Novida is a vocational institute (college of further education) located in Uusikaupunki, in south-western Finland, beside one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. In fact, over half of the area within the Uusikaupunki city limits consists of water.

Novida was formed when Vakka-Suomi Vocational Institute, Uusikaupunki Commercial College and Vakka-Suomi Rural Institute were united.Three active schools became one large establishment, which offers a wider range of choices than before and interdisciplinary educational possibilities.

Novida offers vocational training including many interdisciplinary courses in commerce, public administration, nature conservation, tourism, catering, technology, and transport.

VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE NOVIDA
Viikaistenkatu 1
PO Box 20
FIN-23501 UUSIKAUPUNKI
FINLAND

There are long traditions of education and training in this region, known historically as Vakka-Suomi, "Finland's bushell", because of its farming. Novida is a college providing vocational training both for school leavers and for adults, in commerce & public administration, nature conservation, tourism, catering and technology & transport.

Students can take the three-year courses to qualify as financial and computing officers, as entrepreneurs in the tourist industry, as caterers and chefs, as welders, machine fitters, and motor vehicle mechanics, as chauffeurs and commercial drivers, skilled construction workers, electrical fitters, process managers and planning assistants.

Almost a two hundred new young people enter the college each year, and there are something like a thousand adult students taking extension courses.

Maintaining strong international links has been one of Novida's priorities for almost ten years, with extensive positive experience from collaborating in many different projects, joint curricular initiatives, and exchanges with partner institutions in other countries.

International contacts stimulate motivation to learn foreign languages, and open students' and teachers' minds to wider perspectives. They also help to prepare students to work in today's increasingly multicultural working world. Language skills, occupational skills, and self-confidence - these are invaluable advantages on the job market.

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES

Novida's international programmes are based on reciprocity with our partner institutions. Novida has been actively involved in establishing its own international network, in which students and trainees are regularly exchanged. This collaboration is based on mutual partnership, allowing each institution to fulfil its own specific needs.

Student exchanges are planned in collaboration, using a project plan which then entitles each partner to apply for funding from their own national authorities.

The college has taken an active role in developing international collaboration. Novida is currently involved in projects under the following international schemes: Leonardo da Vinci (United Kingdom and Ireland), Lingua (Belgium, UK and Iceland), and Nordplus junior (Sweden). Initial contacts have also been made with Estonia and Spain.

Our current international partner institutions are:
 
Fjölbrautaskólinn í Garðabæ
Garðabæ, Iceland

ISISS 'G. RONCA'
Solofra, Italy

Middlesbrough College
Middlesbrough, United Kingdom

Corwin Matyas
Hódmezõvásárhely Bartók, Hungary

Fachoberschule Erlangen
Erlangen, Germany

BBS I
Osterode am Harz, Germany

SPS Ruzomberok
Ruzomberok, Slovakia

UUSIKAUPUNKI

Uusikaupunki was founded in 1617. It is an idyllic town by the sea, well known for its old wooden houses, wooden churches, sailing boats, the untouched beauty of the surrounding countryside and seascape - and its high-quality motor vehicle industry. Uusikaupunki is home to an assembly line for one of the world's finest sports cars, the Porsche.

Uusikaupunki early became a national centre for the merchant marine and shipping. The port was at its peak during the latter 19th century, when it was home to the second largest fleet of sail in Finland. Still today, the Kaupunginlahti bay is lined in summer with the beauty of white sails, and the Finnish boating associations have several times voted Uusikaupunki as the best boat marina in the country.

Uusikaupunki is located 70 km north from Turku, which is the oldest town in Finland. From Turku, all the way to Stockholm, spreads the largest archipelago in the world, with over 20 000 islands. Thousands of years ago, the glacial ice passed over these rocks, shaping them into their present enchanted patterns, with thousands of kilometres of shoreline.

The archipelago offers a unique land- and seascape, with a fascinating history, a very distinctive culture of its own, peace and quiet, the smooth rocks, woods, and flowery meadows, and idyllic routes for boating past fishing villages with their old churches, traditional handicrafts, and superb food.

In our grandparents'  days, most of the people in the archipelago lived by fishing. The fishing traps would be lowered in April or May, and raised up again in July brimful with fish. A single trap could hold as much as 8000 kilograms of the tasty, nourishing Baltic herring. Some of the fish would be spread on the smooth rocks of the shore to dry, while others were ground into fishmeal.

FINLAND

Finland is a land of forests and lakes: almost three quarters of its land area is covered by forest, the total number of lakes is around 190 000, and there are almost as many islands. Although Finland is on the same latitude as Alaska, it is much warmer, thanks to the impact of the Gulf Stream: the winters are cold, but the summers are warm.

In recent years, Finland has established an unchallenged position as one of the leading countries in the world in communications technology. In the land of the midnight sun, there are currently more mobile phone connections per capita than in any other country in the world: three out of every four Finns have their own mobile. This is hardly surprising, bearing in mind that the biggest world manufacturer of mobile telephones, Nokia, is a Finnish firm. Similarly, Finland is among the world leaders in the density of Internet connections.

Finland is a good country to live in. The balance between economic efficiency and social solidarity is exceptionally successful. Finland has been ranked sixth in the United Nations table measuring the quality of life, where the criteria were the population's overall state of health, level of education, life expectancy and income.

The level of education in Finland is high, and the level of State expenditure on education is higher than in many other Western countries. Finnish literacy is one hundred per cent, and the country holds the world record for libraries: in relation to population, the largest number of library borrowers, and the average annual number of books borrowed, about 20, is also at record level.

Sivu päivitetty 8.11.2007