Study location	Finland, Helsinki
Type	Short duration course, short course
Nominal duration	4–20 Aug 2020 (5 ECTS)
Study language	English

Tuition fee	Prices EARLY BIRD prices valid until 28 February 2020 NORMAL prices after February 2020.

Entry qualification	A minimum of 2 years of university-level studies is required for all courses. See course-specific requirements below >> target students. The entry qualification documents are accepted in any language

Language requirements

English All courses are taught in English. Although applicants are not required to present an official certificate of language proficiency, all students must be fluent in English. A good command of English is necessary for completing the course (following teaching, participating in classroom discussions, writing essays) as well as managing day-to-day matters in Finland. An applicant can be rejected if his/her level of English is not deemed equivalent to the standards.

Other requirements

A motivation letter must be added to your application. Please tell us about your academic goals and why you would like to attend Helsinki Summer School and the course you have applied for. For example: Why is this course important to your studies or to your future career? How do you satisfy the course requirements? Please note that plagiarism is strictly forbidden at the University of Helsinki. Any applicant caught of plagiarism will be automatically rejected.

More information	helsinki.fi/..bout-sustainable-development

Overview

Synopsis
An estimated one billion people around the world are members of a cooperative enterprise in virtually all sectors. Together with additional 2–3 billion economically dependent persons, they improve at least in part their livelihoods through this membership. International governmental and non-governmental legal texts have recognised this importance of cooperatives for some time. After decades of disinterest, academia and politics have gradually rediscovered this type of enterprise, its relative crisis resilience, its new role in the utilities sector, and in education, social and health care – in short, its potential for sustainable development.

The course is to create an understanding of the vital necessity for a diversity of enterprise forms to match the diversity of people’s needs and interests and to make (sustainable) development possible and of the function of cooperative law in this respect. The term ‘cooperative law’ also incorporates other fields of law as they impact on the structure and operations of cooperatives, such as labour law, tax law, competition law and accounting and bookkeeping standards, as well as law making and implementation procedures.

Emphasis will be on the factors which shape cooperative law and the rationale behind specific legal rules, rather than on the technicalities of the law. In line with this, and as students come from different national backgrounds, reference to specific cooperative laws will only be made by way of examples.

The course is complemented by visits to and presentations by cooperative organisations. During the August 2019 session of the Helsinki Summer School, students visited the headquarters of the S-group and the Pellervo Coop Center.

Target students
Advanced law students and students from other disciplines with a strong interest in cooperative law.

Coordinator
Pekka Hytinkoski, pekka.hytinkoski@helsinki.fi
You may contact the course coordinator with questions concerning the course content.

With any other questions concerning Helsinki Summer School or the application process, please contact summerschool@helsinki.fi.