Welcome to Central Ostrobothnia Rural Institute and to the Unit of Kannus

Units: 4 (Kannus, Kaustinen, Perho, Toholampi)
Students: 400
Staff: 100

Infrastructure:    2 farms for educational purposes;
                        180 hectare of  field, 400 hectare of forest;
                        3 stables, a fur farm, an indoor ring for horse-riding, kennels

The Education of Central Ostrobothnia Rural Institute promotes the vitality of the Ostrobothnia region by enhancing the competitiveness and diversity of its economy.

The cornerstones of our operation are land, forests, animals, top-quality handicraft and functional data communication links with full capacity teaching via Internet. The Rural Institute also allows for modern technology in production and thus provides its students with an ideal opportunity for improving their individual professional skills.

The Rural Institute operates in Kannus, Kaustinen, Perho and Toholampi. The 4 units organize their instruction separately but co-operate in developing their education, in organizing more optional courses and in teaching, administration and marketing.

The Institute also plays an important role in providing working people with additional and supplementary training.

The Institute develops its operation with various projects  and works in close cooperation with research institutes, municipalities and other interest groups.

The Unit of Kannus

It is a nationally recognized institute in Agriculture and Forestry providing education for the youth and adults alike. The School was founded in 1925 and greatly enhanced people’s possibilities to get education in rural areas. Before that it had been operating as a circulating school in Central Ostrobothnia . During the years the school changed its names and curriculum several times. The name Rural Institute of Central Ostrobothnia was introduced on August 1, 2003.

Today we provide students with education  services in the following fields:

Initial Vocational Qualifications:
-  Rural Entrepreneur (Agriculture, Kennels-sector, Machine Entrepreneur)
-  Forestry (Forest Worker, Forest Machine Operator)
-  Fur Farming (Fur Farmer)

Adult Education and training
-   Specialist Qualification in Fur Farming
-   Further Qualification in Artificial Insemination
-   Further Qualification in Livestock Farming
-   Further Qualification for Agricultural Mechanics

In according to this our Institute organizes great amount of short courses  and also runs rural development projects which include courses in their activities.

Short courses:

Additional Training of Agricultural, Release-Workers Artificial Insemination, New Technology, Quality Training.

Future challenges include a joint exam with Kannus Upper secondary school. During this exam a student will get certificate from both schools and will also pass matriculation examination. This kind of education takes four years. Another challenge is to get started higher education on Agriculture, Forestry and Fur farming. Our area lacks the Polytechnics or University education on these professions. At the same time nearly 20% of the population in Rural areas still work in primary sector.