Greetings Our Networks Define Who We Are?

IT SEEMS THAT in our society our existing networks define who we are as persons. Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Twitter and the list goes on – if you can’t be found, will you stop existing? THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TOLD by the media, and in some cases it might be true. In our global society, who you know is more important than ever before. At the same time, it might be seen as a burden, but it also gives various possibilities. At this moment, we don’t even know where it is taking us and how will our future look like.

IN SOCIAL NETWORKS, our kids lead us the way, and we know already that we will actually never reach them. Ability to create and maintain social networks means non-stop alert, and at some point we might start missing just picking up the phone the old style.

HOWEVER, FOR FRIENDS who are spread around the world like the Univer-sity of Vaasa alumni, social networks are perfect for maintaining both professional and human relations. At least now we can reach you and invite you to come and see us again.

WE WILL ARRANGE an international alumni meeting for the former University of Vaasa students 25-26 May 2012, and you are most welcome to join us! We thought that even with the social networks, it would be nice to meet once in a while. Let’s create new memories and share moments in the Finnish summer. DO YOU STILL REMEMBER the midnight sun, sauna and crazy people who don’t talk much first, but when getting to know them follow you for life? This is what the University of Vaasa Alumni Meeting in May will be about – let’s meet there!

Welcome to the

Internation a l Alu mni

Meeti ng i n May!

With best regards from

snowy and cold (-11 °C) Vaasa,

Francesca Cucinotta

Head of International Relations

Meet the Lecturer Shared Knowledge and Critical Thinking

MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMME in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Administration has gotten a new international team member in the beginning of this academic year when Dr. Daniel Rellstab started as a lecturer in the programme.

DR. RELLSTAB’S RESEARCH INTERESTS center on different aspects of language and communication. He has done research on semiotics, language and communication in online communities, and communicative practices in multicultural virtual networks, and currently he is focusing on communication and diversity in multicultural foreign classrooms. “I am interested in what is going on in classrooms, and how issues of identity, nationality, and authority are negotiated in the process of learning”, he states.

DANIEL RELLSTAB, a Swiss by nationality, has a wide teaching experience and he has previously been teaching at the University of Berne in Switzerland and the University of Siegen in Germany before coming to Vaasa. He is also a Review Editor of an international journal of semiotics, KODIKAS/Code.Ars Semeiotica. Our students will meet Dr. Rellstab in lectures such as Introduction to Intercultural Communication and Cultural Studies, Classics to Cultural Studies and Semiotics and Interpretation in Cultural Studies and he will also be teaching the Research Seminars together with Professor Parry.

IN HIS TEACHING Dr. Rellstab is lecturing about cultural

phenomena, communication and language, and about how all

those things relate to the everyday life and to the world as we

see it. In students he appreciates the ability for critical thinking

and in his teaching he emphasises how to evaluate different

perspectives before coming to a conclusion.

THE STUDENTS IN DR. RELLSTAB’S COURSES include our

Master’s Degree students from the ICS programme, exchange

students, as well as Finnish students who are doing

Intercultural Studies as their minor subject. Dr. Rellstab is

pleased to be teaching such multinational and multicultural

groups. He notes that as the students come literally from all

over the world, they have with them a great deal of

knowledge, expertise and experience and he is looking

forward for the students to share their knowledge with other

students and also with him. “Motivated students who are

ready to learn, to discuss, who want to know more and who

want to be challenged, that is what I expect and hope to see in

my classes”, he explains.

DR. RELLSTAB SENDS HIS GREETINGS to all our

international alumni, and now as he is spending his first winter

in Finland, he hopes that our alumni have warm memories of

their experiences in this cold and snowy country in the North.

With best regards from

snowy and cold (-11 °C) Vaasa,

Francesca Cucinotta

Head of International Relations

International Graduate From Professional Life to Studying in Vaasa

Philippe Wion graduated from the Master’s Degree Programme in Finance in November 2011. He is now working at ABB in Vaasa.

PHILIPPE, an engineer who also had a Bachelor’s degree in International Business from his home country France, has worked as a Key Account and Sales Area Manager for the last ten years. He has worked with Nordic companies and also lived in Sweden for some time and even though he had not been living in Finland he became familiar with our country during those ten years.

PHILIPPE NOTICED THAT having strong financial knowledge is today mandatory for any high position in sales, and when he decided to enhance his education in business studies, he started looking for a highly focused programme to strengthen his knowledge in finance. He found that the University of Vaasa offers a Master’s Degree Programme in Finance, which seemed interesting. He applied and got admitted to the programme, where he started his studies in autumn 2010.

Relevance of Studies

WHEN LOOKING BACK to the studies in Master’s Degree

Programme in Finance, Philippe recognises that as a student

of the programme, he has been given a solid framework in

corporate finance, financial markets and investments, just to

name a few. He also thinks that the versatility of the programme

is a great advantage for the students when they are searching

for work opportunities. He has recently joined the ABB and is

working as a sales Manager here in Vaasa. When thinking about

the recruitment process that he went through, he says that “the

programme simply gave me the additional tools required to be

even more competitive”.

Quality Education in a Modern Campus

EVEN THOUGH it is not too long since his graduation, Philippe says that besides the studies itself, the best memories from the time spent studying at the University of Vaasa come from all the different people he has had a chance to meet along the way. “THE UNIVERSITY OF VAASA is actually very international”, he states. According to him the internationality along with the facilities on campus have played a big role in creating a truly multicultural and modern study environment. He considers it to be a beneficial experience to have been able to work and study in a multicultural environment with many talented people.

PHILIPPE ALSO WISHES TO THANK THE PROGRAMME, as he acknowledges that the quality of his education here helped him to obtain an award from a private bank for the results of his final thesis.

Graduate School University of Vaasa Is Developing Its Doctoral Education

THE DOCTORAL EDUCATION at the University of Vaasa has been reorganized, and since the beginning of August 2011, all doctoral education at the University has been managed by the Graduate School of the University of Vaasa. “The Graduate School will work at making doctoral education more systematic, developing good joint practices within the University, and paying attention especially to the quality of education and research as well as to the progress of the doctoral students’ studies,” explains Professor Merja Koskela. Professor Koskela has been the Head of Graduate School until the end of December 2011 as the Dean and Vice Rector responsible for research. From the beginning of the year 2012, the next Vice Rector responsible for re-search, Dean Vesa Suutari, will take over the tasks of the Head of Graduate School.

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL HAS FIVE DOCTORAL programmes, each of which is led by a professor of a subject central to the programme. Similarly to the Doctoral Forum before, the Graduate School offers doctoral courses and seminars for its students. A strong emphasis will also be on research groups of the University and the doctoral students’ research will be more closely connected to the research groups than it has been before.

THE FIRST APPLICATION ROUND for the Graduate

School ended in the middle of November and the

Graduate School has every reason to be pleased: they

received almost 60 applications, and about half of the

applications came from international applicants.

There are two application deadlines each year, the

next one being 30 April 2012.

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF GOOD ADVICE for those

who are thinking about applying to the Graduate

School: It is a good idea to be in contact with a

professor or a research group before applying and to

make sure that the research topic fits in the profile

of the research group or in the fields of focus of

the University of Vaasa.

THE GRADUATE SCHOOL WILL HAVE some dissertation grants every year and 2-year doctoral student posts will be created, but it is important to note that the funding is not automatic for the students. It is highly recommended that the students have their own funding or funding of the research group. A good source of information about different possibilities for funding is CIMO (www.cimo.fi).

PROFESSOR KOSKELA CONSIDERS our international alumni to be good potential applicants for the Graduate School. Our international alumni are familiar with our University as well as the general living and studying conditions in Finland. They have a clear idea of where they would be coming to and how things work here.

FINNISH DOCTORAL EDUCATION DEMANDS a great deal of independent work and personal choices play a big role in planning of the studies. One great advantage of this is that the students can have a great emphasis on their study path with their personal choices. The Graduate School of the University of Vaasa is an ideal place for students who have clear idea on what they want.

More information about the Graduate School is available online at:

uwasa.fi/tutkijakoulu/english/

Apply for a Doctora l Progra mme! Application deadli n e 30 April

From Finnish Champions to Nordic Champions

AUTUMN 2011 was very exciting time for three of our international degree students, Hugo Chamorro Sotelo, Maria Nilova and Elena Sapegina as they made their way successfully first to Finnish and then to Nordic Championship in Project Management. This text is based on the students’ reports of the competitions.

MARIA AND ELENA, who study in the Master’s Degree Programme in International Business, and Hugo, who studies in the Master’s Programme in Industrial Management heard about the Finnish championship and decided to join their knowledge and participate in the championship as a team. This turned out to be a good decision.

THE TEAM REGISTERED FOR THE COMPETITION and participated in the qualification round where they had to answer to 100 questions in 100 minutes. To make this part even more challenging, the team had to arrange a virtual meeting as all of them were studying abroad as exchange students at that time. The results were out in one week and Maria, Elena and Hugo got invitation to come to the finals organised in Espoo at the beginning of November to compete with the teams from University of Oulu, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Vaasa University of Applied Sciences.

ON THE FIRST DAY of the finals the teams had to solve a case that was designed especially for the finals by the Project Institute Ltd. All teams worked independently and presented their findings and solutions to the jury without knowing the other teams’ findings. In the evening, the top three teams who would continue to the next day were announced. Our team was one of the top three!

THE WINNER OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP was announced at a gala dinner the following day after seminars and workshops where all teams were invited to participate. On the third place was Tampere University of Technology, on the second place was the team from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the winner was the team from the University of Vaasa. Elena, Maria and Hugo would be going to represent Finland in the Nordic Championship in Project Management in Gothenburg, Sweden!

Photo: Juuso Kangas

THE NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIP in Project Management 2011 took place on 23-24 November during the Nordic Forum in Project Management. The event is organised once in 5 years and the teams competing against each other were the teams from University of Vaasa (Finland), Linköping University (Sweden) and University of Southern Denmark (Denmark).

THE FIRST DAY STARTED WITH getting to know the simulation programme used in the competition and with planning the virtual project. All teams had similar tasks in the simulation, “the competing teams needed to react to arising problems quickly and possess solid knowledge in all areas of project management, analytical skills, and ability to work and make decisions under stress as well as show disciplined and coordinated teamwork”, Elena, Maria and Hugo describe the simulation. The first part of the simulation was followed by the Project Management Skill Test that consisted of 50 project situations. After the first day, the team from the University of Vaasa was on a second place in the competition.

ON THE FOLLOWING DAY the teams continued with the simulation and their task for the day was to come up with corrective actions and to re-think their strategy. At the award ceremony it was announced that there were two teams with exactly the same amount of points and the second evaluation criterion, that is, “time spent on correction of errors” had to be used to decide who the winner was.

THE WINNING TEAM had zero hours spent on corrections, and that in the organisers’ point of view “reflected better quality of the project performance”. The winning team was the team from University of Vaasa, Finland! “It was an honor to win in such tight competition”, say the Nordic Champions in Project Management 2011.

Congratu lations!

Photo: Juuso Kangas

Valuable Experiences through Internships

FINDING A JOB IN FINLAND upon or after graduation is not easy for the international students. The Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences of the Vaasa Consortium of Higher Education are aware of the difficulties the international students are facing and decided to take action to help international students to integrate into the Finnish job market. Financially supported by the City of Vaasa 400-years Jubilee fund and coordinated by the International Office of the University of Vaasa, this new initiative called the Vaasa Internship Programme for International Students is a bridge between our international degree students and the numerous employers in Ostrobothnian region.

THE PROJECT MANAGER in the Internship Programme is a Canadian Jonathan Paquet, who is at a final stage of his studies in the Master’s Degree Programme in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Administration at the University of Vaasa and who has a strong professional experience as being a CEO in his own company in Canada.

THE VAASA INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME for International Students financially supports companies and organisations who wish to offer internships to the international degree students during the first eight months of 2012. The programme is also a valuable tool for the qualified and talented international students wishing to enter the Finnish job market for the first time.

THROUGH THE INTERNSHIP programme,

companies and organisations in Ostrobothnia

have an opportunity to get talented

international students with high motivation to

prove their skills and willingness to integrate in

the Finnish job market to work for them for one

to three months. The recruitment process and

the preselection of candidates for the internships

is done by the internship programme, and the

companies are provided with a few of the best

possible candidates from whom they can select

a suitable student for the internship. The

internship programme gives financial support

for the interns’ salaries during the internships.

FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DEGREE STUDENTS in Vaasa, the internship programme offers valuable assistance in entering the Finnish work life. One of the students who have realised the possibilities offered by the internship programme is Shaima Abdelmageed, a student in the Master’s Programme in Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Vaasa. Shaima sees the programme as being very useful to the international students, who will get valuable work experience through the internships, not to mention the fact that the students will be able to include the internships in their studies. “As a first job for many students, the internship programme helps us students to decide our career paths. I believe that the internship programme could be a true entrance gate to my career,” explains Shaima. And who knows, some of the students could be offered a job in the same company they did the internships in the future.

MORE INFORMATION about the Vaasa Internship Programme for International Students can be found on the website of Vaasa Consortium of Higher Education

www.vaasahighedu.fi

International Alumni Meeting 25-26 May 2012!

THE UNIVERSITY OF VAASA will organise an International Alumni Meeting at the end of May, so return to the most beautiful campus in Finland to meet your old friends and to make some new ones! DURING THE TWO DAYS During the two days you will have an opportunity to hear what is going on at your Alma Mater, and to catch up with the people you got to know during your stay at the University of Vaasa!

IN ORDER FOR US to efficiently organise the event, we would like to know approximately how many people would be coming to the event, so please sign up preliminarily with an electronic form available online or by sending an e-mail to:

international.alumni@uwasa.fi

Preliminary Programme for

the International Alumni Event

FRIDAY 25 MAY

19.30-22 Get Together and Drinks

SATURDAY 26 MAY

10-13 Welcome Words and Presentations

13-14 Buffet Lunch

14-16 Networking and Campus Tour

17-23 Dinner and Sauna at Kalle’s Inn, a

beautiful venue in the archipelago

There will be bus transportation from

the University to Kalle’s Inn and back

on Saturday.

Changes to the programme possible.Pre limina ry registrations shou ld be don e by the end of Febru a ry!

There will be a small participation fee for the event to cover some of the dining and programme costs.

uwasa.fi/english/partners/alumni/

UPDATED PROGRAMME and the registration form available online at: