Tiina Säilä wins TAMK Erasmus prize for staff

Lecturer and student counselor at TAMK Radiography programme Tiina Säilä won the Erasmus-prize for TAMK's staff exchange for her teacher exchange to Tartu and Tallinn in Estonia in June 2012.

The prize was given to one staff member and one student by TAMK International Services to commemmorate the 25th anniversary of the Erasmus exchange.

Erasmus is the largest university exchange programme in Europe. In addition to student exchanges, it also supports exchange of teachers and staff, as well as cooperation both between universities as well as between universities and companies. Over 2,5 million students have so far done their exchange in another European university. The Finnish universities joined Erasmus 20 years ago.

It is easiest to market a place you have seen

- The most important reason why I applied for an international teacher exchange is that we don't have many partner universities in the Radiography programme for students to go for traineeships. I would be great if our students would go to Tartu, too. It is much easier to encourage students to go for an exchange to a university where I have personally visited and found a good place, Säilä says.

- I was very surprised to find out that the university in Tartu was renovated and had e.g. brand-new X-ray machines!

- The staff exchange process is easy at TAMK. The instructions are clearly written in Intra. It is also ok to go for an exchange even if your English is not perfect: English is often the second language for the hosts, too.

Säilä has since then been to another exchange: a European nuclear medicine conference in Milan, Italy, in October-November!

A great example of a teacher exchange

TAMK International Services used the following reasons for selecting the best staff exchange candidate:

"Säilä actively internationalises her degree programme. She took part in the staff info on staff exchanges. The Radiography programme does not have many exchange partners, so the internationalisation of the programme start from individual teachers' networks. Säilä was proactive and arranged a teacher exchange for herself in Tartu, Estonia.

Arrangements with Tartto Tervishoiu Körgkool in Tartu were well organised: Säilä contacted the university directly, which made it possible to arrange for a programme best suitable for her. The active communication strengthens the relationship from the start. Säilä listed many aims for her exchange: more cooperation, internationalizing the Radiography programme, and increasing exchange places for students and staff.

In addition to visiting Tartu, Säilä also had a chance to visit the nuclear medicine unit in Tallinn.

At TAMK, Säilä also did all arrangements exceptionally well: she filled in all necessary documents, including clear aims. Also her teacher exchange report was clear, indicating achieved results. She communicated actively with the International Services, asking about the possibilities, reading about the process and communicating of last-minute changes (e.g. email about adding Tallinn into the travel plan). She also sent all necessary documents to International Services after her exchange.

Säilä's exchange is a great example of how to plan and arrange a teacher/staff exchange smoothly and effectively: everyone takes care of his/her part of expertise.

Most of all, the exchange was beneficial and lead to deepened cooperation."

Text: Mirja Onduso & Noora Kahra, International Services
Photo: Mirja Onduso

Admission 2013: Media Programme pre-task available

Next application period for our four Bachelor's programmes run in English - Environmental Engineering  International Business, Media and  Nursing - starts on January 7. Applicants for media have to prepare and send a pre-task in addition to the regular application. The pre-task is now online.
(The story originally posted on TAMK Art&Media Blog)
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Available seats are now 30 (+10) and Music Production  is a new option!

• In 2009 they planned a global tenth anniversary celebration of mankind’s presence in Mars.
• In 2010 they created a concept for a digital sports game.
• In 2011 they designed a campaign to fight overweight and obesity.
• In 2012 they arranged a global 24 hour party before the disastrous asteroid hit Earth.
• In 2013 they will be the first to report from the newly found Atlantis!

They are applicants of IMP, our international media programme.

This year there will be more free seats and more options, the Music Production education in Virrat will merge with Media Programme in Tampere.

There will be 30 seats available for new students instead of the 20 until now. After the merger and the new curriculum the areas of study of IMP will be: Event Production, Game Design, Motion Graphics, Music Production, Music Business, Sound Design, Visual Design, Web Design.

FIND the pretask here

Application Period Jamuary 7 to February 12
Here please find the time table and the resources to do the application:

• TAMK application web pages are complete, see www.tamk.fi/jointapplication
• November 30: December 1st: The pre-task to be submitted with the application will be published
• December: The national joint application web site will open at https://www.admissions.fi/
• December: Our new curriculum featuring Music Production will be launched
• January 7th application period kick off
• February 12th application closed
• Early March: invitations to Entrance Exam sent
• April 9 and 10 Entrance Exam
• The final results of the student selection will be sent to the applicants by post on May 28th at the earliest.

Read more about the Media Programme
Read about the activities of IMPs, the Media students
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Sanna Vierikko is TAMK's Erasmus Student of the Year

Sanna Vierikko, a third-year Social Services student, won the TAMK Erasmus prize for 2012. Vierikko did her student exchange in the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in January - June 2012. She also did a training in a homeless shelter.
 

The prize was given to one staff member and one student by TAMK International Services to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Erasmus exchange.

Erasmus is the largest university exchange programme in Europe. In addition to student exchanges, it also supports exchange of teachers and staff, as well as cooperation both between universities as well as between universities and companies. Over 2,5 million students have so far done their exchange in another European university. The Finnish universities joined Erasmus 20 years ago.

Both studies and training

Vierikko has many good things to say about her exchange:

- I got the idea of going to Slovenia at the info session in TAMK. There had also been some Slovenian students in my class. I got interested in Slovenia because it is a small, mountainous country and has good connections to other countries around it.

- Studying in Slovenia was very different: even if the university was big, our faculty was small. There were more than 1000 exchange students but our faculty has only 16 of us. We read a lot of articles, wrote essays and met personally with the teachers or professors. Each subject also had an oral exam: 2-3 students, 2-3 hours, and a teacher who asked questions. At first I was scared but the teacher asked more questions, and eventually it was easier than a written exam.

Social Services Deparment at the University of Ljubljana

- In March-May, I also did a training in a homeless shelter. It was nice to work in my own field and meet local people, too, Some 30-50 homeless people visited the shelter daily. Our job was to listen and discuss with them. The language was a bit of a challenge: about half of the homeless spoke English. The homeless bought a magazine from the shelter for 0,50€ and sold it on the streets for 1€. That was an important source of income to them.

- The training was tough. I hadn't done any training before but I wanted to challenge myself. It was good to combine the studies and the training - the training alone would have been too tough.

The national poet of Slovenia is France Prešeren. His statue is in Ljubljana.

The exchange students made a trip to the Skocjan Caves

The dragon is the icon of Ljubljana

- Everyone should go for an exchange - especially when TAMK supports it financially! When you are working it is not so easy any more to go abroad.

- My exchange was great: it gives you so much, you meet new people from all over the world. I also saw how social services work in another country - I have learnt to appreciate what we have here in Finland.

Downhill skiing in Krvavec ski centre in Slovenia

A great example of a student exchange

TAMK International Services used the following reasons for selecting Sanna for the best student exchange:

"Sanna has utilised the Erasmus programme to become more international: she took part in the Slovenian language Erasmus Intensive Language Course (EILC) in January 2012. She also prepared actively for her studies and training in Social Services. Sanna completed all studies planned - even 7 credits extra.

Sanna communicated and arranged well her exchange both at TAMK and in Slovenia. She followed instructions given and filled in all required documents in time.

Sanna's exchange report was informative, concentrating on the similarities and differences of Finnish universities and social services.

Sanna has been a perfect example of an Erasmus exchange student!"

Text: Mirja Onduso & Piri Hiltunen, International Services
Photos: Sanna Vierikko & Mirja Onduso

Intensive course in Tanzania 22.10.-1.11.2012

Advertisement of the course in the University of Saint August

Intensive course in Mwanza, Tanzania was full of experiences which broadened our world view and provided food for thought. North - South- South Code-Net is a Project funded by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its goal is to increase collaboration, understanding and possibilities to collective learning both between North and South and South and South. Partners in cooperation are University of KwaZulu Natal from South-Africa, St. Augustine University from Tanzania, Catholic University and Ministry of Women and Social Affairs from Mozambique, University of Tampere and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Altogether 17 students and 8 teachers participated in the course. Those two weeks we spent in Mwanza included interesting lectures, great new acquaintances, field visits and an opportunity to explore the incredible nature of Tanzania.

View from University's library

During the course we got a reminder that even though our cultures and societies in different parts of the world are different, our basic needs and values, the things that really matter deep down, are very similar. In social work and in life in general, giving hope to another person is an important force which sustains life and carries you against all odds. Despite where we are, we need other people to feel we are important. Without diminishing science, theories and research, people in need require basic things and someone to be there for him or her, the feeling someone really cares.

Problems in society should be seen as everyone’s own problem. We all as professionals in social services and as individuals have a possibility and also obligation to try to influence sociological issues. From what we heard on the course, we got the feeling that in social work in Africa you can see a strong effort to influencing sociological issues. In their work the importance of informing, education and participation stands out. 

Art from Kuleana's restaurant

Work is done with and in communities and families. Information is needed in changing the myths and beliefs. A prerequisite for changes in society are cooperation between officials and policy-makers, and structures and laws which support the change are needed.  An important task for social workers is to give information of social problems to authorities and try to increase citizens’ participation. On the course we were challenged to think of our own roles as activists in social work and influencing society. Do we take a stand on the social evils we see and do we try to influence those?

Art at Kivulini

One of the biggest subjects of the course was family and its cultural differences. Even though we knew that family and relatives are important in Africa, it surprised us how the family is involved almost everywhere. Extended family is a basic necessity and all the sectors of life are connected to it. Without knowing the subject better, we easily start to idealize family-centeredness compared to western individualism. Families’ and communities’ secure and primary aim in social work is to strengthen their own possibilities and strengths. Anyway the reality in Tanzania is that 50 % of women experience abuse and violence in the families, and 60 % of them think it is acceptable. Women have only rarely an economical and mental possibility to leave an unsatisfactory relationship. Violence and abuse are also explained by cultural issues. Several humanitarian organizations strive to affect these situations by increasing people’s knowledge of violence, human rights and manipulation. When people get more appropriate information they can question the prevailing practices, and change is possible. Alongside children’s education women’s education is considered very important, because women are central persons in raising the children and teaching life values.

Aids is a huge problem in Tanzania

The host university has 13 000 students, but there is no training program of social work. That is why some of the student colleagues were sociologists. In Tanzania the education of social work is newly developing. The only university in Tanzania where social work is taught is in the capital city Dar es Salaam. In Mwanza social work field has many kinds of workers, whose educational background is different, and there are lots of voluntary workers too. In Tanzania almost anyone who considers themselves a social worker can call themselves a social worker. People who have higher education in social work are rarely working near the clients. Hiring highly educated social workers, psychologists and therapists is very expensive and the organizations which have external funding cannot afford   highly educated personnel.

Visiting help organization for disabled people

The course made us to think of the relevance of development aid. Is current aid effective, is it aimed and used right? What kind of help would really be effective? In Tanzania development aid is considered to be important, but there are also problems involved in it. Many factors of social services depend on foreign funding. Funding comes from many different sources and coordination and communication between these sources is inadequate.

Making the services sustainable requires political will, decision making, and legislation, which support social work. Work should always be done locally. The old phrase: “Carried water does not remain in the well” is true in this case too. If we want to make a lasting change, we have to focus on the local needs. We need to go to the people, families and communities and ask what they really want and need?

 

Many of the problems which came up during our trip felt big and insurmountable. From time to time, the extent of the problem made us feel desperate and powerless. After all our image of Tanzania, Tanzanians and their way of life is very positive and warm. In the middle of trash and misery we saw lots of beauty, good will and hope. We were treated openly and always with happiness. The national park of Serengeti offered us a unique experience. We had a chance to witness the great migration of thousands of animals through the savannas and we saw also languid lions and other animals in the expansive nature.

Take a step backwards and ask yourself: why do I know what I know, why do I believe what I believe?

Dance in the farewell party

With warm and excited greetings,

Outi Pohja, Katriina Turku and Hanna Korppila-Hiltunen

More information of the places we visited:

Street children organization Kuleana:

http://chekasanachildrenstrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3:kuleana-street-children-centre&catid=2:projects&Itemid=3

Women’s rights organization Kivulini:

http://kivulini.org/