The University of Tampere is the proud host of the oldest American Studies program in Finland

The Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation endowed a multidisciplinary Erkko Chair in North American Studies from January 2007. The Erkko Chair is held by PhD Katri Sieberg.

North American Studies

Throughout history, North America has played an important role in world affairs. North American presence is seen in several dimensions: in culture, history, and popular culture, to name a few, but key aspects are found in the North American political and economic impacts. Politically, North America has a global effect which can be seen through foreign relations and also through the intense interest and scrutiny of the US presidential elections and domestic affairs. North America has an equally large economic impact. The focus of this program, correspondingly, explores the politics and economics inside North America and North America's political and economic impact in a global connection.  The program focus includes Canada, Mexico and the USA. Reflecting the location of the program, the North American Studies program is a comparative program. Thus, courses go beyons understanding events, policies and issues in North America to understanding these events, policies and issues in general, with North American cases - and Nordic cases - serving as special examples.

The North American Studies program at the University of Tampere applies analysis from political science and economics but also incorporates other fields, including history, sociology, and others. The program draws from these rich multidisciplinary resources, with each field applying its own methodology, approaches, and perspectives to explore the creation, actions, and impacts of the political and economic systems and impacts of North America globally and vice versa. A particular emphasis of the program is welfare state issues and evaluation of differential welfare state systems. Incorporating welfare state issues provides a rich comparative focus on subjects of great importance in North America and in Europe. 

The primary object of the program is to provide for undergraduate students and post-graduate students who wish to pursue their degrees in their main subject with a focus on North America. The secondary object is to provide for undergraduate students, who wish to focus on North American Studies, in conjunction with their main subject, but do not intend to continue studies past a Masters degree.

The NAM-program offers three levels of studies; The Basic Studies (25 ECTS),  Subject studies (35 ECTS) and Advanced Studies (40 – 80 ECTS).

North American Studies can be included in various studies as a full minor (basic studies 25 ECTS + subject studies 35 ECTS) in a Master's degree. As a minor (basic studies 25 ECTS) for the BA.Degree (Kandidaatin tutkielma) at the University of Tampere. Those students who are aiming for more in-depth understanding of North-American Studies can start Advanced Studies level (40-80 ECTS) credits.