Faculty of History

Chair of history of countries of Northern Europe

Head of the Chair,      Associate Professor, Ph.D. in History, Takala Irina Reievna Lenin str., 33, room#413 Tel.: (814-2) 711-099 E-mail: irina.takala@onego.ru

• Specialization in history of countries of Northern Europe
• Personnel of the chair
• Laboratory on the problems of Scandinavian countries and Finland

Specialization in history of countries of Northern Europe

The scientific school of history of the countries of Northern Europe and, first of all, history of Finland and Russian - Finnish relations, as well as history of Karelia in the context of relations between Russia and Finland was in existence in Petrozavodsk State University for years. Doctor of History, Professor I.I.Kajvarajnen (1912-1996) was one of the originators of Finnistics in Karelia.

Today PetrSU is the only higher educational institution in Russia where the faculty of history offers specialization in history of the countries of Northern Europe, approved by Educational Methodical association of universities of Russia on the direction "History" (N28-09/1 of 12.01.98). In April of 1999 by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation the specialization was assigned a codification number of 020713 (History of Finland and Scandinavian countries, specially for PetrSU). 

Opening of the specialization has demanded significant efforts in organization of the educational process. The curriculum for 5 years of training was drawn, various auxiliary teaching aids were prepared. Besides the author's lecture course on history of the countries of Northern Europe from the Epoch of vikings up to the modernity (it was developed and is performed by three teachers during the sixth semester in the total volume of 180 hours), students attend lectures on ethnography of peoples of Northern Europe, archeology of Fennoscandia, history of Scandinavian and Finnish literature, various optional lecture courses on particular problems of history, historiography and culture of the region. Compulsry special courses developed by teachers on materials of their own scientific researches are also included in the curriculum. 

Great attention is paid to foreign language skills of students, they study Finnish, Swedish, English, and optionally some other Scandinavian languages. Constant practice is participation of students in summer language courses held by universities of Sweden and Finland.

Since their first year in the university, students write and defend their yearly research projects. High standard of graduation qualifying works of some students allows to publish their results as scientific articles.
Graduates of the specialization, besides the basic qualification of "historian", received additional qualifications of the "teacher of history" and "teacher of Finnish language".
A particular admission for the specialization was held from 1992 to 2009, and it has always been popular among university entrants.

In 2010 the faculty has established the first and untill now the only one in Russia officially licensed Master's program in history of the countries of Northern Europe. Thus, the chair has become the first in the faculty of history that has switched to the two-level system of training Bachelors and Masters, meeting requirements of reforms in the higher education.
Post-graduate students study to have degrees in history of Finland, Karelia, international relations in the North of Europe; distinguished foreign scientists are invited to be their educational consultants.
Students and post-graduate students have an opportunity to work on probation and continue their education in higher educational institutions of Russia (Moscow, St.-Petersburg), Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In turn, experts of PetrSU render scientific and methodical assistance, offer consultations to their international and colleagues and post-graduate students, supervise over work of trainees and students. All teachers of the specialization repeatedly lectured in higher educational institutions of Finland.
Good professional and language background allows our graduates to work almost in all spheres (science, education, tourism, culture, bodies of the government and municipal boards, organization of international cooperation, business) both in Russia, and abroad.

 

Personnel of the chair:

1. Takala Irina Reievna, Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor, head of the chair, e-mail: takala@psu.karelia.ru, irina.takala@onego.ru.

2. Suni Leo Valterovich, Doctor of History, Full Professor, e-mail: suni@karelia.ru

3. Solomesch Ilya Motelevich, Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor, head of the Laboratory on the problems of Scandinavian countries and Finland, e-mail: isol@karelia.ru

4. Suvorov Yuri Vladimirovich, Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor, e-mail: suvorov@psu.karelia.ru

5. Melnikov Igor Valerievich, Ph.D. in History

6. Dubrovskaya Elena Yurievna, Ph.D. in History, senior staff scientist

7. Lesnikova Irina Sergeyevna, methodologist, e-mail: lesn@psu.karelia.ru