Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU) located in Turku and in Vaasa, Finland, is an internationally acknowledged research university with an extensive responsibility for preserving the Swedish educational and cultural heritage as the only Swedish-speaking multi-disciplinary university in Finland. Due to the Swedish language and the university’s location on the Sout-West and West coast, ÅAU also serves as a bridge for collaboration in research and education between Finland and other Nordic states.
ÅAU employes 1,200 staff and provides high quality education to 5,500 undergraduate and 780 postgraduate students, of whom 500 postgraduate students (64%) are awarded Masters Degrees and around 70 students (9%) graduate with Doctoral degrees per annum. The number of scientific publications averages 1,500 annually.
The Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies is the faculty directly involved in the Includeme+ project and at the core of this faculty is the belief that health, wellbeing and proper educational access is the foundation of a safe society. The research in the fields of education, health sciences, and social sciences contribute to positive development for all regardless of age and social status, ensuring equality for all learners.
The IncludeMe+ project team at ÅAU is Associate Professor Emmanuel Acquah and Sage Borgmästars (Education / Minority research profile), and Anette Bengs, Kimmo Rautanen and Yvonne Backholm-Nyberg (Experience Lab, www.explab.fi)