Eesti keele ja kultuuri õpetamisest Oulu ülikoolis
On teaching of the Estonian language and culture at the University of Oulu

Summary/Abstract: It is an established tradition that in Finnish universities where the Finnish language is taught as the main subject, the Estonian language belongs to the curriculum as a closely related language; the lecturers have mostly been Estonians. At the University of Oulu, founded in 1958, the teaching of the Finnish language as the main subject began in 1966, the position of the lecturer of the Estonian language was established on 1 September 1967. In Oulu, a decision was made to invite the lecturer from Estonia; at other Finnish universities, the lecturers were Estonians who had settled in Finland before or during World War II. The Soviet Union allowed the Estonian lecturers to work in Finland only for one or two, later for three or four academic years. Despite bureaucratic and ideological obstacles, other Finnish universities also began to invite lecturers from Estonia. After the liberation of Estonia from the Soviet occupation, the new lecturer of the Estonian language was elected in 1992 by the regular contest. In total, 15 people have worked as lecturers of Estonian in Oulu from 1967–2016 – eight of them from the University of Tartu and four from Tallinn Pedagogical Institute. The original curriculum included an introduction to Estonian, an intermediate course, a conversational course and a course of Estonian literature. In 1987, the Estonian language and culture became a subsidiary subject in Oulu, it was possible to take basic studies, from 1997 intermediate studies. Well-known Estonian intellectuals were invited to Oulu as visiting lecturers; teaching was also supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Te Estonian lecturers in Oulu have actively participated in international research and Estonian-Finnish cultural exchange and contributed to the positive image of Estonia in Finland and of Finland in Estonia. The teaching of the Estonian language and culture at the University of Oulu as a subsidiary subject (like in several Finnish universities earlier) was stopped because of a shortage of finances. From the autumn semester of subjects, teaches the introduction to Estonian and intermediate Estonian. Slowly, the teaching of the Estonian language and culture at the University of Oulu is broadening again.

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