The Baltic University Programme (BUP) is one of the largest university cooperation’s in the world, with almost 120 participating universities in the Baltic Sea Region, cooperating for education and research in Sustainable Development and Democracy.

The Baltic University Programme:

• is a network with 118 participating universities and other institutes of higher learning in the Baltic Sea region.

• focuses on questions of sustainable development, environmental protection, and democracy in the Baltic Sea region. The aim is to support the key role that universities play in this development.

• is an innovative network with the aim to enhance higher education both on a local and on an international level.

• arranges international university courses and teachers conferences. Interdisciplinary research cooperation and participation in trans-disciplinary projects with authorities and municipalities are also supported.

Organisation

The BUP is coordinated by the Baltic University Programme Coordinating Secretariat at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The BUP Finland is one of three Associate Secretariats within the Baltic University Programme. All Associated Secretariats have specialised tasks. Where the Finnish Secretariat’s task is education, the German Associate Secretariat deals with research development, and the Polish Associate Secretariat deals with the organisation of network wide courses and conferences.

The BUP Finland is also a National Centre, that coordinates the Finnish universities’ and polytechnics’ activities in the BUP network, such as students and teachers conferences.

BUP Finland, both National Centre and Associate Secretariat, is located at Åbo Akademi University in Turku. The German Associate Secretariat is located at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, and the Polish Associate Secretariat at Lodz University of Technology.

Participating universities in Finland

At the beginning of 2025 the participating universities in Finland are:

Arcada

Novia University of Applied Sciences

SAMK – Satakunta University of Applied Sciences

Turku University of Applied Sciences

University of Jyväskylä

University of Turku

Åbo Akademi University

Åland University of Applied Sciences

This video gives a brief introduction to what The Baltic University Programme (BUP) is, what we do and how: