Over Five Hundred Participants in West Finland HEInet Outgoing Orientation Day 2011

SAMK, SeAMK, TAMK, TUT and UTA (commonly known as West Finland HEInet - West Finland Higher Education net) organized their joint Outgoing Orientation Day 2011 at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) campus on 15th of April 2011.

The aim of the event was to offer vital information for exchange students and people who are going to do their practical training abroad. Additionally, the idea was train them to deal with situations which may arise during the exchange period

The event attracted over 500 attendants, so we can honestly say that the event was a success. There weren’t too many free seats in the Auditorium.














The whole programme started with distributing the information folders accompanied with free sandwiches and coffee for everybody.

One of the highlights of the day was a presentation by Mr. Teemu Palosaari, a Research Fellow from Tampere Peace Research Institute. This was his third time performing in this joint orientation day. One of his messages was that the media is giving a slanted view on some countries, because bad news is interesting for the masses. He pointed out, that it is completely possible to spend a safe night in about any country. Additionally, there is a possibility that you can get robbed in your good old and safe home town. Mr. Palosaari even told us that he had been robbed in New Zealand, which should be one of the safest countries in the world. He also described that a common man should first get to know the practicalities in their target country i.e. Where to get drinking water. Mr. Palosaari also hinted that the best sources for this kind of information are Ministry for Foreign Affairs and CIA Factbook.

Mr Teemu Palosaari

The programme also included lectures about culture shock by Mr. John Shepherd (from TUT) about health issues by Ms. Tarja Järvinen (from FSHS) and about being a Finn abroad by Ms. Irja Pietilä (from TAMK).

After the lectures the students were taken to country or area specific groups. There they had the chance to meet students (known as “veterans”) who already have completed their exchange period. These two hour sessions were full of questions and discussions. Judging from the feedback, the country groups were the best part of the day.

We at TAMK International Services would like to thank everybody who participated to this wonderful event. Special thanks to the veterans who were there to give answers to their fellow students. You were a big part of this day.

More pictures can be found from TAMK Flickr.

Text: Elias Suominen
Photos: Elias Suominen

Postcard from Esslingen am Neckar

This week has been amazing in Germany - we thank our hosts (and whoever booked the weather) at Hochschule Esslingen!



Members of international staff and student services staff from all over Europe have spent this week discussing how we can provide students with the best experience humanly possible while abroad for a study or training placement. Some questions are harder to answer than others, but we will both be returning next week with a fresh set of ideas for our colleagues at TAMK!

Five days from early morning until late at night with colleagues from partner universities can only bring good things - networking is king!

Piri Hiltunen, International Services
&
Anne Salonen, Student Services

Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus suggests cooperation with TAMK

Dr. Mauri Grönroos and Dr. Shaidul Kazi of TAMK IB met with Professor Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Yunus, the inventor of microcredit received the Nobel Prize in Peace 2006 for his contribution.

The next idea of Yunus is social business that aims to reduce dependency on permanent development aid by providing business skills and teaching the poor to help themselves. International Business TCA has developed the concept further and has a pilot project in Namibia.

Professor Yunus was pleased to hear of the progress and had many ideas to improve the concept further.

Further information:
Mauri Grönroos
mauri.gronroos (at) tamk.fi

Goin’ternational Attracted Students to Explore The World

As previously mentioned in the TAMK International Blog, a group of exchange students organized an international fair at TAMK Kuntokatu campus on 14th April 2011.

The mission was to let exchange students tell about exchange possibilities to Finnish students who are thinking about doing an exchange period abroad. Also, the event was helpful for students who were still thinking for the most interesting exchange location. However, the exchange students themselves are experts of their countries, so it is extremely useful to hear them talking about the exchange possibilities.








Each country had a variety of material and treats for the students.







The organizers introduced their home countries to Finnish students and the exchange possibilities available to TAMK students. The organizers had leaflets, videos, and presentations to show for interested people. The auditorium was booked for the whole day because country groups were presenting their countries. Additionally, the students offered traditional sweets and cuisine from their home countries. Some groups even arranged some special programs. For example, The French team arranged a Pétanque tournament where everybody was welcome to join.














Mr. Sebastian Klix from Stuttgart, Germany was telling the visitors about his home country and the exchange possibilities there.

The course was organized by exchange students as a part of a ProAcademy course and the organizers earned credits by completing the project. Hopefully this event attracted more people for outgoing exchange. TAMK has numerous Partner Universities in various countries and they are willing to accept more Finnish students.

More pictures can be found in TAMK Flickr and in Goin’ternational Facebook.

Text: Elias Suominen
Photos: Elias Suominen

TAF International Week guests went to smoke sauna

TAMK organized its fourth Tampere Art Factory International Week on 11 - 15 April 2011. During the week TAMK received guests from all over the world. The guests participated in various events, including seminars, lectures, and workshops and of course, leisure activities.

One of the highlights of the week was on Wednesday 13th of April, when the international guests were taken to Hangaslahti sauna premises. There they enjoyed dinner, drinks and good company. Probably the most memorable event was the chance to go to an authentic smoke sauna and then taking a dip in the semi frozen Lake Näsijärvi. Some were brave enough to try their luck in the water which was approximately +6 Celsius degrees.

The TAF guests were accompanied by nice clear weather which made this outdoor photo possible.

Some of the guests were TAF veterans and had been before at Hangaslahti. However, the sauna never gets old and the extreme heat made everybody feel refreshed. The atmosphere during the whole night was very relaxed and people were clearly enjoying their time in Finland.






The guests quickly realized it will be extremely hot in the smoke sauna.








On behalf of the TAMK International Services and TAMK Art and Media Programmes, we’d like to thank everybody who participated in this delightful week full of events. The sauna evening went so quickly and we almost missed the bus because it was impossible to get out of the sauna in time.

Remember, next year will come soon and hopefully we will meet again.

More pictures can be found from TAMK Flickr

Text: Elias Suominen
Photos: Elias Suominen

International Fair at Main Campus on Thursday

• Are you interested in exchange studies and traveling abroad? 
• Have you decided your destination already?
• Or do you maybe hesitate between some countries?

This is the event for you!

Exchange students will tell you more about their countries and answer all the questions you may have. Welcome to watch presentations, taste international snacks and have a chat with us!

13th of April 11.00-18.00
TAMK Main Campus, main lobby
Kuntokatu 3
Tampere, Finland

Represented countries:
Catalonia, France, Germany, Greece. Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain.

More information about presentations and time schedule will be published during the next week.

http://www.facebook.com/exchange.fair

Goin'ternational team

Danish gentlefolk visiting TAMK and Tampere Art Factory

On 11th April 2011, we at TAMK Kuntokatu campus had the honour to receive Danish guests from SDE College/ Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education. The visitors arrived from Odense, the third largest city in Denmark. Their visit is a part of the Tampere Art Factory international week held at Finlayson campus.

On Monday the 11th of April the visitors were welcomed to TAMK by Ms. Kirsi Tolvanen, the head of the International Services. After a brief introduction to TAMK and its main campus, the guests had a meeting with Ms. Hanna Ilola and Ms. Hanna Teräs from School of Vocational Teacher Education. After enjoying the gourmet at TAMK Staff Restaurant the visitors continued their journey to TAMK Finlayson campus. At Finlayson they met Mr. Cai Melakoski and Mr. Pertti Näränen who introduced Finlayson campus to the guests. The discussions in their meeting were about Finnish media education and social media tools in media education.

On Tuesday 12th the guests spent their whole day at Kuusivooninkinen. There they attended lectures about HUB Tampere, Rupriikki Media Museum, New Factory: Demola and Proacademy.

On Wednesday the 13th the Danes will attend the seminar Triple Helix - Innovation and Academic/Public/Private cooperation. At the seminar hosted by Mr. Juha Suonpää, head of TAMK Fine Arts Programme, the attendants will discuss various topics ranging from innovation to enterprise cooperation. We are excited to hear Mr. Michael Lundorff-Hansen, from Lillebelt Academy of Professional Higher Education who will present his experiences from Odense.

We wish that you will enjoy the rest of the planned program. Hopefully you do not regret visiting the city of Tampere.
Have a safe trip home!

Text: Elias Suominen
Photo: Elias Suominen

IP Ace 2011 - Advertising and PR

IP Ace 2011 is now behind, and we are just memorising all those amazing people and perfect team work. It was the first time this LLP Erasmus intensive programme took place in Finland. Belgian students worked hard for the IP and they designed stylish and practical websites. The IP was organized by the staff members Helga Van den Bulck from Plantijn Hogeschool (Belgium) and Pirkko Varis from TAMK Virrat (Finland). 43 students and 11 staff members from 8 countries and institutions representing advertising, PR, business, media and marketing fields participated the IP.

Lectures were given on marketing of Helsinki, Finland and the Upper Tampere Region. Strategy and creative brief were covered by Caroline Barfoot, Ken Burtenshaw & Nik Mahon from Southampton Solent University, UK. Harri Karvinen from TAMK had an interactive session with students on the influence of net marketing on consumers. Staff members Ralf Schellhase (Germany), Marten Coerts (the Netherlands), Caroline Barfoot, Ken Burtenshaw & Nik Mahon, Ayhan Yilmaz (Turkey), Sandra Femenia Almerich (Spain), Marianne Lecordier & Caroline Morrongiello (France). Helga and Pirkko guided students.

Our main task was to plan an advertising and marketing communications campaign for the Upper Tampere Region. There were eight groups, and we worked hard across the multinational boundaries. We produced excellent and creative ideas on how to bring more international awareness related to Finland and especially to the Upper Tampere Region. All campaigns were presented in front of the jury. One member of the jury was Anu Schuoler representing an organization from the Upper Tampere Region. The students and staff members from foreign universities were excited to experience the amazing Finnish winter nature and outdoor activities such as dipping in the ice hole and cross-country skiing. While staying in Virrat, the students and staff members enjoyed the accommodation located at the lake in the middle of the nature.
The beginning and the last days of IP Ace we spent in Helsinki, where we could work in the European house facilities and two different universities of applied sciences. Most of the time in Finland was spent in Virrat. A field trip was organized to Tampere. The whole group really enjoyed the two weeks in Finland and we made friends with people all across Europe, sharing the food culture from chicken to reindeer.

“The IP has enabled us to meet and work with some amazing people of whom we will never forget. It has given us the experience of working to strict deadlines and allowed us to share our creativity and obtain valuable feedback from experienced professionals. However, it was not all hard work, we have shared some great memories in a beautiful country that I'm sure will stay with us forever.”

Will Baggs, UK

“The IP is a whole experience where you can learn more about advertising, how the people work in other countries, and just meet different ways of living from people from all over Europe, who in reality are the same as you. It is good for your academic career, but more for your personal improvement.”

Jose Maria El Navas, Spain

“Simply, the most interesting and amazing experience I've ever had. It was nothing I expected. The work was so much fun and challenging simultaneously, and working with new people was so refreshing. Finland itself was a great place to go because it was so beautiful and there were so many fun activities to do, such as jumping in the snow and running into ice cold lakes with friends. I would definitely go again. It's a one in a lifetime experience, I recommend it to everyone!”

Susannah Thomas, UK

Story
Pia Dag & Suvi Tanhua, Marketing and International Business, TAMK Virrat

Photos
Pia Dag

Tampere Art Factory kicked off

From left Sabrina Seidl, International Week project manager and
registering Lenno Veerhoog, Utrecht School of Arts
and Zsofia Ruttkay, Moholy-Nagy University
of Art and Design Budapest

The fourth edition of Tampere Art Factory kicked off yesterday with the International Week. TAF is a demonstration of the skills of TAMK art and media students. The International Week hosts 50 guests from South Korea to USA and Kanada and all over Europe.

The first of the ten International Week Workshops started yesterday morning, the series of six seminars will kick off today. The climax of the week will be the open day and opening of the exhibitions on Friday.

The week offers TAMK members and friends a good chance to be familiar with Finlayson degree programmes and many TAMK partner universities and institutions. Below please find a collection of events which wish you warmly welcome:

Seminars at Spede, Finlayson Campus 2nd floor

• Tue, Wed and Thu afternoons 1 to 4 PM Awesome Art&Media seminars 1 to 3. Topical talks about current art and media issues and partner university introductions
• Wed 9 to 12 AM Triple Helix - Innovation and Academic/Public/Private cooperation
• Thu 9 to 12 AM Higher education promoting social development
• Fri 9:30 to 12 AM Highway to Entrepreneurship - People and Stories Behind the Statistics (at café, 2nd floor)

Films, animations, games and web projects:

• Thu 4 to 6 PM Kino TAMK, Café
• Fri 10 AM to 5 PM Demos, games, animations, Donner and Café
• Fri 12 AM to 5 PM 12-17 Cinema screenings, Teatteri and Kuvaopetusluokka

Exhibitions:
P.S. a pic would be nice
Graduating Exhibition of fine art students of Tampere University of Applied Sciences
April 16 - May 3  Mältinranta Artcenter (Kuninkaankatu 2)
April 16 - May 15 TR1 Kunsthalle (Väinö Linnan aukio 13)

• April 7 - 17 Soft Values, installation, Ikuinen Gallery
• April 8 - May 15 Graduation exhibition of TAMK Specialization Studies on Photography students Tessa Ojala and Annu Salminen
• April 12 -15 The outputs of socialist advertising in Soviet Estonia by Evelin Urm (Tartu, Estonia)
• April 16 - May 15 Polyamoria, Gallery Nottbeck featuring works by students from Canada, South Korea and TAMK students

More information following the links:
International Week guest organisations and the workshops
International Week Seminars Tue-Thu
TAF seminar Highway to Entrepreneurship
TAF home

Highway to Entrepreneurship - People and Stories Behind the Statistics

Pauli Kopu is one of the speakers

Welcome to Tampere Art Factory 2011 seminar on young entrepreneurship
Time: Friday April 15 9:30-12:00
Venue: TAMK Finlayson Campus café
Language: English

Some 15% of TAMK Art&Media students become entrepreneurs after they graduate. Compared to national statistics this is a high figure. The average share of TAMK students starting their own business at the time of graduation is 4%. What kind of businesses incubate in the fields of culture? Come, hear, see, learn!

Highway to Entrepreneurship - People and Stories Behind the Statistics
Host: Tiina Rinkinen, Producer, Net journalist
Programme:

• Opening by Tiina Rinkinen. "Blogging your way"
• Fonal Records, CEO Sami Sänpäkkilä, BA in Fine Arts, "Es Symphony #6"
• Zonear, Timo Pietilä: Building a start-up without capital
• Obscure Entertainment: Emilia Howells, Ville Rissanen 
• KLOK Creative Agency: Pauli Kopu 
• Hannamari Matikainen: “Business” Logic in Fine Arts – How to Survive?
• Lucas Pedersen: Modern Business Ethics
• Mediaporras: Juha Siirtola

Tampere Art Factory (TAF) home: http://tampereartfactory.blogspot.com/
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TAMK welcomed visitors from UTA Erasmus Week

University of Tampere (UTA) arranged their Erasmus week on 4 – 8 of April 2011. Mr. Ari Kurlin from UTA and a group of participants from European universities paid TAMK a visit on 7th of April.


The visitors from Estonia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK were hosted by TAMK International Services. The hosts were Ms. Kirsi Tolvanen (Head of International Services), and International coordinators Ms. Mirja Onduso and Ms. Noora Järventaus.

During the three hour visit the guests were introduced to TAMK and its role in the Finnish education system.
One of the main topics was the difference between the universities in Tampere.
The incoming and outgoing exchange processes were also discussed.
Additionally, the visitors were eager to learn about the double degrees that TAMK offers with some of their partner universities.


After the meeting the visitors enjoyed lunch at TAMK Staff Restaurant. When they visitors had assuaged their hunger, they continued their journey to Iittala Glass Factory.

Text: Elias Suominen
Photo: Elias Suominen

TELL - Support for international students

TAMK's social services students together with Senior Lecturer Tapio Salomäki are starting a project to support TAMK's international degree students in their everyday life.
"We together with Tamko and social services students are implementing project studies in the spring to support the wellbeing of international degree students", tells Senior Lecturer Tapio Salomäki.

In the autumn we implemented a SOSDESK project in connection with social services students' project studies. The project comprised an information desk for international students and organisation of diverse activities with them. Based on these experiences we will continue strengthening the wellbeing of degree students in their everyday life. The TELL project aims at strengthening international students' social inclusion in the everyday life.

The first TELL meeting was attended by social services students Carla Redondo and Melina Mäntylä, vice chair of Tamko's Club International Tampere (CLINT) Waldo Seppä and Senior Lecturer Tapio Salomäki.

"We aim at preventing social exclusion. Our aim is to learn to know foreign students, and ask what kind of activity they want to have. We will not establish an actual reception desk. We will go to lectures to tell about our activity", told students Carla Redondo and Melina Mäntylä.

The aim is to start the actual work next autumn, but some activities will already take place this spring.

"SOSDESK (TELL) is a working title. Our purpose is concrete practical activity. The idea is based on the socio-cultural motivation viewpoint. We want that people would join and tell what they want. We cooperate with CLINT and are now discussing our work distribution", Salomäki tells.

According to Salomäki, individualism reigns in Finland."The risk is that students drop out of the society. Our aim is to develop concrete practices that would be used at TAMK after this project, too."

TAMK's TELL and SOSDESK activities are part of the CDS project funded by the European Social Fund. 14 Finnish universities of applied sciences participate in the project. The key idea is to support the wellbeing, studying, and community spirit of both Finnish and foreign university of applied sciences students.

Prevention of social exclusion in university of applied sciences studies: To Care, to Dare, to Share (CDS)

TAMK´s new library: Future library visions

TAMK’s library and information services have eagerly started to create visions for the new library facilities, which will arise at Kuntokatu campus in 2012. Tampere campuses (except for F.E. Sillanpään katu) will gradually move to Kuntokatu campus as the new facilities are ready. Along with the new facilities, it is also possible to develop library services and procedures. Visions and ideas have been taken from libraries in Finland and abroad, e.g. Belgium and Holland. The library open-mindedly ideates the new living room of TAMK.

Library as facility – Colour!

Colours and modifiability are a trend in library facility planning. Bold colours have traditionally been used in Belgian and Dutch libraries. Now they are also coming to the Scandinavian library planning. Bright colours bring new youthful air to the elegant and distinct Scandinavian style. A good example of this is the Hjörring Library in Denmark . Libraries should be full of life, youthful, colourful and comfortable places where it is nice to be, meet, learn and innovate. Cottbuss Library in Germany could also serve as an example
 
Libraries can be understood as continuously changing and developing facilities. Static facilities for storing material belong to the past. Library facilities should be modifiable and thus respond to the future challenges. New challenges are posed by the facts that we cannot predict in detail what kind of role the library will have in future and what the e-resource field will be like from the viewpoint of the library. Modifiability and flexibility should thus extend beyond the facilities. Change and innovation should be a state of mind.

Library as service – Encounters!

Future libraries are also seen as new communal work rooms where information is produced and consumed and communication and innovation take place. The library also has its more traditional task of providing contents and a place for meeting people. The future library offers diverse meeting places, is a concentration of information and knowledge, and utilises new technologies. Meeting places are virtual as well as physical, and they form the basis for new information and innovation.

Contents will quickly become more and more digital and diverse. As Klaus Oesch formulated the future role of the library in the Library Design and Function 2011 conference: the library is a showcase and user interface to the digital universe.

Text and photos: Kaisa Toikka, TAMK Library