Volume 17 No. 2, July 2006
Major of Forest Engineering and Forest Products Technology
The Faculty of Forestry is an internationally renowned research and education centre which produces highly competent and responsible professionals with excellent management skills for forestry and other environmental management fields for Finland and the rest of the world. The Faculty's situation in the City of Joensuu places it at the core of a dynamically developing national centre of expertise in the forest, wood, and environmental sciences as well as education.
Every year 15-20 students of the Forest Engineering and Forest Products Technology can specialize in forest work science, wood procurement, business logistics, harvesting and utilization of energy wood, technologies of silviculture, forest industry processes, industrial engineering and management, wood science and features of wood as a raw material.
As basics studies the economic phenomenons of forestry and forest industry as well as forest policy and socially sustainable aspects of forestry are learned during forest economics studies. Forest measurement studies gives basics for mensuration of trees and forests, forest modeling, inventory methods, remote sensing, GIS and applications of statistics and computer science. In forest planning students concentrate on forest management planning and decision making in forestry. The central techniques used are computer science, optimization methods and multi-criteria decision analysis techniques. The biological sciences relating to forests and their management are linked during studies of forest ecosystems management. They include the growth and development of forests, basics and methods of sustainable management of forests, as well as biodiversity management, multiple use of forests and environmental impacts of forest utilization. These large studies provide the graduates with a solid foundation for forestry. Finland's Ministry of Education has awarded the Faculty the status of a National Quality Unit of Higher Education for the period 2004-2006.
The main part of the research is made in Graduate School in Forest Sciences. It was established by the Ministry of Education in 1995. At present it has 21 four-year-positions for PhD students provided by the Ministry of Education and about 60 PhD students who finance their PhD studies by other means (for example by the Academy of Finland and different foundations). The aim of GSForest is to educate doctors, who are international experts in forest sciences and forestry on the following topics: Ecophysiology of forest trees, forest and fire ecology, environmental management of forests, forest economics and marketing, and forest resource management. The courses organized by GSForest are mainly funded by the Academy of Finland. GSForest is coordinated by the Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu. Today we are looking forward hopefully that the new Graduate School in Logistics and Information Systems will be established by the Ministry of Education in 2007.
For further information, please contact Teijo Palander, PhD, Professor (acting) and Head of Forest Engineering and Forest Products Technology at:
University of Joensuu
Faculty of Forestry
P.O.Box 111, FIN-80101
JOENSUU, FINLAND
Phone: +358 13 251 3638
Fax: +358 13 251 3590
Mobile phone +358 50 4619988
E-mail: teijo.s.palander@joensuu.fi