Ulvön is situated in the southern archipelago of the rural district of Örnsköldsvik. The island is sometimes called "the Pearl of the Sea of Bothnia". Ulvön is in fact two islands, which are separated by a narrow strait. The northern part of the island has a resident population of 45 inhabitants. Itīs roughly 10 km long and 4 km wide. The shortest way to get to Ulvön is about 20 km and there is no bridge. If you want to go to Ulvön, you must go by boat.
Ulvön is a tourist island and approximately 75.000 tourists visited the island in 1996. Ulvön is also known as the island where the famous fermented Baltic herring originated. Nowadays the production of fermented herring is greatly reduced, because the employed persons wanted to try other jobs outside Ulvön. The decrease of the number of children resulted in the school closing down. In the middle of the 80s the population on the island began to reduce. Ulvön became a summer and tourist island. Thatīs why the "archipelago education" began.

In the beginning of the 90s some entrepreneurs (Göran Björkland and Per Nordlinder) began to set about the population problem. The difficulty was that they couldnīt just start a company since the educated people often had a family. The whole family had to move out to the island and then they had to introduce child welfare and so on. That would be too big a step economically. Instead they decided to start an archipelago education, in collaboration with Hampnäs Folk High-school (Sweden) and Kronoby Folk High-school in Finland.
Göran and Per got in touch with Carl-Erik Berthelsén, who is responsible for the education. The money for the preparation came from: "Ulvö framtid", the municipality in Örnsköldsvik and the Kvarken Council. The Kvarken Council is a collaboration in the Kvarken area, which consists of Wasa (Finland) Umeå, Örnsköldsvik and Skellefteå municipalities.
The purpose of the education is to preserve old trade and to get people to stay and develope in the archipelago environment. The education adresses to everybody but above all the archipelago inhabitants.

On January 7 1997 the first course started, which lasted one term. There were 9 pupils from Sweden and Finland. Those who took part were positive and they decided that the next education, which started on September 1 1997, should go on for two terms. When the education had begun, from Sweden: Hampnäs Folk High-school, Örnsköldsvik municipality, the county government board, Ulvö framtid and from Finland: Kronoby Folk High-school, Kvarken Council and Österbottens federation finance the school. The Interregional EU-fund is also sponsoring with 40% of the total cost. Carl-Erik Berthelsén is responsible for the education but there are lots of teachers from both the mainland and Ulvön, who teach the pupils in many different subjects.

Smithery:

The pupils learn how to make their own knives but also objects of their own wishes like candlesticks and spoons.

Leather:

They learn how to work with reindeer and sheep leather. A "Leasthermaster" shows them how to use the leather in different ways.

Wood:

Here they go out in the nature and search for natural branches which can make a nice spoon! They learn how to make instruments from horns and bones.

Fishing:

The fisherman on the island has a long experience. He teaches the pupils how to repair fishing-nets and how to set traps for fish. Later on the pupils can cook the fish.

Computer science is an important part of the education. They learn to use and understand the new IT-technique. The pupils also get a fundamental knowledge about how to start and run a business.The pupils learn English and Swedish. How to make a good advertising sign and to take care of tourists by different arrangements. Once a term the pupils from Ulvön have a possibility to visit the Kronoby Folk High-School wilderness guide education, which lasts a week. Kronoby also visit the archipelago education in Ulvön for a week. The pupils decide the program themselves. The most important thing is still to feel good and to be with other people. The program contains exercise, positive thinking and friendship.

Some of the courses are open for the Ulvön inhabitants who do not take part of the education; Computer science and Business studies for example. The courses take place on the island, but on the mainland, at Hampnäs Folk Highschool, the computer and smithery courses are held because they have not got premises enough on the island.

Even though the education has not been going on for so long, you can see some improvements. They have increased the education from one term to two. They spend more time on the island and the interest for the education has increased.

The goal of the education is that the pupilsī self-confidence will increase and they will be able to start their own companies. Hopefully someone takes the first step and does so on Ulvön and in that way make people move back to Ulvön.