History and Purpose of the Åbo Akademi University Foundation

The Åbo Akademi University Foundation was founded on 18 June 1917 with a starting capital of 3.47 million Finnish marks, donated by 35 private individuals. The yield of the donated capital was to be used to establish and maintain a university in Åbo, named Åbo Akademi, with Swedish as its teaching language. The Åbo Akademi University was established in 1918 and was operated without any support from the state or the city of Turku up to the mid-1950s. In 1956 Åbo Akademi received its first state grant corresponding to four per cent of the university’s total budget. Starting from 1963, the grant was paid as a statutory state subsidy. In the period 1970–1981, the state subsidy amounted to 75 per cent of the running expenses of the university.

In 1981, Åbo Akademi University was nationalised, as the last private university in Finland. The foundation and the university were then legally and financially separated and the Åbo Akademi University Foundation was given new statutes and a new role. Today, the Åbo Akademi University Foundation is one of Finland’s largest foundations, sustained by the donations we have received.

The foundation’s primary purpose remains to support the Åbo Akademi University. You can read more about our statutes here.