Tag: university of Oulu

Common ground: Student of the Year Veronica Vanhanen is known for bringing people together

At its best, an active student organization can be one of the most important mainstays for a student during their studies, says Student of the Year 2024, Veronica Vanhanen.

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TEKSTI Sanna Niemi

KUVAT Tuulia Salokannel

At the Oulu University Gala, the Student of the Year was named for the 12th time on November 8th. The award was given to Veronica Vanhanen, a fifth-year student of Industrial Engineering and Management.

“I was completely surprised! But it feels good to be rewarded,” Vanhanen comments after being named. 

Oulu native Veronica Vanhanen has been selected as Student of the Year after meeting multiple of the selection criteria. She has actively contributed to building a sense of community within her subject society and as a tutor. Rauhala-klubi, the alumni club for former Student Union actives, which nominated Vanhanen for the Student of the Year title, cites her active role in mentoring both first-year students and master’s level students, as well as her efforts to inspire other students to participate in subject society events and take on leadership roles within the society. 

Rauhala-klubi believes that in the post-pandemic years, low-threshold activities that bring students together are invaluable in fostering a sense of unity within the university community. The University of Oulu has been fortunate to have students like Vanhanen, who enable enjoyable activities and encourage others to join.

“Veronica genuinely cares about the well-being of her student guild and motivates both new and senior students to participate in events. She is one of the most prominent figures from her year in the university community. Vanhanen has progressed with her studies and has maintained good grades. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Technology last year,” says Rauhala-klubi. Based on these merits, Rauhala-klubi nominated Veronica Vanhanen as Student of the Year. The awardee is selected by the University of Oulu Association based on the nomination of the Rauhala-klubi.

Student life

Vanhanen chose to study industrial engineering and management in her hometown for two reasons. Her high school guidance counselor recommended the field, and she was already interested in technology, human behavior and sustainable business. Additionally, she had her loved ones and a job in Oulu. On top of that, the great stories about student life in Oulu convinced her that she didn’t need to leave her hometown to continue her studies.

During her freshman year, Vanhanen was interested in guild activities and wanted to be involved. During that time, she became the guild room manager, partly by chance and partly due to persistent persuasion. Her responsibilities included ensuring that there were enough coffee and treats for the students. 

After her freshman year, Vanhanen took a break from her role, spending that year actively attending events as a member of the guild. During this time, her interest in the guild’s board activities grew, and she began thinking about ways to improve the guild’s activities and develop the academic experience from a student perspective.

“I believe that a subject society is one of the most important pillars supporting students during their studies. It connects students in the field and, at its best, promotes their well-being,” Vanhanen shares. 

After her year off, Vanhanen returned to the guild activities as an academic affairs representative, serving as a liaison between students and faculty.

Active life outside of studies

Since 2011, the Student of the Year award recipient is expected to not only make good academic progress, but also actively contribute to the university community. The Student of the Year motivates, inspires and encourages others with their own actions.

During her studies, Vanhanen was also involved in organizing sports nights at Toppila Reenis. She also helped organize after work events at Teerenpeli. These events were popular during the time when gatherings were restricted by COVID guidelines. Social events that promoted community spirit were also organized to play badminton, tennis and board games, as well as communal movie nights.

“I think that it’s important for the student community to offer diverse activities, so that everyone could have an opportunity to participate in activities that interest them. Be that ice hockey games at Niittyaro or badminton games at Nallisport or student events in general, such a sittnings, orienteering events and rowing competitions,” Vanhanen says.

Vanhanen’s motivation to bring people together stems from her personal positive experiences of how older students welcomed her and her fellow classmates, inviting them to participate in shared events. There was a warm and inclusive atmosphere among her peers.

These events left her with wonderful memories and stories to tell. One amusing incident happened when a casual suggestion at a student event led to the group to spontaneously book tickets for a trip to Italy.

“As part of my New Year’s resolution, I said ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’. We bought the tickets, and the next day, I already regretted my decision because I’m not usually spontaneous with things like this”, Vanhanen says.

“But on the day of departure, as soon as the train started moving, all my worries disappeared, and it turned out to be one of the most fun trips I’ve ever had”, she continues and adds:

“There were students from three different year groups on the trip, and I didn’t even know all my travel companions that well. Now, we’re really great friends.”

From Oulu to Helsinki

This summer, Veronica Vanhanen moved to Helsinki to complete her master’s thesis in industrial engineering and work in her field. She also began business studies at Aalto University. When applying to study industrial engineering, she had long considered business studies as an alternative. 

“I spent a long time deciding between these fields, and now I get to pursue both!”

After working for a while, Vanhanen’s interest in economic phenomena grew, and she wanted to deepen her understanding of numbers and strategic work. A strategy course during her industrial engineering studies cemented her decision to enter the business field.

“From my understanding, combining engineering and business studies has become more common in general. I’m naturally curious and have always been eager to learn new things and develop myself, so pursuing further studies felt natural. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll end up studying psychology too, as I’m interested in that as well.”

Her study spot at Aalto was secured through her GPA, an application letter, and an interview.

During her free time, Vanhanen remains active in bringing people together. She spends time with friends going jogging and working out. She has competed in figure skating at the national level, and her future dreams include coaching figure skating. However, balancing studies, work and stable daily life requires planning.

“The two cornerstones for managing all of this are balance and prioritization. Prioritization is essential for time management, as I realize that I can’t give 100% to everything, or there just wouldn’t be enough hours in the day. By balance, I mean life management and finding a counterweight to responsibilities – in my case, a healthy mix of exercise, social activities, and personal time. The importance of these has really become clear in recent years.”

An active guild is an asset

Vanhanen occasionally visits Oulu to catch up with both old and new guild members. Compared to other engineering guilds, the industrial guild is small, with only 45 bachelor’s students and around 20 master’s students admitted each year. Vanhanen thinks that the small size of the guild has made it easy to get to know everyone, which has been a real asset for the students.

As for the future, Vanhanen isn’t planning to stress. She believes that things tend to work out and describes her outlook on the future as “go with the flow”, reflecting the approach of this year’s Student of the Year. In the near future, her goal is to work for a company with aligned values, where she can make most of her skills.

“Initially, I plan to focus on building and developing my career, and much later on, I’ll see if I’m interested in pursuing a PhD, for example. But for now, I feel like I’ve had my fill of studying, and my focus is set on entering the workforce, even though student life is such a great time.”

VERONICA VANHANEN
  • She was named as the Student of the Year on November 8th 2024.
  • Age 25 years old
  • Lives in Helsinki with her boyfriend
  • A fifth-year industrial engineering student with a Bachelor of Science in Technology, studying business at Aalto University.
  • Hobbies include jogging, the gym and figure skating.
  • Has competed in figure skating on Finnish national level, dreams of coaching figure skating.

Translation by Anna Tiira.

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Sanna Niemi

Olen muutaman mutkan kautta Ouluun päätynyt journalismin opiskelija. Kahvilat, kulttuuri, ihmiset, erilaiset urheilulajit sekä reissut iskee ja inspiroi tällä hetkellä.

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Sanna Niemi

Arctic Researcher

From the perspective of Anastasia Emelyanova, postdoctoral researcher investigating demographic trends in the Arctic, it is important to make sure that the special characteristics of the North will not get lost in national decision-making. As a researcher, she also wishes the results would be reflected more in practice.

In English

TEKSTI Jenni Maalismaa

Looking at the Earth from the North Pole, it can take a while to recognise different areas. For Anastasia ­Emelyanova, postdoctoral researcher from the Thule Institute of the University of Oulu specialising in Arctic health and demography, a pole-centric angle is one of the most familiar ones.

Emelyanova, who is from Arkhangelsk, a north-western city in Russia located approximately in parallel with Oulu, finds it natural to interpret the world from an Arctic perspective. Although understanding the value of the Arctic comes naturally for someone born and working in the region, on a worldwide scale it is only seen as “somewhere far in the north.”

A couple of years of research scholarship in Austria gave a new perspective for how northern issues are seen from elsewhere.

“When people asked me about my field of research, ‘arctic’ was most of the time mixed up with ‘art’,” Emelyanova describes a common point of confusion with a laugh.

At the University of Oulu, Arctic themes are familiar at least in advertisement and attitude. In the beginning of 2023, the first Arctic strategy of the university was established aiming to respond to current megatrends while taking welfare of the planet and business targets into account.

What are the unique ways in which these global challenges affect the North?

Differences and Commonalities in the Area

Arctic administrative areas only include one country in its entirety, Iceland, located south of the Arctic Circle. Therefore, as a topic of research, the area is not strictly limited to the circle of latitude commonly thought of as the true mark of the North, but rather it follows the borders of national administrative areas. For example, in Finland, Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia, and Kainuu regions are often included into Arctic research.

Emelyanova emphasises the heterogeneity of the area and its residents. It is important to research diverse areas as a whole to prevent northern special characteristics from getting lost in national decision-making. Thus, there is no one solution that would fit an area with a population of approximately 10 million people residing the 10 percent of the land area of Earth.

Climate is the most obvious commonality in the area. This is also reflected in Emelyanova’s currently ongoing Nordic research project, where she acts as coordinator and principal investigator from Finland. A current point of interest is the area’s ageing population’s experience of spending time outdoors during the winter.

Solutions are sought for round the world to the demographic megatrend of societal ageing. To advance resident-­oriented policy, solutions must be found for each individual region, and it is important to include local people in planning and decision-making.

Population growth and decline in the Arctic area largely follow the global trend of moving towards smaller numbers of children and longer life expectancy. In the areas predominantly populated with indigenous people, the number of children may still deviate from global trends and be larger. As for life expectancy, different parts of the region can still vary by up to 20 years.

Another commonality is transfer of human capital from the northernmost areas to southern, more populated regions or capitals. Something should be done to ensure that expertise gained from working and studying remains also in the North. Innovative, creative, and skilled people certainly add to the attractiveness of cities, but first the trend of attractiveness must be turned around.

Working Together Towards the Better Future

“As a researcher, I find it important to make sure my results aren’t hidden in my computer. For example, we write Policy Briefs for decision makers, and deliver the results both to the scientific community and the local community in question.”

However, this beautiful goal of integrating research into real life rarely happens as well as hoped for. The efforts are not all in vain, but there is still room for improvement in decision makers willingness to include the data in their processes.

Wide-ranging research collaboration is emphasised when dealing with multidimensional challenges. The work of an international research team, which Emelyanova is part of, is one example of the activities of the One Health spearhead in the Arctic Strategy of the University of Oulu. According to the spearhead, the health of people, animals, and the ecosystem go hand in hand.

The One Health research team is also part of the Arctic Five forum in which five northern universities collaborate in research and education. Another community adding to the internationality of Emelyanova’s work is the globally more widespread UArctic cooperative network consisting of 230 actors. Emelyanova is  the Vice Lead of its Arctic Health Thematic Network.

She also serves as an example of the opportunities provided by the UArctic network, as she has graduated with master’s and doctoral degrees, which have been created by the universities in the network to strengthen the research competence in the area.

Arctic demography as a field of science sets its own requirements for cooperation between universities. International cooperation provides important points of comparison within the Arctic area as well as outside of it.

“The university’s Arctic Strategy is assumed to increase visibility of the theme in the lives of all students,” Emelyanova anticipates.

Effects of the War in Research

A few years ago, Emelyanova was still in close cooperation with Russian Arctic researchers. Now many databases have become unavailable, and researchers are kept more in the dark regarding the regional development of Russia. This brings massive challenges to Arctic research.

“Russia makes up roughly 75 percent of the Arctic population and about 50 percent of the land areas. How can we determine the ongoing changes if half of the area is missing from the statistics and research data? It is currently not possible to analyse the area as a whole.”

The lack of information is highlighted in climate change research as well. Many publications in the field have been forced to admit that the lack of data from Russia may render Arctic climate forecasting meaningless.

The many aspects of research have become clear to Emelyanova. Attending conferences and seminars, working with societal matters important to oneself, as well as working with motivated people all add to the appeal of the work. At the same time, regardless of the quality of one’s own work, there is always lingering uncertainty.

“Sometimes I think I should just retire from research and get another, more stable job,” Emelyanova laughs.

Regardless of its challenges, research still feels appealing, and combining it with everyday family life feels rewarding.

Map of the Arctic Administrative Areas.
Map: Arto Vitikka, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.
Credit for the border data: Runfola, D. et al. (2020) geoBoundaries: A global database of political administrative boundaries. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0231866. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231866e.
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Jenni Maalismaa

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Jenni Maalismaa

The Soup of Joint Studies Remains Unstirred

The University of Oulu and the Oulu University of Applied Sciences have existed on the shared Linnanmaa campus for three years now. However, teaching co-operation has not been as extensive as was planned before the relocation. The Oulu Student Magazine set out to unravel what the problem is about.

In English

TEKSTI Kalle Parviainen

KUVAT Viima Iivonen

Two higher education institutions operate on the Linnanmaa campus: the University of Oulu and the Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk). Oamk’s relocation to Linnanmaa was decided on at the end of 2016 and teaching in the renovated facilities began during 2020. The northern parts of the Linnanmaa campus became home to Oamk’s engineering, natural resources, culture, and business studies. Healthcare studies stayed at the Kontinkangas campus.

The arguments for the relocation included shared facilities, services, and teaching co-operation. In Kaleva’s news article in 2018, Jouko Niinimäki, the rector of the University of Oulu, painted images of future possibilities: ’by developing co-operation we could create an internationally charismatic community of science, education, and innovation.’ In 2021, a year after the relocation, Heidi Fagerholm, the vice rector of Oamk, enthused about the future in an announcement published by the University of Oulu, saying that ‘in principle, a student can enroll on any course as long as the admission requirements for the course are met and the course has the free space.’

‘It requires a large amount of work from both higher education institutes’

How have the joint studies been going then? Browsing through the study guides, the catalogue of cross-institutional studies is very diverse and it looks different for every faculty and field of study. Cross-institutional studies mean courses or study modules that are open for the students of both institutes of higher education. For instance, in the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Science there is no active course offering due to a lack of demand, but according to Tuomo Glumoff, the dean for education, the institutions are open for co-operation if the offered studies included a course suitable for the students of Oamk. On the other hand, the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering offers so many cross-institutional courses that if they all are counted together, they are worth a whopping 260 credits. 

In this dual model, Oamk’s supply for the other party is quite limited. They have a few dozen courses to offer. For example, the study guide does not include any cross-institutional courses from the fields of engineering or natural resources. Business economics offers study modules only regarding entrepreneurship. Most of the courses are offered as online versions, which, on a positive note, enable more flexible completion of courses.

Both institutions of higher education offer studies from the fields of healthcare and social services, engineering, and communication, so some common fields surely exist. The Oulu Student Magazine reported on education co-operation in 2020. Back then, the fields of engineering (architecture and civil engineering), information science, and business were mentioned as possible fields for co-operation.

‘There has been little collaboration on the curriculum level, except for a few individual study units’, says Jyrki Laitinen, the vice rector of Oamk. ‘In this regard, the initial aim was to build flexible study paths to facilitate transitions from one sector to another after getting a bachelor’s degree, which would bring new kinds of opportunities for students. This requires a large amount of work from both institutions of higher education. It remains to be seen if this will happen in the next few years.’ 

Satu Nätti, the dean for education of Oulu Business School, says that the coronavirus pandemic is one of the reasons for the lack of co-operation: all resources were simply spent on coping with the change in the educational situation. The situation has now returned to normal, but the discussions regarding co-operation haven’t been newly kicked off yet. ‘The important thing, of course, is that a person who has graduated as a Bachelor of Business Administration has the right to apply directly to our Master’s Degree, and many people with such a degree who have wanted to continue their studies have utilized this opportunity.’

Jere Tapio, the specialist of academic affairs of the Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY), also thinks that closer education co-operation is still an untouched topic. ‘I have acted in various educational bodies for the last year. Only a few of the discussions have dealt with questions on how to benefit from the neighbouring institute, but all concrete actions have mainly been seen only in the education service units.’ 

Cross-institutional studies also have practical issues. For instance, 250 freshmen begin their studies annually at the Oulu Business School. According to the education dean Nätti, it is challenging to organize systematic, mutually beneficial cross-institutional studies for such a large number of students. ‘How we could get real benefits out of this, for example saving on education resources without making the number of students per group absurd, is a good question.’ 

According to vice rector Laitinen, there are ways to make close co-operation possible. ‘Shared campuses or the proximity of campuses, shared services, and high-quality course selection support co-operation. Both higher education institutions are multidisciplinary by nature so finding equivalent programmes is easy.’

The University of Oulu became the chief shareholder of Oamk in 2018. Shared services for the both institutions include for example the library and information management.

Besides joint facilities and studies, the University of Oulu and Oamk collaborate on research, development, and innovation activities (RDI). Laitinen mentions that on the RDI side, external funding is pushing them towards co-operation. For example, projects funded through the European Union’s regional and structural policy programmes are often carried out in co-operation between several higher education institutions and other organizations.

Nätti also mentions EU-funded development projects as a functional form of co-operation. ‘Intensive co-operation was done in the Myski project, for example. Several joint projects related to female entrepreneurship and leadership have also been conducted.’ The Sales expertise as the core of growth (Myski) project, led by Oamk, was implemented in 2019 – 2022 and, among other things, it aimed to better the sales expertise of the staff of both institutions.

Strategic development requires resources

In practice, higher education institutions do things that they will be measured on and things that they are paid for. The funding model of the Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) does not really reward cross-institutional studies, so it is quite understandable that individual faculties and institutions are not too enthusiastic about developing them. There also are not that many statistics available on cross-institutional studies. The education services of the university do not directly collect data on cross-institutional studies, and even in the statistics service of the Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI), all teaching co-operation is lumped under the same, ‘inter-university co-operation’ category.

In fact, Laitinen states laconically that the financial incentive is quite limited at the moment. ‘What comes to education, the financial motive comes mostly from the funding model of the OKM in which the importance of collaborative studies is very low. In our case, the motive might be student orientedness, that is, increased study opportunities.’ 

With the digital transformation, the higher education study offerings are also in quite a turmoil. The Digivisio 2030 project invites higher education institutions to think in a new way. It is therefore not necessarily sensible to develop local operating models because the national project might soon send differing instructions to guide the operations.

According to Tapio, the specialist of academic affairs, the Digivisio project aims to gather studies onto a platform called opin.fi, which would include open course offerings from all universities. In the future, a study module of 25 credits that consists of five courses could be offered so that each of the courses is offered by a different university. Laitinen also mentions the opin.fi platform. ‘Most likely from 2025 onwards supply will be moved to that platform.’

However, Moodle, the joint learning platform of the higher education institutions of Oulu, is one of the options to develop. ‘Moodle is developed in close collaboration. Going forward this platform could make it more flexible for students to view and move between different institutions and their study offerings’, mentions Laitinen.

Is it more natural for higher education institutions to seek partners from far away? Tapio from OYY thinks that co-operation between some degree programmes might be easier with a similar higher education institution that is further away than with another institution that happens to be nearby.

Satu Nätti agrees with Tapio. She mentions that the AACSB quality assurance system, which Oulu Business School has in place, slows down co-operation. Oulu Business School cannot ensure the same accreditation for teaching outside of their faculty. ‘Basically, in this sense the best co-operation partners are other accredited schools that operate within the same quality assurance system. We are trying to develop, for instance, international exchanges with such schools’, says Nätti.

The money appointed to strategic development is scarce, and developing co-operation would possibly demand long-term work. Laitinen also mentions that there really isn’t any pressure to increase the amount of cross-institutional studies. ‘Universities of applied sciences offer a wide selection of CampusOnline studies on a joint agreement.’

Besides funding, motivating staff for changes is also a challenge. ‘Situations in which we let go of something that we already have and replace it with jointly implemented supply or with supply implemented by only one of the parties, are great challenges that deal with management’, says Laitinen.

What could the joint study offerings of the University of Oulu and Oamk look like by the end of the decade? Laitinen does not want to paint images of wild visions: ‘The future is hard to predict in this case, too. One of the big challenges is the fierce competition over students due to the declining population. Regarding this matter, Oulu’s assets could include the wide study offerings brought forth by the increasing co-operation and the aforementioned flexible study paths.’

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Kalle Parviainen

Kirjoittaja on Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen toimitusharjoittelija ja opiskelee tiedeviestintää. Hän haluaa parantaa maailmaa viestimällä innostavasti monimutkaisista aiheista.

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Kalle Parviainen

Volunteer work created a foundation for a career

When ukrainian-libanonian Viera Karam moved to Finland to study, she let the startup world in Oulu whisk her away. Soon, she was helping organize events and finally ended up for paid labour as an entrepreneurial advisor. The difference between the Finnish and Ukrainian entrepreneur worlds finally became clear to Viera Karam as she was talking […]

Alumnilta oppia Ihmiset In English Vaikutuksentekijä

TEKSTI Maria Karuvuori

When ukrainian-libanonian Viera Karam moved to Finland to study, she let the startup world in Oulu whisk her away. Soon, she was helping organize events and finally ended up for paid labour as an entrepreneurial advisor.

The difference between the Finnish and Ukrainian entrepreneur worlds finally became clear to Viera Karam as she was talking with bathcoat-wearing startup-entrepreneurs at Polar Bear Pitching -event’s back areas. For two years, Karam was a volunteer at the competition in which one holds a sales pitch of their company from an ice hole for judges.

“One gets introduced to different entrepreneurs and events related to the startup culture even though one does not think that they can be executed this fancily. The Ukrainian business culture is more traditional. But honestly – in what other place do people do this?”

Karam moved from Ukraine to Finland in 2017 when she started her studies in the international master’s programme in Education and Globalisation. In Ukraine, she had graduated as a Bachelor of Linguistics. Soon after, volunteer work and Oulu’s startup world swept her with it.

Karam has been a volunteer, a host and an organizer in not just Polar Bear Pitching but also in Startup Refugees -organization and Oulu’s Startup Weekend. They have also given fond memories.

“I learned a lot, for instance, about what challenges refugees face when they come to Finland. Of course the people I’ve seen in the events have stayed in my mind. Some of them have become friends or colleagues.”

Viera Karam kuvattuna Oulun yliopiston Alumni-juttusarjaan.
Kuva: Janne-Pekka Manninen
Viera Karam, photographed for the University Of Oulu Alumni stories.
Photo: Janne-Pekka Manninen
Networks grow as a volunteer

The activity beyond studies eventually led to paid labour as an international advisor at BusinessOulu. For the past two years, Karam has helped immigrants develop their business ideas all the way into companies.

“I don’t think that I would have a career in Oulu were I not in volunteer work. Those times gave me a massive amount of contacts, and I met people who helped me at different stages of finding work. They could go through my applications or hint at free positions somewhere.”

The contacts are crucial for anyone starting their career, but they are especially vital for immigrants.

“Usually people have to start from scratch when they arrive in a new country. Most of the time one does not know anything other than maybe their own partner and their friend group.”

Karam thinks that volunteer work is a great way to develop personal networks in any type of field.

“I recommend volunteer work to anyone whether they are Finnish or a foreigner. I think that building networks is the most important part in addition to getting experience from it. The majority probably hope to get to a type of work that they can love. By experiencing different tasks, one finds out what they enjoy and don’t enjoy doing. Overall, life is important to experience.”

Organizations and startups could learn from each other

Education has been useful in creating a career even though the initial career path of linguist and educationist took a surprising turn. In BusinessOulu’s video series Karam tells how studying has prepared her with the skills to face people from different backgrounds and to listen to their stories. Each immigrant’s story is different.

Crossing personal boundaries and facing new worlds often causes something fruitful. Karam believes that university organizations and the startup world could learn something from each other.

“Universities benefit greatly from the fact that new talent constantly flows in and out. Fresh ideas emerge from this type of space. I hope that we can also create with startup entrepreneurs an environment where new faces and ideas are openly acknowledged. Student organizations could learn from startups and their fast adaptability to changes.”

Karam has continued volunteer work with refugees, especially so when Russia attacked Ukraine.

“I speak the same language with the Ukrainian refugees and understand them. It is good if they have available local support. We have just founded the Association of Ukrainians in Northern Ostrobothnia, and we continue the development of the Ukrainian community in the Oulu area.”

Karam is moving into new things – from company advisor for immigrants to a startup program coordinator. In the future, she focuses on the development of service structures of startup entrepreneurs.

“Of course I am still in the use of Ukrainians also as a service advisor.”

Karam can speak Finnish fluently. She has not yet gone into an ice hole.

“I once went from a summer sauna to swimming on the last day of the summer. So far that has been cold enough of an experience for me.”

*This text was originally published in Finnish on Oulun ylioppilaslehti issue 2/2023.

Original text by Maria Karuvuori, translation by Jere Laitinen
Pictures Oulun yliopisto / Janne-Pekka Manninen
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Maria Karuvuori

Kulttuuriantropologian opiskelija, joka on koukussa uuden oppimiseen. Pitää uimisesta, hyvin ja välittäen kirjoitetusta tekstistä, pienistä taloista ja suurista ajatuksista, kasveista ja eläimistä, kapakoista ja koti-illoista sekä toisinaan eläväisistä keskusteluista.

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Maria Karuvuori

“The teacher identity developed beside the researcher identity” — The Coolest Teacher Ever 2022 Jukka-Pekka Ranta highlights the importance of motivation

A lecturer of mineralogy and geology, Jukka-Pekka Ranta, was chosen to be The Coolest Teacher Ever of 2022 by the Student Union of University of Oulu (OYY). Ranta focuses on the role of motivation and interesting education methods in his teaching. Jukka-Pekka Ranta’s badminton games for the evening almost went off the rails when he heard […]

Ihmiset In English Opiskelu Tuttu kasvo kampukselta

TEKSTI Jere Laitinen

KUVAT Tuuli Heikura

A lecturer of mineralogy and geology, Jukka-Pekka Ranta, was chosen to be The Coolest Teacher Ever of 2022 by the Student Union of University of Oulu (OYY). Ranta focuses on the role of motivation and interesting education methods in his teaching.

Jukka-Pekka Ranta’s badminton games for the evening almost went off the rails when he heard of being chosen as The Coolest Teacher Ever. He was primarily grateful for students’ support which he also has earned previously via geosciences’ student organization as well as the An Apple for a Teacher -event.

“Geology is, all things considered, quite a small field of study in the university, but it is great that students are active on that level”, Ranta thanks.

Ranta’s career to become a researcher and a university lecturer was still hazy before he started his studies. First working as a bartender, he intended to study psychology but ended up studying geology in the end. Ranta started his studies in 2008 and graduated with a Master’s degree in geosciences in 2012.

“Since the first lecture, I realized that this was for me”, Ranta reflects.

After his university studies, Ranta worked in Lapland roughly for a year in ore excavation. Afterwards, he started his work on a doctoral thesis in 2014. Since that point, teaching has been a part of his career. The doctoral thesis was finished in 2018 after which various postdoctoral research work led him to become a university lecturer in 2021.

Even when working on the doctoral thesis, Ranta did not think of himself as a teacher. The teacher identity developed stronger only during the past few years on the university’s pedagogical studies. Ranta thinks that people come to work at the university primarily as a researcher.

“The development of the teacher identity in the university is a bit different compared to basic studies since most people do not work here primarily as a teacher. Teaching is the small print in the job agreement.”

Practicality and students’ responsibility are vital

In teaching, Ranta highlights practicality and student’s own responsibility in how effectively a student learns something.

“New tools and more student-centered teaching and learning have just during the last few years emerged stronger.”

“Teaching is the small print in the job agreement.”

New teaching methods have helped Ranta to become more practical. For instance, digital workspaces, gamification and inspecting rocks via 3D models have provided new perspectives on standard lectures and study diaries. However, their use has to be relevant for learning.

“One must pay attention to not use them just for the sake of their tools. There must be a purpose for using a specific one.”

In his courses, Ranta emphasizes his background as a researcher and teacher as an influence on what courses he has enough substance knowledge to organize. While pondering their structure, Ranta especially wonders about the responsibility of the teacher.

“During the courses, I started to think about the responsibility that we teachers have. We train such people that have sufficient skills and expertise in work life.”

Nevertheless, the student’s own responsibility is an especially important aspect that the teacher can influence only by so much. Therefore, Ranta thinks it’s important to get the student excited early about their studies so that their hunger for knowledge stays in Master’s studies and long after that.

“I hope my own inner motivation and excitement also reaches the students. It is especially important to get the basic course students new to geology interested in it.”

Approachability and understandability benefit

The voters described Ranta as an easy person to approach and understand and for having great expertise. Ranta recalls his own studies when he felt tense to approach a professor’s or a teacher’s office.

Ranta thinks that his flexibility in courses is a reason for being seen as easy to understand. For example, he may spend some time revising basics if the students have forgotten something essential. Additionally, listening to the students and utilizing various education styles play an important part.

In addition to other researchers, Ranta has also embraced several traits from his own teachers and tutors in his teaching. Each of them have left their mark on Ranta.

“In my courses, I often exhibit similar traits, expressions or maneuvers from my old teachers which is amusing to notice.”

Regarding his expertise, Ranta deliberates whether he can evaluate it alone on a larger scale. He thinks that people in professional work often encounter an impostor syndrome: the difficulty to realize one’s own achievements to be fully earned. Despite this, Ranta’s motivation and passion differentiate him with his studying methods to be a unique teacher.

“The courses where one sees a lightbulb lit above the students’ heads are the best.”

Students’ realization rewards the most

The courses that combine practicality and theory are Ranta’s favourites. He mentions an example, Petrology, in which students explore the characteristics of stones and their formation processes on a macro- and microlevel. In these types of courses, Ranta finds the students’ realization of the discussed topic to provide the best feeling.

“The courses where one sees a lightbulb lit above the students’ heads are the best.”

Ranta faces many kinds of students in his courses. Some students are more motivated than others. Even in difficult cases, he strives to motivate the students’ course work via his own excitement. An important point is to find the core idea and to reflect the course work on geology and as training for the real world.

In the future, Ranta wants to continue his current work in the academic world as a researcher and a teacher as well as to develop his own substance knowledge in mineralogy and ore geology.

“Regarding the education and the development of geosciences, there is still a lot to be done.”

Who?

  • Jukka-Pekka Ranta
  • University lecturer since 2021
  • Responsible for Oulu Mining School’s degree programme 2019-2022
  • Doctor of Philosophy 2018

What?

  • The Coolest Teacher Ever 2022 was awarded in Annos 63 annual celebration 25.2.2023
  • Any student at the University of Oulu was able to suggest any university teacher in any educational field to receive the award for The Coolest Teacher Ever.
  • Selection criteria included the ability to inspire, professionality, being easy to understand, explanation of course goals, paying attention to students’ needs, flexibility and a versatile use of grading methods
  • The award was given for the seventh time. Previously the award was given to Elina Niemitalo-Haapola, Katja Sutela, Vesa-Matti Pohjanen, Oliver Jarde, Matti Niemelä and Matti Kangaspuoskari
  • The decision was done by the board of the Student Union of University of Oulu on 26.1.2023
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Jere Laitinen

Oulun ylioppilaslehden toimitusharjoittelija. Opiskelutaustaltaan kokenut ainejärjestöaktiivi ja opiskelijavaikuttaja sekä innokas pelaaja ja kokkailija. 

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Jere Laitinen

An unforgettable studying experience in Finland doesn’t guarantee a career here

Pursuing a higher degree in Finland is indeed an attractive and promising prospect for foreign talent. Why wouldn’t it be? The Finnish education system isn’t one of the best for nothing. This plays a major factor leading many students to also consider a career in their respective fields in Finland. Speaking of personal experience, as […]

In English Kolumni Mielipide Opiskelu

TEKSTI Moaadh Benkherouf

Pursuing a higher degree in Finland is indeed an attractive and promising prospect for foreign talent. Why wouldn’t it be? The Finnish education system isn’t one of the best for nothing. This plays a major factor leading many students to also consider a career in their respective fields in Finland.

Speaking of personal experience, as I have studied both in my home country and in Finland, the difference is quite noticeable. In many countries, the students are forced to memorize a massive amount of information, and then take exams based on their ability to recall that information. They could get good grades, but if you ask whether they learned anything, it probably wouldn’t be much.

That’s not the case in Finland. During my studies here, I’ve never felt any kind of pressure from teachers. They have always been supportive and flexible. They’ve also made sure to design the assignments in a way that the student would actually learn from them, rather than rotely memorizing.

The exams were never a verbatim copy of what the teachers taught in the classroom. I think their purpose was to ensure that the students were paying attention. Even if you failed, you would get a second and third chance to make it right, which kind of takes a load off the students’ mind.

I think it is great that the system was designed to give second chances since you can never really know why a student performed badly in an exam. Another positive aspect is that second chances aren’t just in exams, but in the courses overall. During one of the courses I took, I remember being just a few points away from the next grade. To help with that, I negotiated with the teacher to do some additional work to get those points.

Some courses offered alternatives for passing them, like writing an assignment or taking an exam. In the case of a student not doing well in an assignment, they can choose to take the exams, and vice versa. Such alternatives can be found listed in the University of Oulu’s Policies for the Recognition of Learning, for example. So, to those of you who are studying in Finland at the moment, you’ve come to the right place.

However, if you’re seeking a career here after that, I would advise you to think again and do your research.

Many of the foreign students coming to Finland want to stay here and pursue a career. But how useful is it to bring foreign talent here? Foreign employment has been promoted widely through frequent career fairs and workshops, but nonetheless, a lot of the talent goes to waste.

I know many people, myself included, who graduated here, but are unable to secure employment with their Finnish degrees for one reason or another. The most common example of such reasons is the “insufficient language skills”. As a person who speaks Finnish well enough, I don’t think that’s a good reason.

In many cases, we are rejected for no apparent reason, or are simply “ghosted” by the employers. We never get invited to interviews, and we always get the standard rejection message “Thank you for your application. We have received many great applications, but you were not selected this time”. Because of that, we lost the motivation to seek meaningful careers, and by that I mean careers corresponding to our education and acquired skills through that.

We had to settle for menial jobs like cleaning, paper delivery, and food delivery, just to live day by day and meet our financial obligations. I honestly see no sustainability here in terms of ensuring that these foreign job seekers get to contribute to the Finnish job market in their respective fields.

A master’s thesis written by Anthony-Claret Onwutalobi from Lahti University of Applied Sciences talked specifically about unemployed immigrant graduates from Finnish higher institutions. In his work, he indicated that 58% of the participants in his surveys said that they haven’t met their career expectations in Finland. Furthermore, the study showed that 56% disagree on the fact that the job market is welcoming for internationals, and 28% strongly disagree.

Onwutalobi also highlighted a very critical point, which was in regards to the factors that helped in securing employment in Finland. A very small percentage were able to land jobs through applying or through career services (7% and 11%, respectively), while a total of 77% got their jobs through networking or personal reference. Employers say they are open to foreign employment, but are they? If a foreign student can’t even land an internship with these employers, or simply an interview, how can they land a job?

A very important question needs to be asked; are international jobseekers not needed, or not wanted?

We unfortunately have heard of true stories regarding discrimination and injustice experienced by people with not just one, but two or three degrees and a proficiency in many languages, including Finnish. This leads many to believe that the latter is to be true: international job seekers are not wanted. Of course, there are some success stories by people who have made it, but that does not mean that the issue is nonexistent.

If highly educated foreigners involuntarily see a need to deliver food and newspapers, rather than working in their respective fields, then there is a major issue. Many individuals, Finnish people and foreigners alike, have highlighted this issue on a plethora of social media platforms, most notably on the employment-oriented LinkedIn. Hence, the issue’s existence is being acknowledged widely. However, has it been addressed sufficiently? Has there been extensive efforts to alleviate this issue?

We have yet to be proven wrong, but I sure hope we do.

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Moaadh Benkherouf

A master's student in Northern Tourism at the University of Lapland, with a background in Environmental and Civil Engineering.

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In English Kolumni Mielipide Opiskelu

Moaadh Benkherouf