"In the neighborhood" - from Canada to Finland

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting a visitor all the way from Ontario, Canada. Ms. Joanne Elvy, the Director of International Student Outreach at Algoma University, stopped by at TAMK on her way to the annual EAIE conference in Copenhagen. “Once you’re in the neighborhood, you have got to make the most out of it”, Joanne said.



Joanne’s day was fully packed, but I had an hour with her and we discussed teacher and staff exchange between our two universities. If the people in our international services are talkative, so was Joanne! Everyone she met said the scheduled hour went flying by and so much was accomplished in just one day. Joanne told me about Canadian social infrastructure, related to their ongoing courses and projects in Algoma, to which their faculty would be pleased to have some visitors. Maybe in the future? And possibly we could have some Canadian faculty visiting us too. A lot of good ideas came up when chatting with Joanne.



In addition, she met the international coordinators Piri and Matti for outgoing students as well as Mirja and Emma for incoming. And of course, our Head of International Services, Kirsi Tolvanen. Joanne’s day in TAMK was fully booked as she also had a chance to meet up with Janne Hopeela and Gitte Taulo, our international coordinators for International Business and Nursing.

I heard Joanne had lavishing 7 minutes (!!) at her hotel to prepare herself for the night’s Get-Together party where she recapped the whole busy day with Kirsi. I hope Joanne enjoyed the day in TAMK - she definitely loved Tampere - and will have a productive week in Copenhagen. There she probably will meet some familiar faces from TAMK…

Text: Noora Järventaus, TAMK International Services
Photo & Logo: Courtesy of Algoma University