Report studying in Turku, Finland

Transcription

1 Report studying in Turku, Finland Esther Kooistra Autumn 2014 S If you have questions for me, don t hesitate sending an to: esther--kooistra@hotmail.com In this report I will tell you as much as possible to know everything about my amazing experiences during my exchange with the Swedish university in Turku, Finland: Åbo Akademi University. A: General report 1. Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad The host institution that I visited was Åbo Akademi University in Åbo / Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name for Turku). There is another university in Turku called Turku University, but the one I went to is smaller and I liked that more, because it is more personal. I arrived Monday the 25 th in the evening in Turku. The 25 th and the 26 th of August were the official arrival days; during these days you were sure that your tutor could pick you up from the bus- or train station. The introduction days were from Wednesday the 27 th of August until Friday the 29 th of August. During the introduction days they how everything worked at Åbo Akademi and you could as many questions as you wanted. The semester started Monday the first of September and continued until Friday the 19 th of December. This picture is made during the introduction days. 1

2 2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey The contact with the home faculty went well, if I had questions I could just them and then I had a reply in about one or two days. If you want to go abroad, you have to arrange quite a lot of things. I will summarize the things I did before I left: - Find someone to sub rent your room in Groningen to. - Ask for the public transportation fee; I could get around hundred euros per month for that, so definitely worth the effort. - Fill in papers to receive the grant from the University of Groningen. - Fill in papers to rent the starting package in Turku (more information later in the report). - Apply for a room in Turku. - Apply to become a student at Åbo Akademi. - Get in contact with you tutor (they will contact you first if it is right). - Buy an internet cable to take with you (you need one in Student Village West). The cheapest option to travel to Turku for me was to first go to Bremen (there is a bus going from Groningen to Bremen, but my father wanted to bring me there) and then to take the airplane to Tampere airport. From Tampere you could take the Ryan Air bus (6 euros) to the train station in Tampere and from there you could take the train (29 euros) to the train station of Turku. This is where my tutor picked me up. 3. Residence abroad Because I stayed inside Europe, I didn t have to arrange a residence permit or a visa. I arrived in Finland the 25 th of August and I left the 20 th of December. Official the last school day was the 19 th of December, but I already finished two weeks earlier with my assignments and classes. My room was located in Student Village West, definitely the best place for exchange students. From there it is 15 minutes to the city centre by bike and 5 minutes to Åbo Akademi. I bought a bike in Turku at Ekotori ( for 70 euros. I would recommend buying a bike, because a bus card is 30 euros per month, so it costs more. Besides that there is also an option to get another bus card where you can put money on and then the bus trips are 50% of the original price. This was a perfect option for me when we wanted to go somewhere further outside Turku by bus. My room was expensive, it cost 429 euros per month (including furniture), but this was the price for all the rooms in Student Village West. A cheaper option was for example Retrodorm (around 280 euros I thought), but this is a lot further of the centre, you have to climb a few hills, and you have to share the shower and the toilet. In the rooms in Student Village West you have your own toilet and shower in your room, really nice. The kitchen is shared with 11 other people, but that is fun, because then you can eat all together sometimes. Also most of the kitchen parties are in Student Village West; they are really amazing! You have to pay 1.50 for every time you use the washing machine. However, using the dryer is for free. You have to pay by calling to a certain number. 2

3 Like I already mentioned before, there were three introduction days in which they will explain everything to you and where you will meet your tutor and the other students in your tutor group. These days were really well organized and my tutor was awesome and really sweet! The student life in Turku is great! Especially for exchange students they organize a lot of parties and activities to discover the city and to meet the other exchange students. The culture of Finland seemed kind of the same as the Netherlands to me. The only thing I experienced in Turku was that Finnish people are a little bit shy in the beginning. They will not talk a lot to you in the beginning, but once they know you they are really nice. Besides that they are really helpful and always want to help you if you have questions or some kind of troubles. It was also funny to see that when you accidently walk into someone on the street, the Finnish people always apologize, even though it isn t even their fault! In the Netherlands you will always get an angry face haha. With our spare time we did a lot of great things like cooking together, going canoeing, picnicking at beautiful places (picture below) and of course visiting other places and countries in and around Finland. We went to the following trips: - Stockholm (Sweden) - Tallinn (Estonia) - Helsinki (Finland) (two times) - St. Petersburg (Russia) - Lapland (Finland) - During the Lapland trip we also went to Norway (to swim in the ocean! :O Amazing experience though) Picnicking at Ruissalo: When we went to Stockholm in September it was 23 degrees, so we had a lot of luck with the weather! It is an awesome city and almost everyone was in love with the city! We went to St. Petersburg with an organization called Bigland ( I would really recommend going to St. Petersburg and especially going with this organization. Everything was 3

4 really well arranged and we had a guide for the whole weekend. With this trip, you don t need a Visa to enter Russia. The people in St. Petersburg really can t (or really don t want to haha) speak English, so a guide is almost necessary. Here is a picture in front of the church on spilled blood made by our guide: The people in Finland are really good in speaking English, so there are no problems with the communication. Turku is a city where they speak two languages, namely Finnish and Swedish. Åbo Akademi is a Swedish university, so almost every teacher is Swedish, but they can also speak Finnish (and English of course). You can choose both a course in Finnish and a course in Swedish. If you want this, you should be fast, because it is really popular and there are a limited amount of spaces. 4. Grant Amount While I was abroad (September) I received the first 70% of the grant, this was 711,90. I will receive the last 30% in one month (February or March) probably. I could use it really well in Turku, because especially in the first month you have a lot of expences. I bought a bike, the rent of the first month (unfortunately you pay for the whole month August even though you are only there for a few days), the starting package, the student card etc. The starting package cost 70 euros (including 50 euros of deposit, so only 20 euros) and it included a blanket, a pillow, cutlery, curtains, a cup and a glass. I would recommend renting this package, because it is cheap and it saves you a lot of stress, work and money to buy the things for yourself. If you want a starting package, you have to order it already when you are still at home. The grocery stores are more expensive in Finland compared to the Netherlands. However there is also a Lidl in Turku and this is almost the same price. Only alcohol is really a lot more expensive in Finland; for example a bottle of Wodka costs 32 euros. You can eat lunch at the univeristy from Monday to Friday for only 2.60 per day, which is really cheap comparing to what you pay for food in 4

5 the grocery store. The lunch is a really good meal and you can take as much salad and bread as you want besides your pasta/potatoes/soup etc. The trip to Lapland was expensive; it cost me in total around 550 euros I think. Even though it was totally worth it! All the activities were amazing and we even saw the Northern Lights!!! However the aforementioned amount was with all the activities included, but you can also do the trip without these activities. You had to buy for example the husky safari and the reindeer farm activities, which I both did (reindeer sledging and husky safari): 5

6 You pay a certain amount as a student in the first month, if I remembered well it was 56 euros. And for this amount you are a student at Åbo Akademi and you can use the health care services for students, so a fair price I think. Besides that, you have to order a student card for 15 euros. With this student card you get discount at certain places, for example museums and at the cafeteria of the university (to get the lunch for 2.60). 5. Study (general) The overall system in Finland is a little bit the same as in the Netherlands, because you also have two periods in the first semester. However, it depends on the courses you choose how many courses you have per period. For example I had three courses in the first period, two in the second period and one course which was half in the first and half in the second period. This is why I didn t have a lot of classes at the end of the second period, but I really liked that because I could travel more and go to Lapland without stress. Another difference is that for the courses I had, I almost didn t have exams. For only two courses I had an exam of which one was a take-home exam and the other was an electronic exam. So not like the exams in the Netherlands. If courses had an exam, they were mostly in the last week of the period. First period: until Second period: until The study program in Turku was very well organized and really flexible. If you explained that you were going on a trip somewhere you could almost always arrange to move an exam. For example for the electronic exam; you had to plan the exam yourself online and then get the key to enter the computer room. You had four weeks to plan the perfect day to make it for yourself. The teachers at Åbo Akademi are really nice and helpful. If you had questions, you could always ask them and they will even make an extra appointment with you if you thought that was necessary to get more help. There was even one time when a guy missed the first three classes of a course, that the teacher just explained him everything what he missed in those classes; even though everyone knew that he missed it because he was lazy. In the Netherlands teachers would be stricter and say to him that it is his own fault that he missed the classes (not when he had a good reason of course). In this example I like the Dutch system more, it is fairer for the other students who were there all the classes. We had to make a lot of assignments and essays for every course, so that took a lot of time. However, you could get higher grades than in the Netherlands; they give you a high grade more easily. If you manage the English language well, then language is no problem at all in Finland. The teachers speak English very well and don t have problems using it. All the courses for exchange students are given in English. The International Office in Turku is really good. They always want to help you and it is open from Monday to Friday If you have questions, you can just go there and they will help you with everything. You can also send them an (international@abo.fi). Also if they are filling in your Learning Agreement, they will scan it for you and send it to your address; really sweet. 6

7 The grading in Finland is from 1 to 5: Finnish Grade: Dutch Grade: 5 (A, excellent) 9 4 (B, very good) 9 3 (C, good) 8 2 (D, satisfactory) 7 1 (E, sufficient) 6 If you have failed, then you will not get a grade (insufficient). I have taken the following subjects: First period: - International Business, a European perspective This course was about business in Europe. With a group we had to choose a certain international company and analyse this in all the assignments we received. Besides that, we had to discuss individually online about certain topics we choose ourselves and after that discuss with others about their topics. These discussions took place on Moodle ; the Nestor of Åbo Akademi. At the end of the course we had to give a presentation about our findings of the international organisation (we chose Nestle). - Managing the Digital Enterprise This course was about the electronic aspect of businesses and organisations. We had to do four things for this course: a presentation with a group, a report with that same group, an individually SPSSassignment and an electronic exam. The course was interesting and we learned a lot about the new electronically technologies of nowadays. Besides that, the teacher was really sweet and knew a lot about the digital enterprise herself. - Creative business and the creative economy This course was about how to be creative and how to use creativity inside organisations. We had to write an essay individually, and we had to make an assignment about a business in Turku and we had to make a take-home exam. We had 48 hours for this exam. In between both periods: - Introduction to Intercultural Communication This course was half in the first period and half in the second period and was a course which you could take at the Öppna Universitatetes I Åbo, so the open university of Åbo. It was about intercultural communication; how you had to take into account the different cultures and behaviours of different countries. Because there were a lot of exchange students in this course we could learn a lot from each other and we could give examples how it was in our own countries. Every class included a presentation from our teacher and after that we discussed in groups of around five students about certain topics and we had to discuss our opinions and our experiences in our own countries. For this course we had to make an assignment every week, but you didn t get grades for it and they were really short. We only got a grade for the final project; you could choose the topic yourself. The topic had to be about different cultures or differences in behaviour. I choose to analyse the movie Slumdog millionaire, because in this movie you can see a lot of difference in the behaviour between the rich and the poor people. 7

8 Second period: - B2B-marketing in an international context This course was sort of a continuation of International Business, a European perspective. We had the same teachers and the same sort of assignments. Only the content was different. We learned about marketing in different countries and the difference in the approach to the different sort of people in those countries. - Knowledge management This course was about how to create, store and manage knowledge in a correct way in an organisation. We had to make two assignments in couples and two individual essays. 6. Summary impression of the study period abroad If you are hesitating going on an exchange, just do it! It is awesome and you will never regret it! All the people I talked to who went somewhere else around the world, they are all really enthusiastic and had a great time. The contact with the host institution in Finland is really nice; it is fast, friendly and they always want to help you with everything. I liked the courses at this university, the teachers were really nice and it was quite easy to get good grades. You only had to write a lot of essays for it and make a lot of assignments each week. But if you planned it well, then you could go on trips very often! 8

9 B: Specific report International Business, a European perspective ( ) Intermediate level (undergraduate, year 2 or 3) Lecturers: DSc Monica Nyholm and PhD Stefan Lång 1. Host institution and study period Åbo Akademi: Lectures and literature The course is mainly web-based with only three study meetings á 3 hours per one period. The study meetings all include lectures as well as workshop-discussions. The literature is articles chosen by the instructors. You don t have to study them; you only have to use them for your assignments. 3. Contents Aim: During the course Europe is studied from the perspective of its being the most important market for Finnish companies. The European business environment is studied with particular focus on factors affecting marketing and investment. Analysis of similarities and dissimilarities between countries are included as well as internationalisation strategies used by the companies on European markets. After the course, the participant should be able to: - Explain the meaning of the concept international business environment. - Describe the general internationalization theories. - Understand the impact of the international business environment on the company on a basic level. - Explain the main differences in the business environment between different parts of Europe. 4. Lecture-related activities Examination is done based on the exercises performed on the web (individual as well as group reports and discussions) as well as activity during the workshops. With a group we had to choose a certain international company and analyse this in all the assignments we received. Besides that, we had to discuss individually online. At the end of the course we had to give a presentation about our findings of the international organisation. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program In Groningen there also is an International Business course, so it is quite comparable. 6. Study load There were only three study meetings; one of three hours and two of two hours, so in total seven hours of class. For the rest you had to do everything yourself or in a group. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 3 for this course, which is an 8 in the Netherlands. 9

10 Managing the Digital Enterprise ( ) Intermediate level Lecturer: Anna Sell 1. Host institution and study period Åbo Akademi: Lectures and literature We had to follow one class per week (8 weeks long) on Monday from As literature you have to study one book; you can borrow the book at the library very easily. 3. Contents Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to: - Recognize, describe and analyse business models in the digital environment. - Understand and describe the digitalization of enterprises, organizations and society and the consequences of this on the market environment. - Understand and be able to apply central concepts and terminology within the field of electronic commerce correctly. - Understand how information technology can be used to leverage competitiveness and strategy in organizations from three perspectives: Business-to-business (B2B), Business-to-consumer (B2C) and Business-to-employee (B2E). - Be able to describe ways to create and maintain trust and loyalty in the digital environment. - Recognize central security risks in the digital environment and understand issues concerning integrity of individuals, organizations and data in the electronic commerce context. 4. Lecture-related activities For this course we had to make an electronic exam, a presentation, a report and a individual SPSSassignment. This sounds like a lot of work, but the teacher was really nice, so it was a really nice course. She explained the use of SPSS really well, so a recommendation for people who have a hard time with this. Besides that, she just wants you to experiment with SPSS, so she is not strict in giving grades for this assignment. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program This course didn t really relate to the study programme in Groningen as far as I know, because it is a Information System course, no Business course. 6. Study load Two hours per week for lecturers and for the rest you have to fill in your time yourself and with your group. It wasn t that much work. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 5 for this course, which is a 9 in the Netherlands. 10

11 Creative business and the creative economy ( ) Intermediate level Lecturer: Astrid Huopalainen 1. Host institution and study period Åbo Akademi: Lectures and literature We had 5 classes of 2 hours in the period of 8 weeks. Literature: Articles and other material according to instructions. 3. Contents Aims: The course gives an insight into both the theorization and the practice of creativity and creative work in contemporary economy. The course introduces the participants to key themes in creative work, the creative industries, notions of creative cities/regions and the creative economy in general. Through both theoretical and empirical engagements, the course emphasizes the importance of understanding how creativity and innovation create value and the way in which this can be managed in organizations. The course presents the key current discussions regarding understanding the role of creativity in business and the economy. Specific emphasis is placed on how creativity has become a key strategic resource and a central arena for discussing business policy. Further, the importance of understanding the dynamics of the creative industries and their relationship to the development of economic frameworks is highlighted. Learning outcomes: After the course, the participant should be able to: - Critically discuss, analyse and demonstrate knowledge how creativity and innovation create value and the way in which this can be managed. - Demonstrate an understanding of the complex nature of creative work and the creative economy. 4. Lecture-related activities Forms of assignments: Lectures, written report, exercises and a home-exam. We visited a company called Logomo and had to make an exercise about this. For the home-exam we got 48 hours to make it and we could use Internet and all the articles we wanted. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program As far as I know there isn t a course about creativity in Groningen. This is a pity I think, because it was a very interesting course. 6. Study load In total 10 hours of lecture. For the home-exam you got 48 hours, but we made it in one day from 9.00 in the morning until in the evening. The exercises were not that hard. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 4 for this course, which is a 9 in the Netherlands. 11

12 Introduction to Intercultural Communication ( ) Basic level Lecturer: Elisabeth Glatz For more information see: 1. Host institution and study period Öppna Universitatetes I Åbo, so the open university of Åbo: Lectures and literature Per week we had one lecture of two and a half hour. Every lecture included a presentation from our teacher and after that we discussed in groups of around five students about certain topics and we had to discuss our opinions and our experiences in our own countries. Literature: In consultation with examiner 3. Contents It was about intercultural communication; how you had to take into account the different cultures and behaviours of different countries. Because there were a lot of exchange students in this course we could learn a lot from each other and we could give examples how it was in our own countries. Aim: to provide perspectives on how different cultures affect our way or communication and what concepts and theories we can use in order to better recognize and analyse the relevance of cultural difference. 4. Lecture-related activities For this course we had to make an assignment every week, but you didn t get grades for it and they were really short. We only got a grade for the final project; you could choose the topic yourself. The topic had to be about different cultures or differences in behaviour. I choose to analyse the movie Slumdog millionaire, because in this movie you can see a lot of difference in the behaviour between the rich and the poor people. Besides that, we had to make a small (one A4) assignment before every lecture, which we could discuss during the lecture. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program Again, as far as I know there is not a relevant course in Groningen. 6. Study load In total 12.5 hours of lectures and besides that some time for the project. It depends on yourself how many time you will spend on the project. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 4 for this course, which is a 9 in the Netherlands. 12

13 B2B-marketing in an international context ( ) Intermediate level (undergraduate, year 2 or 3) Lecturers: DSc Monica Nyholm and PhD Stefan Lång 1. Host institution and study period Åbo Akademi: Lectures and literature This course was sort of a continuation of International Business, a European perspective. We had the same teachers and the same sort of assignments. Only the content was different. We learned about marketing in different countries and the difference in the approach to the different sort of people in those countries. Also only three lectures in the whole period. Literature: Dicken Peter (2011): Global Shift, mapping the changing contours of the world economy, 6.ed. Thousand Oaks, CA. In addition you had to use articles chosen by the instructors to make the assignments. 3. Contents The course aims at providing an understanding of business-to-business marketing while also discussing the impact of the growing interdependence between different geographical markets in a global context. After the course, the participant should be able to: - Explain the meaning and application of the concept business-to-business marketing. - Understand the main differences between B2B-marketing and B2C-marketing. - Describe the impact of the international business environment on B2B-marketing. - Evaluate and compare the business environment in different geographical markets on a basic level. 4. Lecture-related activities The study meetings all include lectures as well as workshop-discussions. Examination is done based on the exercises performed on the web (individual as well as group reports and discussions) as well as activity during the workshops. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program I had the course Marketing in my first year, and I recognized some topics from that course in this one. 6. Study load In total 7 hours of lectures and besides that you had to work in a group making assignments. The discussions on Moodle (Nestor in Turku) were individual. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 4 for this course, which is a 9 in the Netherlands. 13

14 Knowledge management ( ) Intermediate level 1. Host institution and study period Åbo Akademi: Lectures and literature For this course we sometimes had two lectures of two hours per week and sometimes one lecture of two hours per week. In total we had 9 lectures. The literature included articles which were chosen by the teacher. 3. Contents This course was about how to create, store and manage knowledge in a correct way in an organisation. Aims: The course presents advanced theories in knowledge management, with a specific focus on knowledge-intensive companies. Consequently, the course presents contemporary developments in knowledge management. The course aims at giving the participants an understanding of the complex nature of knowledge-intensive work. Contents: The course presents the current state-of-the-art in knowledge management. Specific emphasis is placed on the interrelationship between the two, and the demands placed in strategy in a knowledge-intensive economy. Learning outcomes: After the course, the participant should be able to: - Demonstrate knowledge of the central theories in knowledge management. - Critically discuss and analyse processes in knowledge intensive companies. - Independently conduct a study of knowledge workers. - Write a research paper on a specific theoretical subject in knowledge management. 4. Lecture-related activities We had to make two assignments in pairs and we had to write two essays individual. One of the in pairs assignment was based on two guest lectures and the other one was a course diary about the lectures of our teacher. The first essay was about what you knew and could find about knowledge and for the second essay you could choose between topics. 5. Relevance to Groningen study program Again, as far as I know there is not a course similar to this course in Groningen. 6. Study load In total 18 hours of lecture. Working on the assignments and essays didn t cost a lot of time. Only when you find it hard to write in English it takes more time. The teacher was again nice and she really appreciated a good structure, easy reading and nice writing style. 7. Assessment in Groningen I obtained 5 ECTS and had a 5 for this course, which is a 9 in the Netherlands. 14