In accordance with a decision of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the national special duties of the University of Helsinki during 2025–2028 will remain as they were during 2021–2024. For the term 2025–2028, the University of Helsinki’s special duties prescribed by law and treaties can be found below.
The Aleksanteri Institute is a national research centre in the field of Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies under the auspices of the University of Helsinki.
The Centre for Consumer Society Research studies the development of consumption and the consumer society, as well as the links between cultural, social, economic and political phenomena, and consumers and the consumer society.
The Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus is an independent institute of the University of Helsinki. It preserves and maintains the national collections in the natural sciences and conducts related research.
Helsinki Graduate School of Economics is a joint research and teaching unit of Aalto University, University of Helsinki, and Hanken School of Economics. The mission is to produce high-impact, high-quality research, train the next generation of economists and promote the cooperation between economics, the other fields of science and society.
The Helsinki Institute of Physics HIP is a joint research institute between the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Jyväskylä, the LUT University and the Tampere University, with national duties.
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research INAR coordinates the Finnish Atmospheric Science Network. INAR and its Finnish partners develop and maintain SMEAR stations in Finland that produce atmospheric and ecosystem measurements, manage an international network of measuring stations and develop a national research and teaching cluster in atmospheric sciences.
The Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy KRIMO, formerly the National Research Institute of Legal Policy, is a research institute at the University of Helsinki, specialising in the research and monitoring of crime and legal policy in Finland.
The Lahti University Campus is an international competence cluster based on an agreement between universities and the City of Lahti, part of Lahti's regional innovation environment. At the campus, universities conduct multidisciplinary research and provide research-based teaching, as well as promote the regional impact of operations.
The aim of LUMA Centre Finland is to inspire and motivate children and youth to do mathematics, science and technology through the latest methods and activities of science and technology education, as well as to support the lifelong learning of teachers throughout Finland from early childhood education to universities and to strengthen the development of research-based teaching.
The Mikkeli University Consortium (MUC) is a networked academic community based on an agreement between Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, LUT University and the City of Mikkeli, which employs roughly 130 individuals.
Cultural heritage is shared wealth, and we are all responsible for its preservation. The National Library of Finland is responsible for the collection, description, preservation and accessibility of Finland’s printed national heritage and the unique collections under its care. The Library also functions as a national service and development unit for the whole library branch.
The University of Helsinki has a special duty of national importance in education and research related to rare languages and cultures.
The Swedish School of Social Science is a Swedish-language unit of the social sciences with a Nordic and international profile that employs a multidisciplinary approach to both education and research. The school conducts a significant part of the bilingual operations of the University of Helsinki. Swedish School of Social Science website
The academic mission of the teacher training schools is to organise the teaching practice included in the University’s teacher education in a teacher training school, to supervise this teaching practice and to develop it further.
The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a top-level unit in veterinary care that provides treatment to more than 20,000 animal patients every year.
Institute of Seismology carries out research on and monitors seismic activity of Finland and adjacent areas.
Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention VERIFIN supports the disarmament of chemical weapons by development of identification methods for chemical warfare agents (CWA).