INVITATION

WELCOME TO

The XXII European Congress for Rural Sociology

in VAASA, FINLAND, in 2009

Hosts:University of Vaasa and Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa

HOST COUNTRY FINLAND

• Vaasa is situated on the Finnish west coast

• Vaasa is the regional capital and has 57.000 inhabitants

• Good connections– Weekdays 14 non-stop flights from two

capital cities; Helsinki and Stockholm.– 15 minute drive from the airport to the city

centre– Weekdays 8 trains arrives from Helsinki to

city centre.– In Vaasa everything is within walking

distance!

THE CITY OF VAASA

• Three university units providing higher education and two universities of applied sciences.

• 29% of the population in Vaasa have a university degree

• Vaasa is a bilingual city and centre of the province of Ostrobothnia– 72% has Finnish as native language– 25% has Swedish as native language

THE CITY OF VAASA

THE UNIVERSITY OF VAASA

- four faculties

- offering degrees at all academic levels from Bachelor's to Doctor's

- 5 000 students

- The Department of Regional Studies, for example, has broad competence in questions related to rural policy and regional features of entrepreneurship

HOSTS

HOSTS

ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY IN VASA

- offers degrees at all academic levels

- 2 faculties

- 1 800 students

PROPOSAL FOR CONFERENCE THEME AND PROGRAM

Social Dimensions of Rural Transformation in Europe

- focus on different social dimensions of ongoing rural transformations in Europe.

- the diversity of migration patterns, discussion on different social, political and economic outcomes of the ongoing transformation

- the excursion program to be an exiting learning experience of the today society of the Ostrobothnan region

- Proposed dates: 17th-21th August 2009

CONFERENCE SITES

ACCOMMODATION and SOCIAL PROGRAM• Accommodation in the

city centre or by the sea - in private independent hotels or in international hotel chains

• The seven hotels in Vaasa offers a total of 800 high-class hotel rooms

• Hostel accommodation close to the meeting site and to the city centre

• A wide variety of outstanding social programs