Omani students learnt entrepreneurship skills at TAMK

Joy, inspiration and friendly words!

A summer course offer TAMK made for Oman brought 36 young Omani higher education students to study entrepreneurship skills at TAMK. We had the chance to work with glad and friendly Omani students during the summer.

The group of the best Omani higher education students arrived in Finland after Midsummer for a one-month study trip. The education included idea generation methods, project management, development of self-marketing, development of personal business ideas, and above all, experiences on Finland. We at TAMK received a lot of information and understanding of the life and education system of a country so far away but yet so close.

Differences in learning cultures

Our learning culture differs considerably from the Omani one. A student described the Omani way of lecturing like this: ”First the teacher opens a book, lectures about it, and closes the book. After this we believe that it is so. In Finland we have been able to ask, wonder, and participate in teaching. The idea generation methods were challenging but extremely interesting ways to develop new business ideas.”

This was not our first experience on Omanis but whether the course succeeded and the Omanis felt comfortable kept us in suspense for the whole July. We wanted our guests to enjoy and return to their home country with positive experiences and inspiring ideas. Luckily the students were flexible and self-directed. We soon learnt the culture differences and got used to the men doing everything before the women. The women were used to waiting and it was natural for them to remain in the background. On the other hand, the men were very polite and considerate towards the women. Discussions with the women revealed their wide education and willingness to develop themselves and find meaningful employment. On the basis of what we heard, Oman has same problems as Finland – there are unemployed young people and it is difficult for them to find work. Entrepreneurship is often the only option.

The summer with the students went fast. Our biggest worry was the food. Finding the right ingredients and cooking the food options were challenges for our cooperation partners in food services. The students bravely fasted almost their whole time in Finland. Could you do this – in a foreign country, in the middle of strange habits without food and drink during daylight?

The group achieved a lot

The visit took place during the Finnish holiday season and TAMK facilities were quite freely available for us. Y-Campus offered a great setting for teaching new learning methods. Due to the holidays, there were not many company visits; we offered business life examples by inviting company representatives to TAMK. Despite the holiday season, TAMK Extension Studies staff and numerous teachers participated in the summer project. Tabula was used diligently and emails and text messages flew in order to make everything succeed as desired.

The students also readily shared information with each other. An Arabic lecture on blogging was interesting. Ideas were exchanged and hands swung eloquently. The group spirit was literally tangible.

And what was achieved concretely? The male group practised for example video editing. They probably had a twinkle in their eye when uploading this video to YouTube after the study day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eruPlloxw4Y&feature=youtu.be

Our guests started their return journey feeling wistful. They packed memories and a piece of Finland in their suitcases. We at TAMK had a feeling of success with experiences of a new but already familiar culture.

Text: Kerstin Jääskeläinen and Taru Orell

Photo: Badr AlKhatri 

“No real culture shock, only interesting situations” - TAMK exchange students' experiences

Hiking in national park Seitseminen...

When settling into a new country, one can face new things that seem weird or awkward. The confused feeling can be strong or weak and it can arrive during the first days or even after returning back to home. The TAMK exchange students from the academic year 2012-2013 shared their experiences of culture shock and adapting in Finland in the evaluation questionnaire. Here you can read some of the answers:

I didn't experience culture shock really, as I noticed, that the mentality of the other students, the teachers and finnish people in general was much more easy to handle than in my home country and I adjusted very fast. It was also not my first time in Finland, so I knew a little bit of its culture already. And because of feeling more connected to the people, also going to school was more fun than in my home town, so I enjoyed not only the parties, but also the week-days when going to school. - German girl

One can have fun also in Finnish winter!

well, i was shocked about the way Finnish people behavior like they have schedule for everything, it was complicate to understand that at the beginning. – Mozambican boy 

I enjoyed my time here. I didn't have much of a "culture shock", but the city is really welcoming. TAMK is a very well organized school and I am very happy that I made this decision of coming here. - Belgian girl

Well I really enjoyed for being in Tampere. A small but nice city and of course a safety city. If I compare Tampere with my home city which is bigger but is not offering as many as Tampere. During the first three days after arriving I asked myself "What the hell I am doing here"? but after one week I really enjoyed the time with my new friends and with the new culture. - Turkish boy 

Marta from Spain enjoys a summer evening

My experience in Finland was great!! I knew a really hospital country, in which people are kind and direct. I knew a beautiful city, the lakes, the forest, the snow. I knew a new, efficient university. I knew young people coming from all over the world. Now I know I've a new home!! Thank you Finland - Italian girl

I had Spanish cultural shock. I had French cultural shock and believe me that was a big one. I also had Italian cultural shock. And Hungarians? Dont even get me started... But seriously, I rly didnt anything that could be described as "culture shock", never heard of it before either. Overall, it was rly awesome here and I loved it. Thank you very much. – Slovakian boy

Parties are always an important part of course

When I came to Tampere I got used to language and people easily, because finnish people are friendly,straightforward,interesting.I meet many people not connected to university activities, I had a great time, learned cultural things,like traditional food,drinks, customs, develop my basic finnish language knowladge, also city is very well developed in many ways, I love various interesting cafes, architerure in Tampere, facinated by grand event and exibitions that takes place here. - Lithuanian girl

Winter activities

The first shock when i got here was the extreme cold weather, which i am not used to and the darkness. Then it was the small city that is Tampere and the strange, unusual but cool campus in Finlayson, which i really liked and enjoyed. As a personal development i learned to live alone, to do everything on my own, administrate my time and money, to get along and work with people that has different backgrounds and beliefs; and to work hard. - Mexican girl

Tutors and exchange students in Särkänniemi amusement park

This was an amazing adventure for me. I always wanted to visit Finland, but to live here is different. I like that almost all the people can speak English fluently, so I could ask anybody for help or just make friends within Finnish people not just exchange students. The city and the enviroment is beautiful, calm, no stress and hurriness. I like to live here someday. - Hungarian girl 

 Ryo Tominaga from Miyagi University in Japan spent 1 year at TAMK, this is how he said goodbye to Finland and the many friends he made

Posted by Kaisa Merilahti and Annika Dillenburger from TAMK International Services
Photos by David Nakamurah, Ryo Tominaga, Marta Sanchez-Vina, Kaisa Merilahti

Coming soon! International Week for Non-Teaching Staff 2013.

The fifth annual International Week for Non-Teaching Staff 2013 is approaching fast! The final preparations and finishing touches are getting done and the participants are counting days, some even hours till their arrival. The week begins in afternoon of Monday the 27th of May and lasts till Friday the 31st. The main topic of the week is "Intercultural Communication Skills", which should be interesting for everyone in the globalizing world of today!

The chaos under control.

Most of the programme at TAMK will be organized at modern premises of the Y-Kampus. Participants from all over Europe will work together and share their knowledge from their own expertise areas. The course will have seven different department expert groups: Library Services, Communications and Marketing Services, Financial Services, Project Management Services, Human Resources Services, Student Employment Services and last but not the least the IT Services.

Y-Kampus premises getting ready for the week.

The total amount of over fifty course attendees from 14 countries will work within their expertese group and with everyone else as well. Other organized events in the programme are for example a daytrip of work and Finnish culture to Maisansalo and a visit to Tampere University of Technology. Exciting!

 

The way we want our international guests to feel!

First things first.

Materials, what materials?

Text and photos: Panu Alanko

Omanis Learnt Engineering and Life

"I love walking. The summer has been really nice here as I have been able to walk as much as I have wanted.” In Tampere, the summer joy of engineering student Fawziya AL-Jabri from Oman has been as simple as walking, but walking cannot be taken for granted in hown home country.

Sumaya AL-Maimani, Doctor Harith AL Bousaidi and Fawziya AL-Jabri think the summer weather has been great in Finland: "We love the rain as the temperature in our home country can rise to 50 degrees."

AL-Jabri belongs to the group of 25 eager engineering students, who arrived at TAMK in Midsummer for a two-month education. The Omani engineering students have three years of engineering studies behind them in their home country and are now complementing their studies at TAMK. They are learning about IT tools of engineering and use of laboratories in measuring and analysis.

"Finland is a very safe place. At first, our students’ parents were of course a little worried when they heard about their adolescents’ summer destination but everything has gone so well that there has been no reason to worry. Our trip has been successful. Our students have gained confidence and diverse culture experiences in addition to studying their own field", tells the group leader, Doctor AL Bousaidi. The trip to Finland has been a dream come true for Fawziya AL-Jabri and Sumaya Maimani.

"Most of us students had earlier only travelled in the Gulf countries. All have been very friendly towards us in Tampere and at TAMK. Finns are always on time everywhere and thus one of the most important things we have learnt is respect for punctuality. At first, we always had to run for the bus from our lodging in Lapinniemi as we slept so late. We wondered why Finns did not run. We have also been greeted with friendliness in the city. In our opinion Finns are well-mannered."

The girls say that studying in a new environment, speaking in English, and learning to know new people have been the best part of the trip. "I have felt myself as a princess as everybody has been so helpful towards us here", tells AL-Jabri.

Electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering studies at TAMK

After the joint studies at the beginning, the students were based on their special fields divided into three groups for the practical works.

  

The electrical engineering students thought the practical works were interesting and told that they have learnt a lot of new things.

 

Mansoor AL Harthi’s and Jaber AL Jahwari’s task was to set the digital dial indicator and measure with it.

 

Mansoor AL Harthi and Jaber AL Jahwari are studying mechanical engineering. AL Harthi and AL Jahwari told they were surprised and happy when they heard of being accepted to Finland by the Omani higher education ministry.

"This has been a very good experience for us. Our parents were also happy and proud when they heard about the matter. TAMK’s teachers and staff have been very friendly and helpful. We have also been very satisfied with the quality of teaching. The best part has been the visits to companies, such as Fastems. Even if the theory is important, it is still a different matter altogether to see how the machines work. We have also had leisure time. We have explored the city, gone to the cinema, fished, and admired the sceneries, especially the beautiful lakes."

According to Laboratory Engineer Jani Katajisto (the bearded man in the middle), studying of the Omani students has proceeded in the same way as with the Finnish students. The task of another mechanical engineering group was measuring with a micrometer.

The chemical engineering students had the task to perform a metal analysis on lake water.

Diverse laboratory assignments have been completed in the chemistry laboratory, for example analyses of plastic types and chemical oxygen consumption. The cooperation between Teacher Seija Haapamäki and the chemistry students has been smooth.

The girls analysed the composition of a perfume. The perfume called Noora was brought from their home country, Oman. Noora has a typical, strong oriental scent.

Laboratory Engineer Heli Knuutila and the group of girls studying chemistry.

In the middle of their studies, the students organised an Oman event for TAMK staff where they presented Oman. Omani delicacies were also served.

Men's dress is a long shirt-like gown with a turban or embroidered cap. TAMK’s Continuing Education Coordinator Virpi Heinonen was one the persons who were in charge of the practical matters of the visit.

Both men and women wear traditional dresses in Oman. Women wear a black gown when they go out. During trips abroad they may also wear Western clothes.

  

Tourists have a lot to see and experience in Oman. Oman is located at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates as neighbours.

The luckiest TAMK staff members could also have an extremely skilful henna tattoo on the hand. There are 3 million inhabitants in the country reigned by the sultan.

The Omani group, which has studied at TAMK for two months, spent their last weekend in the middle of August on a Stockholm cruise. The students will then return to their home town of Sohar. Read also: There is demand for  TAMK´s compenetence in Oman

Puhu minulle suomea - Speak Finnish to me

On photo: Minna Säpyskä, Laura Lindeman and Mwilumbwa Kibbassa

Fourth-year environmental engineering student Mwilumbwa Kibbassa received a pink badge with the slogan Puhu minulle suomea (Speak Finnish With Me) on 8 April in connection with launching the Puhu minulle suomea campaign in TAMK. The campaign aims at encouraging international students to speak Finnish.

"The playful Puhu minulle suomea campaign aims at encouraging international students to speak Finnish in everyday situations and giving them the chance to do so. Finnish can be used with all wearing the badge. However, nobody is forced to speak Finnish. Speaking Finnish starts with small steps, such as using the words kiitos (thanks) and terve (hello)," told Project Manager

Minna Säpyskä from the Baltic Institute of Finland and Coordinator Laura Lindeman from the University of Tampere Career Centre.

Lacking Finnish language skills are one of the largest employment barrier among international students in the Tampere Region. Knowing even a little Finnish facilitates employment and integration to the society. The campaign badges are being distributed both to international students and to the participating institutions´ staff.

The University of Tampere, Tampere University of Technology and TAMK participate in the campaign. The campaign is set to run through April and May in the spring and continue in the autumn. A further aim is to extend the campaign to companies in the autumn.

The campaign has been organised by WorkPlace Pirkanmaa project, which aims at bringing international students and employers closer together. The roots of the campaign are in the city of Helsinki. The campaign has spread to the higher education institutions in Tampere through the Puhu minulle suomea event organised by Tampere Adult Education Centre´s immigrant education.

Mwilumbwa Kibbassa already speaks very good Finnish. "I would like to learn more Finnish if I just had enough time," Kibbassa told.

Further information:
Project Manager Minna Säpyskä, the Baltic Institute of Finland, tel. 050
587 0357, firstname.lastname@tampere.fi
Coordinator Laura Lindeman, Career Centre, University of Tampere, tel. 040
190 4064, firstname.lastname@uta.fi

The annual Autumn Symposium of the Finnish Association of Applied Linguistic

The annual Autumn Symposium of the Finnish Association of Applied Linguistics (AFinLA) was held at the University of Applied Sciences, in Tampere, Finland on November 12-13. Welcome speeches were given by Conference Chair Mirja Kinnunen, Co-Chair Mike Garant, and the Head of International Cooperation and Languages Tarja Haukijärvi. Anna Mauranen from the University of Helsinki delivered an excellent plenary on "Speaking a lingua Franca - Redefining relations of language and culture".




Keith Richards from the University of Warwick, England who spoke about "Getting personal in academic argument"



Balázs Heidrich from the Budapest Business School, Hungary who spoke about "Kiss the Prince and Find the Frog - Dreams and reality about effectiveness of multicultural student groups".

In addition, the conference had over 150 participants from 15 different countries and there were over 60 papers and workshops given. The focus areas of the conference included professional communication, education, and (culture and how they all come together. The schedule included lunch and coffee breaks, intellectual discussions and much shared knowledge. Over 50 students participated actively in organizing the conference.

We hope everyone enjoyed the symposium!

Knowledge Sharing across Cultures – a personal view of Debby Swallow’s presentation

Why is it that serious attempts at sharing knowledge across cultures frequently end in frustration, disappointment and a sense of aggrievement on all sides?

According to Dr Deborah Swallow, who gave a presentation at TAMK on November 16th, the problem is that people from different cultures have fundamentally different beliefs about the proper roles of bosses and subordinates, teachers and students, and even about the nature of knowledge itself.

Dr Swallow is a leading expert on intercultural communication and cultural diversity in the modern workplace. Drawing on research in the fields of intercultural communication and knowledge management, Debby Swallow presented two alternative sets of knowledge-related concepts. Both sets, she emphasised, are valid within certain cultural settings, but neither of them can be easily transferred to another culture. To prove the point, Dr Swallow enlivened her presentation with numerous stories of knowledge-sharing failures in families, in businesses, and in marketing communications.

But there were success stories, too. Debby Swallow reminded us that in the 1980’s, for most people a telephone was as mobile as the length of its wires allowed. But in 1987, Nokia enjoyed a marketing coup when Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the (then) Soviet Union, was photographed in Helsinki using a Nokia mobile phone to make a call to Moscow. The picture appeared in newspapers around the world, and thus a new concept - “mobile phone” – was created in the minds of millions.

But what can we, in the serious business of intercultural education, learn from master marketers?

Well, as teachers, we need to realise that ideas like “critical thinking is good”, “plagiarism is bad” (and many others) are elements of our own particular brand of education. For students who join us from very different educational traditions, such brand-related concepts may need to be created from scratch.

Secondly, even when foreign students are aware of our brand, they will naturally prefer their own. So if we believe our brand has merit, we need to promote its consumer benefits vigorously.

Finally, if we ever venture into foreign markets (as exchange teachers, for example), we should not expect our brand to be universally admired and appreciated. The most successful brands, from Nokia to Coca Cola, are customised for each local market.

Ann Seppänen

Pictured: Deborah Swallow
Photo: Kaisa Kukkonen