University of Tampere

Transcription

1 University of Tampere Manon Brinkhuis Accountancy & Controlling University of Groningen

2 General report 1. Host institution and exact dates of semester abroad My host institution was the University of Tampere. I've been in Tampere from the 20th of August till the 23th of December. The orientation week started the 25th of August and the last day of the academic semester was the 19th of December. 2. Contact with home faculty, preparation and journey - Home faculty The contact with the University of Groningen was very clear. During the workshop study abroad all the deadlines and important information became clear. During my stay in Tampere, there wasn't a lot of contact with my home university (RUG). I only had to update and send my learning agreement. However, because I'm studying accountancy and controlling in Groningen, my program coordinator was not used to sign learning agreements. This resulted in some difficulties. - Preparation After I was selected for the University of Tampere, I received some s from the international coordinator from the University of Tampere with useful information and things I had to do. The contact with her was really good and she responded quickly to my questions. After all the formalities, I received a letter from the University of Tampere with information about the University of Tampere, about the city of Tampere and a map of Tampere. Next to that, I also received an from my buddy. She is also a student of the University of Tampere and I could ask her for information and for help. - Journey There is a cheap Ryanair connection between Bremen and Tampere. I travelled on the 20th of August from Bremen to Tampere and the way back on the 23th of December. When I arrived in Tampere, my buddy picked me up from the airport by car. The way back, I took the same flight as a lot of other Dutch people. So we went to the airport by bus together. 3. Residence abroad - Arrangements visa / residence permit Finland is a member of the European Union, so a visa is not applicable. If you stay longer than three months in Finland, you had to buy a residence permit. Because I travelled to other countries during the four months, it was not necessary for me to arrange that.

3 - Arrival and departure dates As mentioned before, I arrived on the 20th of August and the orientation week started on the 25th of August. I arrived in Tampere five days before the orientation week started. That was very useful, because I had enough time to arrange everything. The semester ended on the 19th of December and I flew home on the 23th of December. There was only a Ryanair connection between Tampere and Bremen on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. That means that I had to choose between the 20th and the 23th of December. The 23th was quite late in comparison to other international students. The last two days, it was very empty in my dorms. However, I flew back with the other Dutch people, so we could spend the last days together. - Accommodation I have lived in an accommodation of TOAS, this is the Student Housing Foundation of Tampere. If you are going to study in Tampere, you can apply for a student home at the website of TOAS. TOAS does not have a student home for everyone who applies, but if you are on time, there is a really big change that you can get a room. TOAS offers dorms for Finnish students and dorms for international students. This means that you live in dorms with more than 100 international students together, for me that was a really nice part of my student life in Tampere. My accommodation called Lapinkaari. In my opinion, it was the perfect place to live. I lived in a 12m2 single room with my own bathroom, and had a shared kitchen. The price for my room was 272 euro per month. One big advantage of the dorms was the fact that there was a big common kitchen where I cooked and ate together with other students every night. There was a really good bus connection to the city and the university till 22.00h. During the night after parties it was possible to walk, from the city to Lapinkaari was around 2 kilometres. - Reception and introduction During the introduction week, I received a lot of useful information. Next to that, the buddysystem was arranged very well. A few weeks before I arrived, I received an from my buddy and I could contact her for all my questions. - Student life, culture and leisure The student life in Tampere was really good. Tampere is a real student city and there are a lot of activities and parties for (international) students. During my stay in Tampere, I made some really nice trips which I could recommend to everybody. In September I visited Tallin, the capital of Estonia. I have been there with a group of 15 students and we went by boat from Helsinki to Tallin. The boat trip was around 1,5 hour. We spend two nights in a hostel in the middle of the centre. It was a really nice trip

4 and Tallin is a really nice city to go for a short trip. In October I visited St. Petersburg. This trip was organized by ESN. I went there by cruise ship and it took one night to go there. St. Petersburg was a really beautiful and special city with very impressive buildings. We spend two nights in a hotel in St. Petersburg and two nights on the cruise. During the whole trip, there was a tour guide and a local guide with us. In November I visited Stockholm with three other students. This also took one night by cruise ship to go there. We only spend one day in Stockholm. It was a short trip, but I was never been in Sweden before, so I liked it really much. The last trip was to Lapland. This trip was, like St. Petersburg, organized by ESN and it was an amazing experience. We went to Lapland by bus and it was around 12 hours driving to go there. We did some really nice activities, like husky sledging, skiing, cross country skiing, survival course, we visited the Santa Claus village and we did a trip to the Arctic Ocean to Norway. I could recommend this trip to Lapland to everybody. - Language Almost all Finnish people can speak English very well. There was an opportunity to follow a Finnish survival course, during this course you can learn some basics of the Finnish language. I choose not to follow this course. 4. Grant - Amount I received the normal Erasmus grant, which is 250 euro per month if you are going to Finland. Next to that, I received a grant from the Groninger Universiteits Fonds (GUF). If you have an average grade higher than a 7, you can get a grant from the GUF. I have made an overview with incomes and expenses. As you can see, the expenses are higher than the incomes.. Incomes Erasmus grant 250 x 4 = 1000,00 Student grant Dutch government 279,14 x 4 = 1116,56 Compensation Dutch public transport card 102,29 x 4= 409,16 GUF 300,00 Care benefit 72 x 4 = 360,00 Expenses Rent TOAS 270,91 x 5 = 1354,55 Flight tickets ,42 = 155,42 Groceries, going out, lunch at university Around 360,00 x 4 = 1440,00 Bus card Tampere 33,00 x 4 = 132,00 Trip Tallin 152,18 Trip St. Petersburg 443,85 Trip Stockholm 101,31 Trip Lapland 475, ,31

5 5. Study (general) - Introduction, general advice, etc. Actually, there was not a lot of choice in courses at the University of Tampere. There were a few English courses and almost all international students followed the same courses. The level of the courses was easier than the level of the courses in Groningen. The grading system was from 1 till 5. If you didn't pass the course, you didn't get a grade. The conversion of the Finnish grade and the grade in Groningen is as follows: 1= 6, 2 = 7, 3 = 8, 4 and 5 = 9 - Dates of beginning and end of lecture series and examination period There weren't real examination periods. The different courses begin and ended at different moments. I didn't have to make an exam for every course, for some courses I only had to write an essay to pass the course. - Remarks on the organization of the study program The organisation of the study program was different for each course. But my overall opinion is that the study program is very well organised. - Level of education language problems? As mentioned before, the level of education in Tampere was easier than the level of education in Groningen. In Groningen, I am following a program taught in Dutch, so in the beginning I had to get used to teaching and academic writing in English. After a while it went really well. - Study facilities/ International Office abroad The study facilities were very well organised. Next to the university building there is a library, which is very nice and very useful if you want to study in silence. There are a lot of places available and there is a nice kantine. Another important thing to know, is that it is common in Finland to borrow your study books at the library, so you do not have to buy your study books. - Summary of subjects taken. 6. Other relevant info you want to share with our future exchange students - The Ryanair connection between Bremen and Tampere is very useful for cheap flight tickets. - Think about a passport if you want to visit Russia, only an ID-card is not enough.

6 7. Summary impression of the study period abroad and any advice/suggestions/tips for students or academic staff who will be involved with the host institution in the future. My semester in Tampere was a really nice experience. I have had an amazing time there, I have met a lot of new people, I have done four awesome trips to beautiful places and I have improved my English skills. I could recommend it to everybody to study a semester in Tampere!

7 B Specific report Service Marketing 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of Management Lectures: , exam: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: 2 times each week 1,5 hour lecture for 5 weeks. - Literature: Gummesson, Evert: Total Relationship Marketing, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008 or later. Grönroos, Christian: Service Management and Marketing. Customer Management in Service Competition, Wiley, 2007 or later. Other materials given by the lecturer, articles. 3. Overview of lecture program The topics of the course were as follows: - Service industries and companies - Services as products - Customer service - The service perspective/logic of marketing 4. Contents During the course the student learns to recognize the importance of the service mindset in contemporary marketing. The student is able to use service insights in different business and organizational contexts in practice. The student acknowledges the role of the customer in value creation. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities There were 3 assignments during the lectures and one final exam. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program In Groningen, I've followed the course marketing. It was useful for some background information, but this course was especially about service. 7. Study load Average, the lectures were quite interesting and not very difficult. Also the exam was not very difficult and there wasn't that much preparation required. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Elina Närvänen Grade: 3 (RUG: 8) ECTS: 5

8 Human Rights Law 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of Management Lectures: , deadline essay: , exam: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: 1 lecture of 2 hours and 1 lecture of 3 hours each week. - Literature: Lecture slides 3. Overview of lecture program The course was about the following topics: - The UN human rights system part - The European Convention on Human Rights - Humanitarian law - Refugee law - International Criminal law - The EU and Human Rights -The American Convention on Human Rights - The Banjul Charter on Human and Peoples Rights - The Arab Charter on Human Rights 4. Contents The student has the basic knowledge of the international protection of human rights, legal nature of human rights and the content of human rights. The student has an overview of the status of human rights in international law and the national legal systems. They understand the roles of human rights and humanitarian law in legal systems. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities To pass the course, we had to write a paper and a final exam. There were no additional assignments. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program The course wasn't relevant and it wasn't useful for my study program in Groningen. I didn't have a course in Groningen which is comparable to Human Rights Law. 7. Study load Hard, especially because I didn't have background information about this subject, the course was hard for me. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Reija Matero & Heta Heiskanen Grade: 3 (RUG: 8) ECTS: 5

9 Asia-Pacific as a business area 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of Management Lectures: , deadline essay: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: 2 times each week 3 hours. - Literature: Lecture slides 3. Overview of lecture program The lectures were about the following subjects: - Asia-Pacific in a Nutshell - Fundamentals of Asian Business Cultures and Etiquette - Japan as a Business Area Past, Present and Future - Greater China as a Business Area: P.R.C., Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau - South-East Asia (S.E.A.) as a Business Area 4. Contents The objective of the course is to get the students acquainted with the diversity of the Asia-Pacific Region (South, South-East and East Asia) as a business area and the complexity and dynamics of Asia- Pacific businesses so that they recognize similarities and dissimilarities between Western and Eastern economies. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities We had to write a final essay with a group of 3 or 4 students. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program This course had no connection with my courses in Groningen. 7. Study load Easy, there were only five lectures and the essay we had to write wasn't that difficult. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Jukka Lahtinen Grade: 4 (RUG:9) ECTS: 5

10 Nordic Welfare Societies in Transition 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of social sciences and humanities Lectures: , deadline essay: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: 1 lecture each week during 9 weeks. - Literature: Lecture slides 3. Overview of lecture program Every lecture was about another theme in relation to Nordic Welfare. The themes each week were as follows: 1. Practicalities & introduction to the course 2. Nordic welfare model and universalism 3. The Nordic healthcare system from a comparative perspective 4. Nordic child care policies 5. Labour markets and employment in the Nordic countries 6. Care of older people 7. Income inequality in Nordic countries 8. The idea of universal basic income in the context of the Nordic welfare state 9. Wrap up, instructions for essays 4. Contents The module describes the main features attached to Nordic welfare societies with emphasis on the Finnish experiences and developments. The module helps students to make a distinction between different type of welfare regimes, to better understand the distinctiveness of the Nordic welfare model and differences between Nordic countries. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities About one of the themes which are discussed in the lectures, we had to write an essay. There was no exam. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program This course was from the school of social sciences and humanities, so there isn't a comparable course in my study program in Groningen. 7. Study load Average, there were a lot of lectures and we had to write a big final essay. There were no other assignments. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Aart-Jan Riekhoff Grade: 3 (RUG: 8) ECTS: 5

11 Business Ethics 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of Management Lectures: , deadlines: pré-exam: , deadline group assignment: , deadline learning diary: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: one time each week 3 hours. - Compulsory reading list: Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2010) Business Ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization, 3rd ed 3. Overview of lecture program I'll give a few examples of topics of the course: - Evaluating Business Ethics - Making Decisions in Business - Managing Business Ethics 4. Contents By the end of the course the student will be able to comprehend what business ethics is about and why it is important. The student will be aware of different ethical theories and understands the ethical dimensions of business decision-making. The student will be able to identify and apply tools to improve ethical practices in business. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities Before the course start, we had to do a pre-exam. We didn't get a grade for the pre-exam, but we had to pass it, before we could start the course. At the end of the course, we had to make a group assignment and a learning diary. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program I have almost the same course in Groningen, it's called Ethics in Business and Management. Because I'm studying accountancy and controlling, I could substitute this course for my regular course in Groningen. 7. Study load Average, in comparing with some other courses, we had to do a lot of work. However, the literature and content of the course was not so hard. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Johanna Kujala Grade: 4 (RUG:9) ECTS: 5

12 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Asian Business 1. Host institution and study period University of Tampere School of Management Lectures: , deadline group assignment: Lectures and literature - Number of lectures and seminars per week: 2 times each week 3 hours. - Literature: Lecture slides 3. Overview of lecture program The subjects each week were as follows: - World's Major Legal Systems - Legal Systems in South-East Asian countries - Chinese Legislation System and legal Sources - Chinese Business Legislation - Business Legislation in South Asian countries 4. Contents The course introduces the students to the legal frames and practices of solving juridical problems in the Asia-Pacific Region. The main areas of emphasis are: characteristics of Asian, especially Chinese, Indian and Islamic business legislation, contract laws, capital and financial markets, trade and currency legislation, labor laws, taxation and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Accordingly, business ethics and corruption will be discussed in the course. (Source: UTA) 5. Lecture-related activities We had to write a final essay with a group of 3 or 4 students. 6. Relevance to Groningen study program This course had no connection with my courses in Groningen. 7. Study load Easy, there were only five lectures and the essay we had to write wasn't that difficult. 8. Assessment in Groningen Lecturer: Jukka Lahtinen Grade: 4 (RUG:9) ECTS: 5