Long distance staff exchange: Unicen, Tandil, Argentina.

TAMK has some exchange universities in South America, one of them is Universidad National de Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Unicen) in Argentina. When I started to plan my long-term exchange with our international coordinator Riku-Matti Kinnunen, I told him that I am interested to go to Tandil for three reasons: one of my students, Johanna Velling, was here two years ago and another student, Minna Raitapuro, is going to study here next spring. I also want to improve my Spanish skills and I have been in Argentina before, I really like this country.
Photo: Staff from Faculty of Arts, from the left:Victoria Fuentes, Secretaria de Extensión, Cristina Dimatteo, Secretaria Académica, Carlos Catalano, Decano and Maximiliano Napa, No-Docente

I am mainly working at the Faculty of Arts, which is located in the city center of Tandil, just beside the main square and park. I will also have some lecturers at Department of Languages and next week a lecturer and workshop at the Faculty of Economics, which is located in the campus area, about 7 kms from the city centre.

Photo: Students working at Unicen Campus 18.11.2008

More reports from Tandil during next week!

Russian specialists of forestry education in TAMK

A group of Russian headmasters from forestry schools visited TAMK this week. This visit was part of the project, in which a new curriculum standard for the forestry schools of Russia is being developed together with TAMK. The group contained 10 people from different parts of north-west Russia.

During the visit, the group visited Metsähallitus, a visit which the group had especially wished for. The visit also contained a field trip, where the group saw examples of sapling care. TAMK 4th year Forestry students also participated by showing the visitors how organising wood procurement is handled in Finland.

The project of renewing the curriculums in Russian forestry schools is a part of the Finnish-Russian Development Programme on Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation of Biological Diversity in Northwest Russia, which is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Couchsurfing

During the last 3 years i have been participating in a unique idea, combining travelling and culture exchange. The idea of Couchsurfing is simple: instead of staying in a hostel and finding yourself surounded by turists, you are invited to people's home, share their lifestyle and get to know how they live.

Couchsurfing helped me a lot when i decided i would move from Israel to Finland. When i came to do the entrance exam i was hosted in Stockholm, Tampere and Jyvaskyla. After i got invited to study in TAMK, I already knew some members who later become good friends till today.

It helped a lot for the idea of being with new cultures all around while im part of an international study program. Couchsurfing opened my eyes to the simple fact that there are many nice people around you and sometimes our culture stops us from meeting them.
If you do not travel and hesitate of inviting strangers to your home, there are meetings events all the time or you can create one of your own. Meeting for coffe, for beer or just a small picnic can be aranged easily.

In the last 2 and a half years since i have been living in Finland i have hosted dozens of guests from all around the world such as Australia, United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Russia, Israel and more. Some stay for a day or over night while some stay for a few days or even a week.

If you are tarvellers by blood or looking for some culture exchange and different experiences, you are more than welcome to join the ride. I'm sure you will find it just fit to you as a glove to your hand.

For me, Couchsurfing is a perfect place to gain friends and colleagues, a way to make connections around the world and most important: Have fun !

p>Yoav Magen.

Environmental Engineering 3rd Years Iceland Excursion

The 3rd year of Environmental Engineering Program went to a study excursion in Iceland. To 3rd year IENVE degree student added one exchange student and three 4th year IENVE degree student.

Iceland is an unique country, sitting on the bridge of europe and america continents it is providing some magnificent and devine sceneries.

during the trip the group visited the hyrdopower and geothermic plants at the north of the country. The University of Akureyri provide its presentation about the special programs it offers such as RES (Renewable Energy Science) and Polar law.


During the stay in north of iceland the group went visiting the geothermic phenomenon.
Krefla power plant was the main site and followed by visit at the smoking lava fields.
The group visited two public hot springs lagoons - the Green lagoon near Krefla in the north of Iceland and the Blue lagoon in the south of Iceland, near Reykjavik.
Last day in Iceland contributed to Svartsengi geothermal powerplant, which its waste water runoffs forming the famous Blue lagoon.

From my point of view Iceland is such a unique place and it was amazing experience just to be able seeing it, something that might never happened in the future and for that i have to say thanks for TAMK and the IENVE degree program.

Yoav magen.

Finnish championship in project management for TAMK students

Antti Korhonen, Jussi Lehtonen and Santeri Lahdensalo, project management students of Business Administration, won the Finnish championship in project management on the 18th of November 2008.

The second place went to Novia from Tammisaari and the third to University of Oulu. The other TAMK team of Business administration (Jaakko Sartjärvi, Christer Törnqvist and Joona Venäläinen) did also well by coming in fourth.

Project management Finnish championship is an event organized by the Project Management Association Finland for the students of Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences. The language of the competition is English. This year over 20 teams from seven universities participated in the qualifying rounds. The six best teams made it into the finals organized during the national Project Management Days. The final consisted of an all-day long project simulation, where the teams had to implement a project as efficiently as possible, taking into account e.g. resources, costs and scheduling. The victory was not possible without top quality, exact work, which most companies doing project work can only dream about.

As one of the prizes from the victory, Antti, Jussi and Santeri will be the Finnish representatives in the World championship competition of project management organized by the International Project Management Association during the IPMA World Congress in Helsinki in June 2009. Next year’s Finnish champions will represent Finland in the World championship in South Africa in 2010.