The University of Vaasa started the so-called Extra boost to international collaboration, a review and development project which aims to enhance international students’ integration into the university community and eventually into working life. The focus is on improving the subject associations’ readiness for internationality to ensure that the academic community will stay strong as the number of international degree students increases.
The University of Vaasa started to work on the Extra boost to international collaboration, a project aimed at building a stronger international university community by enhancing international students’ integration. For this purpose, international students, subject associations, the student union and the university are mapping out how international students are integrating into the community and working life in a series of workshops. They will also recognise crucial bottlenecks and develop solutions to these challenges. This project supports the university’s strategy that has a strong emphasis on internationalisation.
Vice Rector Annukka Jokipii explained the importance of the project: “The number of international students will increase which has an influence on the activities of subject associations on campus in the future. Our mission is, as an academic community, to integrate international talents into Finland. Students’ peer activities play an essential role in integration. It is vital that we work together as a community to implement our strategy.”
With their events and traditions, subject associations play an important role in the Finnish student culture and building one’s student identity.
Männikkömetsä Oy works as an external partner in the project which involves five subject associations: CoMedia, Giga, Hallinnoijat, Tutti and Warrantti. The subject associations have eagerly jumped on the bandwagon.
“The University of Vaasa puts a lot of effort into internationalisation, so the share of international students in Tutti will increase as well. That’s why we want to acknowledge international students even better and we are happy to participate in this project together with other associations and the university,” said Eetu Lunteri, the Chairman of the subject association Tutti for students in technical sciences.
INTERNATIONALITY TO BE A PART OF ALL DAILY OPERATIONS
The ideas of students and subject associations are at the heart of this development project. “We strengthen the subject associations’ operation from the perspective of an international student. This has a direct impact on campus and free time activities but also on every student’s skills. These will have useful applications in work life later on. The goal is that acknowledging internationality is a normal part of students’ everyday activities,” said Vice Rector Jokipii.
Read the whole original article: Students have an important role in making the university community more international.
Caption: international students at University of Vaasa.
