totally different matter. Luckily we found out that after explaining we could win free beer, the Finnish people were more helpful. Several of the assignments were location dependent to assure we would visit a few of the more remarkable places in Helsinki. One of those was the Market Square

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

(Kauppatori) where you can buy souvenirs, flowers, food and more. Remarkable was that they not put much effort in trying to lure in customers. This is quite different from the Dutch markets, where almost every market stall is screaming about their cheap products. Moreover, we also had some assignments on the Senate Square (Senaatintori) and the adjacent Helsinki Cathedral (Tuomiokirkko). A statue of Alaxander II is located in the centre of the Senate Square and is one of the many things representing the history of Helsinki. After the photo hunt we had some free time and we decides to explore Helsinki even further. We visited a Stockmann (a very expensive Bijenkorf) where you could really buy almost everything: food, clothing, pet accessories and more. Next we went to an indoor market where you could only buy luxury food for lots of money. The sale of food is also characteristic for Finland as you will find it everywhere. In the evening we all had a drink while the committee was counting the points of the photo hunt. The funny thing was that the price was a bottle of vodka and the winning group consisted of people that didn’t drink alcohol. The group with the most original photo won some chocolate, so in the end they switched some of the price and everybody was happy. Afterwards the drink continued, but some people had to hurry to the store because you can only buy alcohol until 9 PM. This strict alcohol policy is also quite distinctive for the Finnish culture.

Day 6 – 8 th of May, 2015 By Freek Hoogstede

’s Ochtends vroeg om half acht wordt tijdens het ontbijt de route naar de ambassade uitgedeeld en de rest van de dag planning uitgelegd. De twee jarigen van vandaag, Peter en Evelien, worden veelvuldig gefeliciteerd. Een uur later verzameld iedereen voor het vertrek naar de uni, alvast gekleed in nette kleding voor het bezoek aan de ambassade in de middag. Tot het genoegen van velen werd ontdekt dat ook deze universiteit aangesloten was bij het eduroam netwerk, wat het wachten in de hal van het chemie gebouw verzachtte. Rond negen uur kregen we een presentatie van Dr. Jarkko Ihanus ([email protected]). Hij vertelde ons over de grofweg vier campi: Science, Medicine, Biology related en Social Sciences. Binnen de science faculty bevinden zich de afdelingen voor Chemistry, Computer Sciences, Geosciences/Geography, Mathematics and Statistics en Physics. Verder betalen Finse studenten geen collegegeld, maar hebben alsnog banen die vaak zelfs de studie belemmeren vanwege de huurprijzen, leefkosten en reislustigheid van de studenten. Hierna volgde een serie van presentaties over het werk van de verschillende chemie-gerelateerde onderzoeken: Als eerste door Sami Hietala een presentatie over haar werk aan Stimuli-responsive

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 hydrogels. Gevolgd door Suzan K. Wiedmer die ons vertelde over Phosphonium ionic liquids, die als groene vervanging van sommige Volitile Organic Solvents zouden kunnen worden gebruikt. Vanwege de schaarste van fosfor is dit echter lastig te doen zonder goede recyclingsmethoden, maar een andere toepassing was heel interessant: Electrokinetic capillary chromotography. Hierbij werd een capilair gecoat met de ionische vloeistof en de lading die daardoor ontstond resulteerde in enorm scherpe scheidingen. Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFIN) was het volgende departement en vertelde over hoe ze samples analyseerden die genomen waren op plekken waar vermoed werd dat chemische wapens ingezet waren. Zo leveren ze cruciale informatie aan de organisaties die de Chemical Weapons Convention handhaven. (http://www.helsinki.fi/verifin) Als laatste presentatie vertelde een student over het studentenleven in Helsinki, waarna we een korte pauze hielden en een labtour volgde. Een van de apartere apparaten die ze hebben gebruikt lichtstrooiing voor de bepaling van grootte. Verder viel vooral op dat de labs niet waren gescheiden van de kantoren, waarvan de meesten de deuren van open hadden staan, waar toch gewoon koffie werd gedronken. Om één uur ’s middags splitsten groepjes zich af om op eigen gelegenheid te gaan lunchen. Het weer was ’s ochtends nog grijs en druilerig, maar inmiddels scheen de zon en was het een stuk aangenamer buiten. Ik heb toen met Birthe, Chantal, Peter, Qin, Rosa en Vicky de bus naar het centraal station genomen met het plan om in het park daarachter onze lunch te gaan eten. Aangekomen op het station kwamen de Nederlandse Pedagogiek studenten die we in het hostel hadden leren kennen langsgerend, haastig op zoek naar de goede bus, om hun reis voort te zetten. Na boodschappen te hebben gedaan en op bankjes in de zon te hebben geluncht bezochten we de botanische tuinen. Waar de kassen tot aan het dak vol stonden met meters groen waren de tuinen zelf helaas nog heel leeg vanwege het seizoen. Er was afgesproken om half vijf aanwezig te zijn bij de ambassade, omdat het nog geen half vier was gingen Peter, Birthe en ik op zoek naar een taart voor zijn verjaardag. Na die gevonden te hebben in de K-market namen we de tram richting de ambassade waar we ons weer bij de andere vier voegden in het park naast de ambassade om de zoetigheid in de schaduw van een boom te verdelen. Vanaf onze plek in het park was het slechts vijf minuten lopen naar de ambassade waar we de Finse biologiestudenten ontmoetten en de rest van de groep zich weer bij elkaar voegde. We werden hartelijk ontvangen in de ambassade waar we onder het genoeg van een drankje alvast wat kennis maakten met de Finse studenten tot de ambassadeur het woord nam: Hij vertelde ons over de functie van de Nederlandse ambassade in Finland. Als huiskamer voor zaken, als verstrekker van informatie over de Finse markten voor de kleine en middelgrote bedrijven en als gemeentehuis voor de Nederlanders in Finland. Voor bijvoorbeeld het vernieuwen van het paspoort, maar ook bij ongevallen of zelfs problemen met de wet ontfermt de ambassade zich over hen. Omdat de academica hun eigen sterke netwerken heeft is de ambassade voor hen niet nodig. Een goed voorbeeld van de handel die tussen Nederland en Finland wordt gedreven is in de biomassa die Finland heeft vanwege bijvoorbeeld de enorme bossen, veel Nederlandse bedrijven willen hier graag iets mee en de ambassade helpt het contact. Een ander voorbeeld zijn de medische gebieden. Hierna volgde een Q&A sessie tussen de studenten en de ambassadeur: Q (Mike): How do you become an ambassador? A: You work related jobs and slowly climb the ladder, at least that’s the case for the Dutch. In America it is a case of donating enough millions to the president’s campaign. Q (Mitchell): What is the biggest thing the embassy has ever been involved in?

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

A1: For example the Eurocrisis, the Dutch, Finnish and Germans have good relations and as such the embassy contributed. A2: There were a lot of battle tanks the Dutch could no longer maintain, but the Finnish really wanted them so we were part in making that happen. Q (Mitchell): And in business? A: Hard to tell, we get them together, but then don’t follow them and they barely ever get back to us. Q (Arno): How do students starting a business get in contact, do they e-mail? A: Yes indeed, our site and e-mail are main points of contact. But also the Slush event and Neelie Kroes contribute a lot. Q: What are the most important qualities for an ambassador? A: You have to be social (outgoing), know a number of languages, don’t be overspecialised: you need to be flexible, you don’t have much choice about what will happen in your career since you will be stationed. Q (Jeroen): Are there any surprising interesting differences that you’ve seen abroad that you didn’t expect? A: Finns and Dutch get along pretty well. It would be interesting to have researched why exactly. The Finns are honest even when it’s bad for them, the Dutch are blunt but the Finns can take it. Both start with their final offer making it easy to figure out whether doing business will work out. Q (Mike): What were the scary moments in your career? A1: Rowanda: there are barely any roads there so we flew around in rickety helicopters, which were not quite reliable. Also landing amidst 100 armed non-sober kids. That was a very tense situation. A2 (Deputy): Closing the Syrian embassy before the war and being stuck in a car in a bad neighbourhood during a civil war in Angola.

In de uren op de ambassade na de vragensessie werd er veel gesproken tussen de Finnen en Nederlanders. Over de studie, verenigingen, wetten, hoe de Finnen aan betaalbare alcohol komen en meer.

Om negen uur was er afgesproken om bij het station te verzamelen, wat uiteindelijk iets later werd vanwege de tijd die het iedereen kostte om te eten. Omdat er geen restaurant gereserveerd was werd de groep opgesplitst in groepjes die ieder geleid werden door een Fin die in overleg met de andere hongerigen een restaurant aanwees.

Een deel vertrekt vanaf hier naar het hostel en de rest gaat met de Finse studenten naar een feest in de stad waar enkelen tot ver in de nacht gezellig met de Finnen hebben gedronken en uitgewaaid hebben op het dak van het gebouw na een drukke sauna.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Day 7 – 9 th of May, 2015 By Laurie Kuppens

Our day started with 1.5 hours of sleep more than expected, so after “enough” sleep we could go to the Bioscience event with fresh energy. The event was for all biology students in Finland, and we were invited to join. After our breakfast, we got on the bus to the universities Viikki campus, the biosciences campus. When we got there, someone told us we could join in some interesting tours and presentations, but first we had to wait some time. The first talk we heard was from a PhD student in modelling biology, in evolution and development. In his department, they make mathematical models of animal development. This involves pattern formation, for example the pattern on the shell of a turtle, which is thought to be controlled by four genes. By computational modeling, you can combine equations, and then visualize the patterning process. He talked about different characteristics of development, involving both development of the form of the organism and the small adaptive changes. This talk was very interesting, because it was explained from a perspective that is not very common, as modeling biology is not really a large research field, and I – and I think all of us – had not heard much about it. After some more waiting with half of the group (the other half had already left for a lab tour), we were invited to the electron microscope lab. The woman that showed us around showed a lot of machines there, but also told an interesting story. The pictures hanging on the walls were made with a scanning electron microscope, as this method gives the nicest pictures. She showed us the picture that used to be her favorite, until she found out it was the behind of an ant. The lab also had many machines for transmission electron microscopy (one from Philips, so there was something Dutch there!). The biggest advantage of this method is the very high resolution. The electron beam is transmitted through a very thin layer, sliced with a diamond knife, and the electrons that come through form the image of which 3D models can be made. Another nice story our guide had to tell was that when they find spiders, they sometimes coat them with platinum so they can keep them. Too bad she couldn’t find one to show us at that moment. The last talk we heard was a really interesting talk about Parkinson’s disease. The research of this research group is EU funded, and it is about GDNF, neurotrophic factor, which is a molecule that promotes neuron survival. The research group tries to find a cure to Parkinson’s by finding a small molecule with a similar effect as GDNF. They test these compounds on cells and mice, and compare it to the effect of the natural molecule. They also use computational chemistry (a program called SMILES) to optimize the molecule. This program uses many molecular descriptors: the properties of the molecule regarding 6000 parameters, molecules, environment and more. It was a nice talk, and in my opinion, their research is very interesting. After these talks, we went to the club room of the student association, Helix. This was like the “Zuidkantine” in the Huygens building, including cheap beers for sale (and noodles!). It was nice to see that the student life at the university is similar there. This was also the first time we (or at least I) tried the typically Finnish “longdrink”, very nice! Next was the pub crawl in the Kallio district of the city. There were 13(!) bars on the list, so we didn’t get to all of them. In fact, we only went to two bars, but they did have happy hours, which made the beers about as expensive as in the Netherlands (Yay!). We were really hungry so we decided to play some of the pub crawl games and then find something to eat. The games were kind of like the games in our introduction: “Kaartje kussen” was one. Of course we tried to bribe the referees, but it seemed that this was not as normal in Finland as it is in our introduction. However, it did work for our poem

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 about the beginning of the earth, which was actually just the theme song of the Big Bang Theory. Next up was FOOD! We all were really hungry, so in no time we found a Hesburger. The Finnish burger place was much better than McDonalds (or maybe it was just our mood), and they had really great “gurkki majoneesi” (cucumber mayonnaise), so we actually learned something Finnish in the Hesburger. Last stop was the Luonnontieteilijäbileet, the Finnish version of “beestfeest” with only biologists. The party actually had the same atmosphere as our party, and we had a lot of fun. Too bad they decided to stop it at 1:30. But we decided to go back to our hostel, and after all, it was a good end of a nice day!

Day 8 – 10th of May, 2015 By Vicky Mertens

The day started off with homemade pancakes baked by Birthe, Peter and Qin who got up an hour earlier. Unfortunately, Arno Kentgens could not stay for the whole study tour and had to leave to catch the plane back to the Netherlands. After we said our goodbyes to him we went to Fort Suomenlinna by ferry. We first enjoyed our lunch there, and with us some gulls too. Unfortunately (for us), they stole some food right out of our hands. Afterwards, we got a tour to get to know the fortress better to show us around the fortress. Our guide told us about the history and the functions of the fortress. Finland, during the time it belonged to Sweden, wanted an extra barrier against the Russians. Because the sea in front of Helsinki is spread with 315 islands they decided to build a fortress on only 6 (nowadays five) of these islands. This was due to the fact that they began building from scratch without proper ideas beforehand and also because the building of the fort on these islands took already quite some time. The building of the construction was started in 1748 and could only take place in the summer due to the fact that it was too cold and there was too much snow and ice in the winter. As a consequence of the cold the workers slept outside in wooden house and not in the stone buildings because the inside was to cold, due to the stone that keeps the cold temperature. Therefore, these places were used for storage of machinery etc. The fortress was built by blowing up the rocks by 6000 workers. These workers made days of 8 hours, but could work up to 12,5h for more salary. They were paid pretty well and they also got a hot meal for free. Unfortunately, a lot of the workers died due to flying stones. The craters that were created resulted in artificial islands of around 10-15 meters deep. At the beginning there was only stone, but after 60 years grass and trees were imported. Nowadays the fortress is really green, just as Helsinki, that’s why it is loved to use as a picnic place.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

In 1808 the Russians did find a way to avoid the Fort. Because the cannons have a range of 8 kilometres they avoided them and occupied Helsinki. Afterwards, they surrounded the fortress with 59 ships and although they had 110 ships and 1000 men. No reinforcement came from the mainland, which led to the surrender of the fort and eventually the whole country was occupied. The Russians saw that the guns and cannons were old and brought new ones from Russia. The only time the fortress was involved in war was in 1855 when the fortress was bombed for three days by the French and partly destroyed. Nowadays, the Finnish navy academy is located on the two smallest islands, so these islands have limited access. In total the islands have approximately 1000 inhabitants. Therefore, a grocery shop, library, kindergarten, elementary school and medical centre are available. Also, in 1973 a 2 km long tunnel was made to connect the fortress with the mainland. This tunnel is only used for emergency cases, e.g. an ambulance. The dockyard is the first dry dockyard in whole Europe. In the winter is used as storage, repair and build at the same time. Two times a year the gate ways open. Nowadays, the water is pumped out by machines in 4-6 hours, where it took 2,5 weeks for a wooden windmill. The fortress nowadays also hosts an open prison with around 120 prisoners who walk around freely around the Fort during the day. They help with construction work and cleaning. However, they are not allowed to leave the fortress and therefore own a GPS-tracker. The prisoners have not committed very dangerous crimes and stay for 15 days till 8/9 months. They are not the best kind of workers because they like to chill and enjoy the sun in the summer, but I think this shows the progressive side of Finland, and I doubt whether we would allow it in the Netherlands due to our conservative attitude when it comes to law and justice. We want to lock up our prisoners as long as possible to make sure they suffer for their actions. The tower shows the change in religion in Finland. It was orthodox around 1850, due to the Russian influences and had 5 domes and decoration. After Finland became independent of Russia in 1917, the tower was rebuilt in 1927 without the decoration into the Lutheran style. This might be comparable to the change in religion in the Netherlands from catholic to protestant which led to the beeldenstorm. Nowadays, it is used for weddings and it is one of the three churches in the world that also functions as a lighthouse. Over all, the fortress gives a good inside in the fact that Finland has a rich history of occupation by the Swedish and the Russians. I think this is a big difference with the Netherlands as we have (almost) always been independent. You can clearly see this back in the history of and the changes made to Fort Suomenlinna. As one of the Finnish girls told me once during lunch it is not common in Finland to ask questions compared to the Netherlands. We did experience this during the tour as well. At the beginning of the tour the guide told us to ask whenever we had questions and also after every part he told he asked if there were any questions. However, during the tour he asked it very fast and if you didn’t come up with a question right away he would move on the next stop of the tour giving the idea that he did not really like to answer to much question, but preferably just only told his story. After the tour everybody was free to go. We enjoyed the weather till it became cloudy and chilly, and then moved to the city centre again. Due to the fact that is was Mother’s Day, which seemed to be more important in Finland than it is in the Netherland, most stores were closed. However, we still managed to find a supermarket in the city centre to do some grocery shopping and ended the day by cooking in the hostel, whereas other groups couldn’t find a supermarket and enjoyed a dinner in the city centre.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Day 9 – 11th of May, 2015 By Qin Ong

In the morning at 11 AM we departed to Turku, the oldest city of Finland. Looking through the bus window we saw hilly landscape with lots of trees. We also passed through a few tunnels, which were bored through mountains. Halfway the trip, we had a half-an-hour break at a gas station, where also small shops and restaurants were located. Some of us had their lunch outside, and some of us went shopping. After an additional hour of travelling, we finally arrived at our destination: PerkinElmer in Turku. With its motto ‘For the better’, PerkinElmer focuses on improving the health and safety of people and the environment. PerkinElmer has operations in 150 countries and 7,700 employees worldwide. Locally, PerkinElmer in Turku is better known as Wallac Oy. It used to be a Finnish company named after its founder: Jorma Wallasvaara. In 1993 the company was sold to the American company EG&G, which is called PerkinElmer nowadays. The establishment in Turku develops and manufactures instrumentations, reagents and software products for screening and research purposes. PerkinElmer is also the market leader in neonatal screening. The aim is to screen babies for diseases of which the symptoms may not be apparent yet. In case of newborn screening, blood samples are typically taken between day 2 and day 5 after birth. The blood is collected on a collection card, which is made of paper. Dried blood spots on the card are punched into well-plates for research. Our hostess for this company visit was Riikka Oivanen, a training coordinator at PerkinElmer. First, she took us to a lecture room, where she gave a presentation about PerkinElmer and the establishment in Turku. Then, she gave us a tour at the company. The tour started at the exhibition of the first products of Wallac Oy. Here, hygrometers, thermometers, radiation meters and radiation alarms were shown. In another corner of the same hall Riika Oivanen showed us microplates and two plate readers, which is used to perform time resolved fluorescence measurements. Then, we went to a big production hall, where employees were assembling instruments manually. Here, the hostess showed us some of their products, including punching devices, and plate readers. Next, we walked past the quality control room and the ’money door’, where the sold products leave the company to the customers. Before we entered the chemical manufacturing site, we had to wear protecting clothes and shoe covers. In the chemical labs, reagents of screening test kits are developed and produced. In a cabinet in the corridor several kits of screening tests were shown. The hostess explained that each disease has its own screening kit and each kit has its own reagents, assay methods, standards and controls. In the same cabinet, blood samples on collections card were displayed.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

After this interesting company visit, the bus brought us to our next housing: Borea. It was a boat hostel, which was permanently anchored on the west shore of the river Aura in Turku. Here, we dropped our luggage and refreshed ourselves. Subsequently we headed to the centre of Turku, where we met the members of student association TYK ry. After a quick dinner in the city centre, the students of Turku gave us a city tour starting from the Kauppatori market square. While we got acquainted with the Finnish students, we walked through the city centre and strolled next to the Aura River, where several boats were anchored. One of those was Svarte Rudolf, a boat restaurant, where we had a drink. Then we crossed the river by ferry and headed to the last sightseeing spot of the tour: the Turku castle, located near our accommodation. Afterwards we went back to the boat hostel. Some Finnish students went home, some of them joined us. The evening ended with drinking, chatting, playing games with our new Finnish friends.

Day 10 – 12th of May, 2015 By Tim Offermans

The scientific program of today started with a warm welcome at Turku Science Park. After we were all supplied with refreshments, a general lecture about the Science Park was given. Turku Science Park can be considered as a company, but also as a campus area, a business community and a university. Its slogan is ‘Innovate to accelerate’, which makes it a perfect match to the theme of our tour. The main goal of the Science Park is to connect educational institutions with the business world and the public sector. It stimulates (accelerates) the generation of innovations that are commercially interesting, out of primary knowledge. People who have a mind to see an application in research are guided in running a start-up company, by sharing expertise and connections. The methods of Turku Science Park have proven to be successful, as it recently led to a ground-breaking milestone: four pharmaceutical drugs were fully developed within sixteen months.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Source: http://www.turkusciencepark.com/en/about-science-park/brief/

Turku has a large focus on bio and life sciences: about one half of all Finnish pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries are situated in Turku. The biotechnology sector of Turku Science Park is called BioTurku. BioTurku has been the backbone of quite a few successful products, such as intrauterine device Mirena, cholesterol lowering food and drink ingredient Benecol and dental caries preventing Xylitol. BioTurku also developed the Auria Biobank: a central biobank of samples that is accessible by different kinds of companies and institutions in Turku.

Turku Science Park helps start-up companies in the pharmaceutical sector with the so-called bio- incubator, which we visited in a tour. The bio-incubator offers approximately 1000 m2 of office and laboratory space, which can be rented by biotechnology companies. All companies have access to shared basic laboratory equipment, a lobby area and a meeting room present at the incubator. The total incubation time for a company ranges from one to three years. After an evaluation and pre- incubation period, a selection and financing procedure will determine which companies can fully proceed in the incubator. The bio-incubator sets a very nice example of what Turku Science Park, in general, aims to do.

After our tour at the bio-incubator, we paid a visit to the SmartChemistryPark. This is a relatively new part of Turku Science Park that focuses on chemical research in Southwest Finland. It tries to bring different chemical companies together and stimulates collaborations between these companies. SmartChemistryPark’s operations focus on companies that refine biomass, recycled materials and industrial by-product flows into new products for international markets. After a general presentation on SmartChemistryPark, we were offered a few short presentations by companies that are currently operating in the park. A few examples of such companies are given below.

Crisolteq is a company that supports circular economy: it tries to support the flows of resources and waste of other companies. By creating or improving links between waste outflow of one company and resource inflow of another company, Cristolteq tries to improve productivity, drive down costs and boost competitiveness.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Ekolite is a company that tries to make ‘cash from ash’. It specializes in ash and other inorganic waste materials, and offers expert services in the fields of soil stabilization, geopolymer technology and cement & concrete technology, among others.

Nanol technologies produces solutions that enable reduction of fuel and oil consumption and prolongation of the life-time of key engine and machine components.

Day 11 – 13th of May, 2015

There is no elaborate daily report available for the 13th of May.

Day 12 – 14th of May, 2015 By Chantal Palmen

Today, the day after the student party in Turku, people could sleep in a little later than usual. We could even sleep till ten o’clock if we’d wanted, but some of us needed to finish packing our bags for Tampere, the last city we would visit this Study tour. At eleven, the bus arrived and we said our goodbyes to the boat hostel Bore. Off to Tampere. Most of us slept during the two hour ride, or at least I tried to, because it was quiet late, or should I say early, this morning. It was however a great party and we even obtained a patch to attach to our (future?!) overalls, a nice souvenir from Finland. After two hours, a bus-driver which was very stressed and 4 almost-accidents, we arrived early at the Dreamsleep hostel in Tampere. Fortunately, we could already move in our room and unpack our bags a little for one last night. At four o’clock, a few Finnish students would come to our hostel and give us a tour in the city of Tampere. Some of us slept for a bit or did some groceries for dinner that night.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

The students, which gave us the tour, only lived in Tampere for 1 and 3 years, so they only could show us what they knew about Tampere, but nevertheless it was a nice tour around this former industry city! At the end we needed to make a choice what we would eat the next day for dinner and we agreed to meet at 8 that evening to go to the Sky Bar (a bar at the 25th floor of a hotel) to watch ice hockey. The Finnish national team had to play against the Czech Republic. Unfortunately they lost. The Finnish people can’t stand loosing I guess, because most of the people already left the bar when the match wasn’t even over, but then again, 2 goals behind and only 20 seconds to play or so is a pretty bad situation to be in. Taken all into account, it was a nice relaxing day, with a great atmosphere, no bad-tempered people despite the fact we are almost at the end of our Study tour with only little sleep, and at the end of the day an amazing sunset at the Sky Bar.

Day 13 – 15th of May, 2015 By Maud Wuts

Today is the last day, time flew by and I can’t believe our study tour is almost over already. After breakfast we all had to get our suitcases packed up as we were leaving this evening to fly back to the Netherlands. Fortunately we could store the suitcases in an unused room at the hostel so we didn’t have to carry it around all day.

So when everyone was finished, we left for our visit of the Biomeditech institute by bus. There we had some lectures about the universities in Tampere, mainly about the ones Biomeditech institute is part of; university of Tampere and the University of Technology. The coordinator of the doctoral program told us that they are working on combining the three universities of Tampere. The universities have about 15000 degree students, including PhDs, while the Radboud University has about 19000 students without PhD students. Though it is smaller than the Radboud university, it does is one of the biggest universities of Finland. Biomeditech research fields are similar to those in the RIMLS. Some of their research topics are prostate/breast cancer, stem cells, mitochondria and bioinformatics. Students can participate in a research project over summer after their first year of university. This is very different from the Netherlands, where you only start working on research projects in the lab in your third year. I would have found it very interesting to have been able to do this after my first year, this would make the orientation in fields of research easier. The students studying at Biomeditech also get some language subjects in Swedish, Finnish, English and/or another foreign language. And they have to do a maturity exam which is in Finnish, this could be compared to a small literature thesis we have to do in our masters. Besides these courses, the structure is about the same as for us at the Radboud University.

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When doing a PhD in Tampere, or Finland in general, this usually takes 5 to 6 years because they need 3 published papers. In the Netherlands we mostly have the same requirement except here you usually only get 4 years to finish your PhD.

We went for lunch at the institute’s cafeteria after these interesting lectures. Like in most, if not all, cafeterias in Finland we had a very elaborate and delicious hot meal. When we all had eaten enough, we continued to the zebrafish lab at the institute. In the zebrafish lab there were some incubators for zebrafish eggs and the larvae they eat in the first room. The second room was filled with fish tanks containing different types of zebrafish, mostly transgenic, for the different kind of experiments that they perform. I had never been to such a lab before, so it was fun to see how everything is done and learn about how to grow the fish etcetera.

Now that our visit of the Biomeditech institute was finished, we had some time to kill and we decided to go hiking in the Finnish woods. With our hiking guide Peter, we climbed hills, jumped streams and ruined our shoes in the swamps in search of a flying squirrel (which we didn’t find ).

The nature in the Finnish woods was very diverse, some parts looked like our woods, and other parts were very different. Once in a while there were random rocks popping up between the moss, and the lake we ended up at was gorgeous. I can’t do it justice by just describing it. Last but not least, we found the highest point in the woods, which was an enormous rock. In total we took about 10000 steps in our 2 hour hike.

We got back at the hostel after this adventure, where we would meet up for our next activity; Pyynikki. The observation tower is known to have the best doughnuts in the world. They had a slight lemony flavour and I think I spotted some poppy seeds in them. The cafe has its own 80 year old doughnut recipe. After eating a doughnut we climbed the 26 meter high observation tower, standing 152 meter above sea level the view was beautiful! On top of the tower you can see the city of Tampere between the two lakes surrounding it.

We took the scenic route through the park and the city, with the Finnish students that took us to Pyynikki, to our restaurant. The restaurant, called Plevna, served some typical Finnish dishes. They served reindeer cheese soup and since we still wanted to taste reindeer, we of course had to try this. It tasted like cheese soup with bacon in it, so now I’m still not sure how reindeer tastes... The soup was very delicious, but only the starter. Next up was the main course, for me this was Plevna’s meatballs. The meatballs tasted very much like Swedish meatballs, like the ones you get at IKEA. And last but not least, I shared a chocolate cake with Jochem. When we finished dinner, we played some card games to kill time until we went to get our suitcases at the hostel and get on the bus that would bring us to the Helsinki airport.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Day 14 – 16th of May, 2015 By Franziska Schwarz & Rosa Stolper

Between the 3rd and 16th may 2015, we went on a study tour to Finland and Estonia. In Finland we visited Helsinki, Turku and Tampere and in Estonia, we went to the capital Tallinn. We visited many universities and spoke to many students and researchers of different universities. In this report we would like to give an impression of the notable features of student and academic life in this countries.

The first destination of the study tour was Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. On the first day a visit to the Technological University of Tallinn (TUT) was planned, which would start with a conference attended by Estonian students and our group. However, upon arrival we found out the conference was cancelled. This was due to a large military training exercise. We had already heard during the opening symposium of the study tour in the Netherlands that Estonia has a strained relationship with Russia and feels quite threatened by Russia’s military power. One of the results is the obligatory military service of all young man. Therefore almost all students are also part of the army and because there was this large training exercise the university was closed for a whole week. Luckily for us some students have an exemption of military service, and they could still introduce us to the Estonian university life. With two of those students we had a very interesting debate about the organisational structure of universities. Since two years there are no tuition fees anymore for the study programs. Although the study is initially free, students have to pay a fee if they have to take a resit for an exam. There are generally many students in a study program and there is not such a thing as a ‘binding study advice’ as we know it in the Netherlands (BSA). This arises from the financing system, because the university receives governmental money for the amount of students that are enrolled at the university. There is no stimulus for the university to encourage students to finish their studies, whereas in the

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Netherlands this is of major importance for the universities due to the financing. The rector of the university is chosen in an election in which also the students can have a vote, unlike in the Netherlands. The last rector was partly chosen because he made good promises to the students during the campaign. There are a lot of student associations available for the students to continue with their hobby in leisure time. For example there is a Sauna Club which builds saunas or diverse sports clubs. However, there is no study association such as Sigma. Afterwards we had a city tour through the medieval centre of Tallinn and had dinner in one of the two medieval style restaurants of the city where we tasted original Estonian food. After 2 full days in Tallinn, we took the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. On our first full day in the city, we had a photo scavenger hunt during which we explored the city. The next day we visited the Chemistry department of the University of Helsinki. Finland also has no tuition fees. However, there is only a limited number of places in a study program. Future students have to take tests to be accepted and for some study programs the tests are harder than for others. As could be expected, medical studies are very popular and therefore it is more difficult to be accepted. In the Netherlands students will often study Biology if they are not accepted for Medicine, but in Finland the test for Biology is very difficult as well. Many students, as much as about thirty percent of the first year students, will choose to study Chemistry or Physics for one year, since this is seen as a good preparation for the test of Medicine. Finnish students have long summer holidays in which they often have summer jobs to earn money to cover living expenses. The most popular summer jobs are those at research departments. They seem comparable to our internships, as the students are assisting PhD students in their research. It is really useful to take such a summer job, as there is only one internship during the study program, at the end of the master’s program. Therefore students hardly get any opportunity to get experience in research. At the same time there are not sufficient summer jobs at research departments for all students, so some students miss this very instructive experience. The little space for research experience in the study program is felt by many students as deficiency if they want to continue as a PhD student. Also, a PhD student does not receive a salary but can apply for funds from the university or companies. As a result the majority of the students does not aspire a career in Academia. Furthermore, these career are not promoted by the student advisors due to the uncertainty of such a career, as you would have to find a new position often. Student associations are an important part of the Finnish student life and they identify themselves by wearing the same colour overalls, which they can personalize by sewing on patches from parties or other activities. On the next day, we went to the Bioscience event which was held in Helsinki this year. It is a big annual event where students from all bioscience related studies from whole Finland come together and have short lectures about the research at the university and lab tours. In this way they learn about research at all different universities in Finland and so they also meet other students who study in the same field at another university, which is useful for comparing their experiences and building a network. On Sunday, we took the ferry to Suomenlinna, a fort built in 1747 by the Swedish governors on 6 islands in the bay of Helsinki to defend the city against the Russian. It was interesting to get to know more about the Finnish history which was affected by many wars between Sweden and Russia fought on the Finnish territory. It was also fascinating to hear the hypotheses about the Russian occupation in 1808.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

In Turku there is also a Swedish speaking university, which led to some conversations with the students about languages in Finland. They told us that the general stereotype of the Swedish speaking citizens is that they are richer and have a better life style, but that this is not necessarily true. Everyone has to learn Swedish in secondary education and also at the university there is an opportunity to learn Swedish. In Tampere two foreign languages are an obligatory part the curriculum and students can choose from Swedish, English or German. One aspect of the university life that we observed in Turku and Tampere is the lunch they take at the university. This is very elaborate and of really high quality. It is not expensive if you are a student, about half the price we pay in the Refter in Nijmegen. The price is so low because the government supports it, so every students can take one meal a day officially, although they do not check this.

All in all it was a very informative two weeks for our group. We have seen many similarities in the university life; the labs everywhere have the same pipettes, gloves and bottles with buffers, the students like to party and also talk about science, and organizational aspects of universities never seem perfect. The many differences showed us the way Academia is organized in the Netherlands in a new light, and we can now appreciate certain aspects better, such as our internships and the opportunities they give us. Every participant has had unique experiences and will therefore find specific aspects worth mentioning, and thus our report is definitely not complete. Nevertheless we think we have given a tolerably well summary of this tour.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Committee members

First row, from left to right: Britta, Laura, Suzanne, Mitchell Second row, from left to right: Evelien, Chris, Jeroen

Secretary – Suzanne de Bruijn

About one and a half year ago, our big adventure started. The committee for Study Tour 2015 was finally complete, and my job would be to fulfill the tasks of the secretary. As a secretary, I spend a lot of time sending many e -mails and writing the minutes of our bi-weekly meetings. Both participants and committee members considered me as a contact person for all their urgent questions and concerns. Sometimes, when my mailbox was overloaded this was a bit stressful, but most of the time, I really enjoyed solving each little problem in order to make a fantastic journey possible.

One of my other tasks was to set-up the academic and cultural program in Helsinki. In an early stage of the organization of the tour, I already had contact with the Dutch embassy in Helsinki. We were invited for a drink during our stay in Helsinki, provided that Finnish students would be joining us. I contacted study association Helix, an association for molecular biology students, and they responded immediately enthusiastic. At the end, it turned out that our visit at the embassy was one my favorite moments of our trip. Finnish and Dutch students were all mixed and socializing with each other, exchanging ideas and experiences, about

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 their studies, their personal life and their countries. For the rest of the weekend in Helsinki, we spend time with the Finnish students, we could even join the national Bioscience meeting (Biotieteilijätapaaminen). The Dutch a mbassador was right, and has successfully fulfilled his job, he connected the Dutch with the Finnish people, and for that I am really grateful. It was an amazing weekend, and thanks to the Finnish students, we got to know Helsinki in a very special way.

Also, the rest of our trip was really great. Despite all our attempts to plan all the details for our tour in advance, you cannot plan everything. But thanks to all committee members, we dealt with all surprises and everything was solved very smoothly. And thanks to all participants, the atmosphere was excellent for the entire two weeks, which was also required for our tour to succeed. I look back at our study tour with a big smile and with proud. It was a great and memorable experience, and it wouldn’t have been so without the great teamwork of all committee members. Being the secretary of the committee of Study Tour 2015 is something I have not and will never regret.

Treasurer – Mitchell van der Hulst

When, back in November 2013, I found myself in a room with exactly enough people to form a committee, I didn't plan on becoming the treasurer. At that time I was already treasurer of V.C.M.W. Sigma and wanted a new challenge. However, due to little spare time, I eventually opted for this position hoping that my experience would be beneficial. I was glad to find out that in my year the committee would be using the Rabobank, as does Sigma. The similarities ended there. There was no fancy program for bookkeepi ng, hardly any capital and no financial control committee, so there were some challenges left for me after all.

Gradually during our organizing efforts, I acquired some extra tasks. I became responsible for the website, since I had some basic knowledge in HTML and CSS. I also took care of getting our sweaters printed at DressMe. I take pride in having thought up our logo with the test tubes and thank Shamon Janssen from ShamonDesign for turning this idea into its sleek design. Seeing the logo's on 25 sweaters for the first time was a special moment, which more than made up for the fact that I was also the one who washed all sweaters to get rid of the pungent factory smell.

One of the most demanding tasks was not the treasuring part, but being responsible for the entire program during our stay in Turku. Thankfully, everyone there was rather cooperative and soon I had a sturdy educational program ready, complemented with some meetings with students from TYK ry. Nevertheless, it was a bit stressful being responsible for the program on those days and keep an eye on my bookkeeping as well. Despite some stressful and irrit ated moments, I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

During our trip, I had some unexpected and amusing experiences as treasurer. Like getting up early in Tallinn, walking around the post office twice only to find it is still closed. When finally opened, the comedy really began with the very inefficient way of acquiring 24 public transport day passes which culminated in a receipt of three meters. Inefficient transport tickets remained the theme of the trip, since in Helsinki I was only able to buy one ticket at a time which took me half an hour for the group and in Turku I had to buy 24 single trip tickets at the bus driver, which took about three minutes for every trip: an eternity in public transport. The final count of receipts added up to 160 which I dil igently collected over the course of our stay.

Staying in budget in a pricey country like Finland proofed challenging and in the beginning, our prospected participatory fee was close to €600. This slowly declined in the course of planning, mostly due to the efforts of the sponsor coordinators who arranged twelve (!) case studies and some addition sponsoring. I was more than surprised to find that the participants will likely pay even less than for the previous tour to the very cheap destination of Russia. As the committee is finalizing the organization of the tour, I'm left with some last payments before I can refund the participants the remains of their participation fee, which will be substantial. I'm proud of what our committee has achieved and the grea t trip we have realized. It has been a grand and fun experience.

Sponsor commissary – Evelien Huijs & Laura Rozing

Our duty as a sponsor commissary was to collect resources in order to make the study tour (as cheap as) possible. In order to fulfil this task, we contacted a list of companies. However, contacting turned out to be harder that we thought and after sending a letter, calling, mailing and sending a reminder e -mail, we luckily received a reaction. Although most companies we approached responded with the message that they did not have a budget for financing study tours, Screening Devices and Shimadzu did want to sponsor us!

Luckily, collecting the case studies was a lot easier. We were even asked to help at the ICAB conference in return for fun ding. This was in the exam period so most people could not make it, but Birthe helped us out. We were really happy with a total number of 13 case studies and were able to assign everybody a first or second choice study. We enjoyed the start-up meetings and found it interesting to hear what the case studies were about. At the moment some studies are still running but we received a lot of positive reactions on the performed studies. The studies went really well despite some bumps in the road.

Looking back, we really enjoyed the study tour. We enjoyed the good atmosphere in the group, the activities and the nice contact with the student associations. This

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 was all made possible by all our sponsors; departments, companies and the subsidies of SNUF so we owe them a big thank you for making this tour a great success.

Travel commissary – Britta Helwig

Being part of the study tour committee together with the most amazing people you can imagine, was a great experience. Having had enough experience as a secretary and after having done similar work to the sponsor commissaries before, I gladly ended up being a travel commissary together with Chris. As travel commissary, we were responsible for the practical organization of our trip.

However, first things first: we had to choose a destination. I was the lucky one who had to figure out if Finland would be a suitable destination for a study tour (I can now confidentially say that it was). After digging into the different cities, universities, and cultural activities Fi nland had to offer us, it all started.

It was an early Saturday morning in September 2014, and Chris and I were on a mission. We visited all travelling agencies in Nijmegen on our quest to find the cheapest flight tickets available. After a lot of discuss ions and bargain hunting, we decided that VakantieXperts would be our best friend, and we booked the tickets. AirBaltic was the company that would fly us from Amsterdam to Tallinn and from Helsinki to Amsterdam.

But, as life is never easy, the airlines decided to change the flight plan and mess with our planning just when we booked the hostels for our nights in Estonia and Finland. Luckily, Chris and Mitchell were able to solve this problem.

While the rest of the committee took care of the day -to-day program, there was a Travel Guide that had to be made. After spending quite some evenings on putting it together, the final results was quite nice. Something else that may not be forgotten is the “Smoelenboek”, which was composed on special request of Arno and Hugo. I must say they used it gratefully during our tour. After printing 24 boarding passes during online check-in, we were ready to go.

One important thing I’ve learned during the trip (after spending half of our pub tour in Tallinn on helping Mitchell find a working ATM) is that ING has higher payment limits than Rabobank in foreign countries. Furthermore, we all learned a lot about Estonian and Finnish education, culture, student life, and beers.

I think it was an amazing study tour, and I want to t hank all participants but especially our fantastic committee for the great collaboration and organization, and for making this tour one that we won’t forget!

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Travel commissary – Chris Prüfert

After finding ourselves with just enough people to start our mission in early 2014 we were out and about to do so. Finland was chosen as a destination and later on, Estonia joined our programme.

Britta and I formed the voyager team. It was our task to find and book flights, accommodations and transportation for Finland and Estonia. After straying around in local travel agencies and combing through the offers online we found what we were looking for. Although there was change of flight times, we were destined to make this Study Tour the best ever. And so we did!

During the trip my first major task was to check in the group. I never was so happy before to have printed paperwork. Discussions and arguments with the personnel just disappeared by pulling out these little A4 fellows. The second major task was to keep in contact with the bus company about travel times and the exact locations of departure and arrival. This worked out pretty well.

Since started the journey from Berlin I was in Tallinn a few hours before the rest of the group. After giving up waiting for my ba ckpack at the carousel, I went to the baggage claim office where the agent said: “ Everything is OK, Your luggage is Poland at the moment. It will be here in about three hours ”. So the adventure has started. So it had time to find the hostel in the city and could make prearrangements at the hostel. After heading to the airport I still had about an hour to spend at the “Europe's cosiest airport”, as TLL positions itself.

After Tallinn, the next highlight was the Booze-cruise. The ferry's nickname that runs from Tallinn to Helsinki. So after that trip, the booze batteries were reloaded.

In Tallinn as well as the three cities of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku we were warmly welcomed by the students and companies we visited. They introduced us to their customs and traditions of their country. It was very nice to experience those first hand. We learned about the student's lifestyles of the students we met and business strategies of the companies that we visited.

For me personally, the difference between the Dutch a nd Finnish/Estonian student's lifestyles wasn't that big. Too many deadlines, too few of money. But the social status and expectations of being a student differed quite a lot. It showed me how important it is as a society and government to have nourishing, though not over-enabling, attitude and regulations in order to make the academic buds of a country blossom to their full potential.

Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Financial report

# People Per person Total Expenses Travel Bus trip to Schiphol I 24 € 10.63 €255.00 Flight (return trip) I 24 € 346.52 €8,316.52 Ferry Tallinn-Helsinki II 24 € 17.00 €408.00 Bus transport between cities 24 € 83.33 €2,000.00 Public transport in cities 24/25 III ~€49.46 €1,211.80 Train tickets to Nijmegen 24 € 0.00 €0.00 Accomodation and Food Hostel Tallinn (3 nights) I 24 € 42.00 €1,008.00 Hostel Helsinki (5 nights) IV 25 € 98.40 €2,460.00 Hostel Turku (3 nights) II 23 € 54.22 €1,247.00 Hostel Tampere (1 night) 24 € 24.00 €576.00 Breakfast/Lunch 24/25 III ~€25.22 €618.01 Joint diner 25 € 17.28 €432.00 Excursions Excursions 24/25 III ~€18.62 €456.25 Other Costs Printing costs € 524.95 Symposium € 53.44 Study tour borrels € 3.59 Sweaters € 537.24 Bank costs € 303.42 Presents € 148.00 Communication 43.35 Total Expenses € 20,602.57

Income Contribution students 23 € 387.47 € 8,911.70 Contribution supervisors 2 € 400.50 € 801.00 FNWI funding students 23 € 100.00 € 2,300.00 SNUF funding students 23 € 105.00 € 2,415.00 Sponsorship € 630.00 Case studies (€10/hour) € 5,500.00 Interest € 44.87 Total Income € 20,602.57

I One supervisor paid for himself II One person was free of charge III One supervisor left after the first week IV Two tarifs were paid

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Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Participants

Scientific staff

Arno Kentgens Hugo Meekes

Committee

Jeroen van de Wiel Suzanne de Bruijn Mitchell van der Evelien Huijs Hulst

Laura Rozing Britta Helwig Chris Prüfert

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Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

Participants

Peter Betlem Ilze Donderwinkel Jochem Evers Freek Hoogstede

Laurie Kuppens Birthe Lagendijk Vicky Mertens Tim Offermans

Qin Ong Chantal Palmen Koert de Roos Mike Ruth

Franziska Schwarz Rosa Stolper Suzanne Maud Wuts Timmermans

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Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015 Acknowledgements

We want to use this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude which goes out to the scientific staff, the Dutch embassy in Helsinki and the manifold of universities, institutes and companies which we visited as a group during our stay in Estonia and Finland.

We also would like to shout out a huge thank you to our sponsors for their financial contribution, with which they supported our study tour and thereby multinational education on an academic level that forms the scientific excellence of the future.

Our appreciation goes to all members of the board of recommendation for expressing their affiliation and support.

THANK YOU !

Scientific staff Prof. dr. Arno Kentgens Dr. Hugo Meekes

The Dutch embassy in Helsinki H.W. Swarttouw

Universities and Companies of the study tour Technical University of Tallinn National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics University of Helsinki: Jarkko Ihaanus Perkin Elmer Wallac: Riikka Oivanen University of Turku: Dr. Jarmo Käpylä and Dr. Ari Lehtonen Turku Science Park: Tero Karhi BioMediTech Technical University of Tampere

Our sponsors Dept. of Bio-Organic Chemistry, Radboud University Dept. of Molecular Structure and Dynamics, Radboud University Educational Institute Molecular Sciences, Radboud University Faculty of Science, Radboud University

ICAB Conference Screening Devices BV SHIMADZU Benelux BV

Stichting Nijmeegs Universiteitsfonds (SNUF)

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Final Report Finland & Estonia Study tour 2015

The board of recommendation Prof. dr. F.P.J.T. Rutjes Prof. dr. E. Vlieg Dhr. H.W. Swarttouw Drs. H.M.F. Bruls Prof. dr. C.C.A.M. Gielen Prof. dr. Th.L.M. Engelen Dr. ir. C.D. de Gooijer Dhr. H. Clevers Prof. dr. R.J.M. Bindels Prof. mr. S.C.J.J. Kortmann Prof. dr. H.G. Brunner

Students who have enlightened our week Tallinn: Andres Joonsaar Helsinki: Juuso Taaminen Turku: Enni Mannila Tampere: Laura Oksa

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Colophon

Stichting Buitenlandse Studiereizen, Nijmegen t.a.v. Study Tour committee 2015 Heyendaalseweg 135, Postvak 57 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands

[email protected] http://www.studiereismw.science.ru.nl/studiereis15/

KvK: 41057429

Study Tour Committee 2015 Jeroen van de Wiel, chairman Suzanne de Bruijn, secretary Mitchell van der Hulst, treasurer Evelien Huijs, sponsor commissary Laura Rozing, sponsor commissary Britta Helwig, travel commissary Chris Prüfert, travel commissary