Monthly Archives: February 2011

2011 12/02
Time 1:20 | By Akangbe Oluwaseun | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK |

Living here with us!!!

Living and studying in a foreign country is a different kind of exprience,which is both challenging and fun. Life in finland is especially intresting since it is another new culture entirely. So you are coming here to enjoy a lot from finland,it food,song,language and sauna. For finns who will start studying Logistics engineering next autumn, I can assure you that your Language skills and communication skills would be very better as you go on in your studies. This you would notice within few months of study, especially in your english you would become really fluent and you may even start speaking better than the international student.

The city of Jyväskylä is full of young people thus i would say it´s full of life. Jyväskylä is a city that thrives on education this makes unique among all other Finnish cities. It is very modern and like it is said it is not too big and not too small, i will say it is just perfect.jamk-pic6 It has all the mordern facilities of a big city maybe even more and have the serenity and peace of a small town.

At JAMK we have a very intresting student union JAMKO which organises social event and sporting activities. With a membership card from JAMKO it is possible to get discounts from goods and services. Example is special lower student price for train ticket.

Winter is very healthy and interesting,with so many opportunities for amazing sports(ice hockey,ice skating,sledding,snow boarding and even snow fighting.

As part of the the program of Logistics engineering you can decide to increase your internationality by applying for an exchange period with another school abroad(Asia,Australia,Africa,The Americas). Most student do this in the third year of their studies, I plan to do this in my third year and i would like to study in an eastern Asian country(South korea ,china or Japan).Special Grants are given by the school to support student for doing their exchange abroad.

Next i would conclude my blog with some info about the entrance exam and admissions.

2011 10/02
Time 11:49 | By Akangbe Oluwaseun | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK |

Methods of studies here

Most learning activities take place in the classrooms, but sometimes we do very intresting things outside of the classrooms. E.g Today is the day i submit my report of the last tuesday´s company visit. This company excursion is not a rare thing for us in Logistics engineering. We have travelled down to helsinki to visit the Logistics warehouse of an international Air company. It was a lot of fun travelling with my classmate and with other exchange student since it took us the whole day. It was also a big chance for us to see how  sophiscated and different the  warehouse of Aircraft part is when compared to other warehouse operations. This is particularly intresting for us who will study under Logistics support (Aircraft and Aviation operation).

Studies also take place through group work, this is a particularly  good experience since complex project is solved only through team works. In a team work you can always inject your own ideas and creativity into the work and also learn from others in your team. During our System engineering class i was in a team of five student( representing 3Finns, a Nigerian and a Nepalese). We together analysed  the methods used in Systems engineering focusing on a process called S.I.M.I.L.A.R process.

We also have visiting lecturers coming  to give us lectures. The email i recieved  says we have

Hello TEL10S students,

As you may know we will have a visitor and specialist Dr. Jon Helmick coming from US Merchant Marine Academy. He will give intensive lectures on week 10, from Monday to Thursday at 9.00-13.15.
Attached you have the schedule.  All other lessons a will be cancelled at this time because participating Helmick’s intensive is compulsory in TEL10S programme.  Also there will be a group of Finnish students (class TLO9S) with you.

Helmick’s lessons and group work is a part of course Transportation 1, which course you will have on next autumn. So in this case  you are going to study and work a part of the course in advance for next semester and correspondingly the Transportation 1 course will then be a little bit shorter.

You can be sure we are all looking forward to meet our visiting lecturer.

Laboratory works in our Logistics lab and in physics lab is also another method  of  learning, Learning through virtual studies is also another method of learning in our degree program.

I hope to see you here next autumn.

Tommorrow i will reveal more about Logistics engineering and maybe about our entrance exams.

Remember here is the sure place where you can gain skills and competences to make you achieve your dreams.

2011 09/02
Time 0:53 | By Akangbe Oluwaseun | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK |

Life as a student of LOGISTICS ENGINEERING!!!

 

 

Today school began at 8:30 AM  for me with CALCULUS, earlier on FRIDAY we have been solving some calculus problems at the computer room. SO today the Maths teacher brought a very practical problem in Logistics for us to analyze….Well….lets me share the question with you

A paint company has a steady annual demand for 24,500 cans of automobile primer. The comptroller of the company says that it cost $2 to store one can of primer for 1 year and $500 to set up the plant for a single production batch (any number of cans may be produced in a single batch). Find the number of cans of primer that should be produced in each batch, as well as the number of production batches per year, in order to minimize the total production and storage cost.

And that is how all of our courses are designed here,even courses Maths,physics and chemistry that we study here in the begining  of our studies all focus on solving Logistics problems.

I would like to tell you a little about my class, we are a group of 21 student representing Europe,Africa and Asia. The beauty of this is that we all have different culture and background that reflects in our studies and even sport. While the Finns among us enjoy floorball and ice hockey,the Africans are passionate about football…Despite this differences we have something all love and enjoy together PARTY!!!

Many of my clalogistics engineering student ssmate are intrested in studying a foreign Language to widen their scope and to increase  their international knowledge. I am already studying Finnish 2 and i would definetely study French in my second year,but i still have not decided what language to study after that,it could be Chinese or German. Well it very much depends on the trend in this  mordern world,if the chinese keep spreading there influence and technology then i would definetely study Chinese,after all  i dont want to be left behind.

2011 07/02
Time 23:52 | By Akangbe Oluwaseun | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, Logistics Engineering | Tagged , |

It´s not just Logistics…It is Logistics engineering!!!

Logistics LaboratoryI am going to use this golden opportunity to tell you about the study of Logistics engineering at JAMK university of applied sciences. I am Akangbe oluwaseun, a first year student of Logistics engineering.

Let me introduce you to what we do,Simply put we are involved in the process of planning,implementing and controlling efficiently the material flow ,information flow, and money flow in industries. This responsibilities makes us a very important  part of all industries. We aim to have the right item in the right quantity at the right time at the right place for the right price in the right condition to the right customer.

The study of logistics engineering at JAMK focuses on three major areas of specialization. They are Logistics support,Logistics management and Logistics operations. I promise to talk more on these as time goes on.

When I first applied to study engineering  in finland,my first plan was to study the ” TRADITIONAL engineering”  such as electrical engineering or Mechanical engineering but i found myself studying a course that is very practical and uses engineering methods in solving problems. Already as part of the program of Logistics engineering,by the end of my very first year i would have studied technical drawing and Computer aided design(CAD),Systems engineering, Electrical Engineering,Production technology, Maintenance operations, ICT,Material handling, Warehousing operations. The beauty of it all is that,armed with this skills and competence i am ready for practical training in the summer where i would learn more from companies. Which is a kind of introduction to working life for me.So Future Logistics engineering student by the time you are through with your 4 years of studies here you would have gained enough skills and competence to survive in the competitive world out there. Remember this TO KNOW AND NOT TO DO IS NOT TO KNOW.

PLS feel free to ask questions/or write a comment. I would be glad to reply you. In my next blog i would talk more about daily life as a Logistics engineering student at JAMK.

2011 06/02
Time 18:14 | By Sanni Räsänen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, Nursing |

Friend’s advice

This is it!

My blogging period has come to its end, it’s time to throw the ball to the next blogger who will introduce you Logistics. But before I finish, I want to give you some tips on how to survive in the study world.

First, be open minded. At some point you will run into situations which might feel uncomfortable and surprising. When working among people of all ages, both genders and all kind of backgrounds, basically anything might happen. But don’t hesitate, just stay calm and try to figure the thing out. And ask for help! Sometimes it might feel weird to ask for help but trust me, better to ask that do mistakes. We student’s aren’t supposed to know EVERYTHING, even the graduated nurses don’t know. So don’t be shy to ask, it just shows that you are smart, not the contrary.

© Sanni Räsänen

© Sanni Räsänen

Create a social network. It will support you and help you when you feel blue. So be brave and take part to the events and happenings whenever you have the change and you feel like it.

Do the assignments on time. Don’t wait that the teachers come to remind you of the deadlines, that’s something you have responsibility of remembering. Write down the deadlines and don’t leave the writing the assignments to the previous night.

Try not to stress.I know that I’m the last person to give an advice like that because I always stress about every possible thing. But that doesn’t do any good. You need to find some stress releasing methods that work for you. And believe me, things tend to sort out somehow, even if you don’t always give your all. Sometimes you need to know how to prioritize.

And last but not the least, enjoy the study time. Some people say the studying time is the best time of your life. So try to make the most of it. Life shouldn’t be too serious, so remember to do things that you like, alone or with your friends.

These were few tips for you who might consider the career of a nurse as your future profession. If you think that that’s what you would want, go for it! I hope I managed to give you some idea of what studying nursing in JAMK is. Thank you for now, stay toned!

Sanni

2011 05/02
Time 15:52 | By Sanni Räsänen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, Nursing |

The big mystery of the future

So, I went to the job interview yesterday. I really hope that it was worth going, because the train that I took home was one hour late. I left home 06.45 a.m and was home 9.15 p.m. The Italian made Pendolinos really aren’t suitable for the Finnish winter conditions… But I have good feeling about the interview, I’ll hear the results in March. The thing is that there are so many appliers to those places.. But I’ll hope for the best. Some job I will find that’s for sure, because I’m so early on the go.

Aims and dreams

I have tried my best to tell you holistically about the nursing studies. I hope I haven’t missed any vital point.. But now I wanted to share some of my work-related future dreams with you.

If everything goes as planned, I will graduate in December 2012. Then I will be a registered nurse, I have the nurse’s responsibility and all the pros and cons that come along with it. I haven’t yet experienced all the practical trainings that belong to our studies, so it’s kind of hard to say yet that what would interest me the most. One thing I know for sure is that I want to help other people, that’s why I chose nursing in the first place. Whether it’s among children or elderly,in a hospital or in home care, that dream will be achieved.

© Sanni Räsänen

© Sanni Räsänen

I also want to try working abroad. Maybe months, maybe years, but at some point I definitely will try my wings outside Finland, maybe even outside Europe! The nursing education that we get in Finland is considered sufficient in many countries in Europe, also in Africa and Asia. In the USA some exams need to be passed before one is allowed to work as a registered nurse there,but that won’t stop me from going where i want to go. Wouldn’t it be just awesome to work as a nurse in let’s say, Canada or Australia? YES,it would! It might sound like a cliché, but I think that if you want something very much and are ready to work to get it, it’s possible. Only the sky is the limit!

Something that I also might find interesting is working for the Finnish Red Cross. In case some catastrophe happens, like tsunami or earth quake, they have a group that can go to the place in a short notice. They go by plane and they have a whole hospital including all the needed equipment packed with them. There are doctors, surgeons and nurses who work closely together with the local health care professionals. The also go to war places to help the injured people. For example they went to Haiti when the earth quake happened, spent there half a year helping the people and then came home. It would be tough both mentally and physically, but still rewarding. We’ll see what the future brings..

Tomorrow I will finish my part of the blog, hope you have liked it so far!

Sanni

2011 04/02
Time 9:37 | By Sanni Räsänen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK | Tagged , |

Exiting times..

Guess where I am! I’ll tell you: I’m in the train on my way to Helsinki, I will go to a job interview! I applied a summer job from Espoo (a city close to Helsinki), and they invited me to a job interview. The job would be a practical nurse’s job in a big hospital. Let’s see what happens, thumbs up!

Being international

The most obvious sign of internationality is the variety of nationalities that we have on our courses. We have students for example from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Nepal, Russia, China and so on. Thus, different languages, cultures and skin colours make our everyday life rich and diverse. Things that combine us students despite the background are English which we use in studing and the will to become great nurses in the future! Even though there are also many Finnish students studying in the Degree Programme in Nursing, we make multicultural group work and use English during the lessons all the time. Of course we Finns do our best in teaching our foreign collegues Finnish :)

It has been a great experience for me to learn about the different cultures and learn how the health care services are arranged in different countries. We have tried to arrange meetings and gettogethers among our group. The foreign students have seen the Finnish way of life, but I personally would still like to learn more about how things are done elsewhere in the world. I guess it leaves me no other option but to go and visit there myself.

In our group there are different aged students. Some are just little over 20, others nearly 40. And both genders are strongly presented. We get along well and do our best in supporting each others despite the busy lives that everyone has. Some of us work during the studies. It’s possible to combine those two, but of course it takes time and effort. After one year of studies one has possibility to work as a practical nurse. Then when one has gathered 140 credits, it gives one the possibility to work as a registered nuse, even though one hasn’t yet graduated. If I remember right, those students who work with the registered nurse – title, get approximately minus 10-15% of the gratuated nurse’s salary.

© Sanni Räsänen

© Sanni Räsänen

The entrance exam

Now I realized that I haven’t said anything about the entrance exam yet! I still remember when I got the invitation. I was so exited and at the same time a bit scared, because I hadn’t been in that kind of situation before. I travelled to Jyväskylä one day before the exam day. I didn’t know anybody from Jyväskylä, so I had to stay in a hostel. I had visited Jyväskylä only once before, so you can imagine that I didn’t have the foggiest idea of where the school or any other place existed. Luckily I had printed a map from the Internet and by using that and asking from the locals, I managed to find my way from the hostel to the school, where the exam was kept. I walked there already on the previous day to see that how long time it took me to get there. Then, on the day of the exam, I woke up early to get everything ready and I want so nerves that I ended up being 30 minutes too early there. The exam was kept in a large classroom. There were about 20 questions to answer, like why would you be good nurse and what do you know about nursing. We also had to read an essay and then write a summary of it. Then there was a small mathematic test which had to be done without calculators. Some of us had to go to a language test, but those who already had proved somehow their English skills, didn’t have to take part to that. And that was it! I felt so relieved after the exam; it wasn’t as hard as had thought :)

I suggest that if you have any interest in studying nursing, you definitely should give it a shot! You have nothing to loose. And if you are as lucky as I was, you will get in and make your dreams come true.

I will finnish my part of the blog writing tomorrow, we’ll see what comes to my mind then. But now I try my best to relax and concentrate on the coming challenge. I will let you know how it went tomorrow..

Sanni

PS. The picture is from a cruise organiced by our student organization that we took part, the theme was movies. I just love those elf ears!

2011 03/02
Time 20:52 | By Sanni Räsänen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, Nursing | Tagged , , , , |

Diving deeper into the nursing studies

Hello dear reader and sorry that I couldn’t publish anything yesterday. The day was a nightmare but now I’m back on track and ready to tell you something more about the nursing program!

What does our nursing studies actually include?

Of course we spend some time in the classrooms listening to lectures and doing the basic studying. We do a lot of group work and write reports, assignments, keep presentations and take part to seminars and finally, try our best to pass the exams :) Unfortunately for us students, the exams tend to accumulate to the last weeks of each study period and it’s understandable that we get quite stressed those times. If one has some methods which help to release the stress, life is much more comfortable during the hectic times. I for example exercise and pour my heart to my friends. If the student feels that he/she has difficulties related to studies or otherwise some problems in his/her life that she wants to discuss with some professional, the school offers us study psychologist and study councellor’s services. Also the student health care services are for us and they work otherwise well, but there are long lines for example to doctor’s appointments.

© Sanni Räsänen

© Sanni Räsänen

As I mentioned earlier, skill labs also belong closely to our studies. They really deepen our knowledge about the theory, because usually after the theory lectures we get do those things ourselves. For example we learn how to cannulate, why it’s done and in which cases, what kind of drugs can be given intravenously etc. And then we get to cannulate each others! If you want to become a nurse, you shouldn’t be afraid of needles. It’s okay if you don’t want to be injected, but you should be able to do that to someone else. Otherwise you will be in trouble in the future in the working life. (Of course the nursing is much more than just giving injections :)

We have lots of compulsory studies that everyone need to pass. For example preventive nursing, nursing in public health problems, communication skills, mental health nursing, family and community nursing,operative nursing and so on. In addition to these we need to gather at least 10 optional credits. Those can be for example some language studies or something else; there is a huge list of elective courses where to choose from.

We also do study visits to different wards. We have for example visited the central hospital couple of times and also the psychiatric hospital. This way we get the view of the working life and different working environments. Also the practical trainings make a big part of our studies. Going to a practical training means that we reserve the placements from the ward where we want to go. The people who are responsible for the student things on that ward arrange everyone a personal mentor, who guides the student throughout the practice. He/she is the one who does the evaluation and who the student can rely on and go to whenever she/he has something to ask. There is certain amount of hours which each practical training period takes and there also are some assignments that need to returned to the teacher in the end of the practice. The practices are usually the time of the school year that everyone looks forward, at least I do!

© Sanni Räsänen

© Sanni Räsänen

Help for the poor students!

Our school library has saved my butt several times, because that is the place where I can find almost every book that I need without any cost. You just need the library card and that’s it! The school food is tasty, healthy and low priced, and if you belong to the student organization JAMKO, you get many benefits and discounts for example from train and bus tickets, swimming hall, many shops and so on.  JAMKO is actually a great organization and definitely worth paying the little annuity. Many students from our campus are active members of JAMKO and that’s why there are several happenings organized at our school.

Each study group has a tutor teacher, who is the one who we can turn to in any kind of situation. Each group also has student tutors, who are there to help the new students especially during the first year when everything is new and exiting. They also arrange the group some small events and happenings if the students are willing to take part to them. Everything is of course voluntary.

This was something that came to my mind today. Tomorrow I have planned to write something more about the internationality. We’ll catch up tomorrow!

Sanni

PS. The pictures are from last spring’s Amazing Race competition, which was kept in Jyväskylä. You can see that the beautiful purple outfits are the ones that we nursing students proudly carry, the burgundy are for logistic students. We made a great team!

If you have anything to say about my blog or something to ask, feel free to comment!

2011 01/02
Time 19:19 | By Sanni Räsänen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK |

Something about our school

Location and premises

Okay, so now I’ll tell you more about the premises that our school has. Up until today, our campus has been located right next to the Jyväskylä central hospital, and across the street is one of the local health care centers. But there are some changes coming, because our campus will move next to the main campus in the city center in July 2011. So you will start your nursing education in a brand new environment! I don’t now for sure that what all kinds of cool stuff the new building has to offer to us, but I’ll bet it will be an awesome place to study. In our current school we have a pool, sauna and a gym downstairs, which are free for us students to use whenever they are not booked. Upstairs we have several large classrooms which are equipped with hospital stuff like hospital beds, all kinds of things from stethoscopes to blastic, human sized dolls, which are used in practicing for example CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and wound care.

A rough construction of the studies

The nursing education in JAMK consists of 210 credits. During the first year we learn the basics of nursing, ethics, anatomy, pharmacology, which has everything to do with medications and their affects in the human body, and lots and lots of other things. In skill labs, which are the lessons during which we learn the theory in practice, we get to do all kinds of cool stuff already during the first year. For example we learned to take blood tests, to cannulate, to give different kind of injections, to monitor patients,Sanni cannulating to catheterize, just to mention some. Personally these are the lessons that I look forward the most during the week, because in practice you really learn the theory.

During the first year we also had our first practical training, the basic one among the elderly. In this one we got to do things that some people may find disgusting, like changing diapers. I think that some people make too hasty decisions, if they decide to end the school after the first practice. There are so many options for us where to work that you should be patient and wait to see how the other practices feel like. I enjoyed the first practical training a lot, because I learned so much new. You just need to remember to be active yourself and go into new situations open minded.

The first year was quite hectic at least for me, because we had so much new stuff coming all the time, lots of exams, lectures and presentations.

During the second year we deepen our knowledge about this all and study different subjects, like operative nursing, internal medicine, surgical and gynaecological nursing, anesthesiology and all kinds of stuff. We also perform 2 practical trainings.

The third year we accomplish several practical trainings and start to write our bachelor’s thesis. And lots of studying all the time :)

I hope I haven’t scared you with my talk about the amount of studying we do, because we do a lot more than just sit in the classroom and listen to lectures. But about this I will tell you more tomorrow!

Now I go skiing and prepare myself for tomorrow’s evaluation discussion with the mentors of my practice.

Huomiseen! (= until tomorrow)

Sanni