Training
The Åland elementary school is nine years old. The schools are well spread across Åland and therefore quite small. You try to maintain full school education even in the archipelago, and each archipelago municipality has its own high school, which can have as few as three pupils. A three-year high school that gives admission to university and college studies is located in Mariehamn. Academic courses are offered at Åland University, partly in collaboration with the Turku Academy in Finland. The maritime education has ancient origins in Åland; already in 1853 a school was started with education in i.e. astronomical navigation, which today survives in the Åland Maritime Studies. In addition, there are other qualified vocational programs as well as the 100-year-old Åland Folk High School (in Finström).