Tag Archives: exchange

2012 27/01
Kello 19:47 | By Monika Niznik | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, International Business | Tagged , , , , , , |

International Business at JAMK

Hello again :)

Today I’m going to tell you something more about studying International Business at JAMK.

Generally speaking, studies last 3.5 years. During this time every student is required to collect at least 210 ECTS credits for specific activities.
Obligatory courses from 1st  year cover 65 and from 2nd year 50 ECTS credits. Those courses are focused on business in general – marketing, management, finances, research, communication, etc. Additionally every foreign student gets familiar with basics of Finnish language during obligatory course (Finns have to participate in Swedish for Working Life). In turn, during the third year, there is a time for enhancing specific business skills, which accounts for 25 ECTS credits. There are several options to choose from, depending on person’s interest, e.g. Global Business Operations or High-Tech Management specialisations. This is more or less how the schedule for three years looks like ;)
Good news – we are asked to make more decisions (not only about the specialisation) on our own ;) 15 credits is scheduled for elective studies. This means we can choose courses we are interested in, not only from our degree programme :) Moreover, each person is required to gain 10 ECTS credits for language courses – two levels of the same language (of course besides mother tongue and English ;) ).  Offer is quite wide: Russian, German, French, Chinese, Spanish, etc. Good to know that JAMK has a special agreement with the University of Jyväskylä. If you can’t find desired language course here and University has it in its offer – you can take it and JAMK will accept credits for this. As I wrote last time – they care about students! :)

Let’s talk now about part of IB studies focused most on practicality – projects and practical training. Every IB student is required to collect 30 ECTS credits altogether in these two parts, but number of project credits cannot be lower than 10. One ECTS credit is given for about 27.5 documented hours of working. That means that usual practical training lasts at least 3.5 months (if speaking about 40 hours in every working week). I would say that this is pretty well-planned amount of time – one can really observe how the business life looks like and definitely learn a lot. There are many possibilities: students can do practical training in Finland or abroad (even in home country), depending on their interest, will and of course acceptance from the companies. Projects are usually done for local businesses. They are focused mostly on doing research. Very nice thing is that, besides searching on their own, students receive information about possible projects or practical training from the teachers. In this practical part of studies, the most important thing is not what you have done, but what you have learned. Studying – it is pretty much about learning, isn’t it? :)

Remaining 15 credits is accounted for Bachelor’s thesis. It is important to choose a topic one is really interested in (and which of course is related to business). This makes research and writing easier and nicer ;)

Now, as I described you how 210 ECTS credits are distributed, I would like to mention about one additional possibility: exchange :D For Finnish students of IB it is required to spend at least one semester of studies abroad – just to gain international experience and perspective. Other students, as they are already in foreign country, are not forced to go anywhere…but they can ;) There are so many options, so many countries and cities in an offer and only three steps between: apply, wait for acceptance, buy a ticket ;)

So, with this optimistic accent, I’m finishing my post today.

Have a nice weekend and “see you” soon! :)

Monika

2011 28/01
Kello 22:36 | By Kathy Nguyen | Posted in Degree Programmes in English in JAMK, International Business | Tagged , , , |

IB #4: You just can’t resist the sweet “I”: “International”!

Today I used a fun-fact application for my Facebook friend list, and here come some numbers:

*In 2008 when I was not an IB-er at JAMK:

© T. Surugiu

© T. Surugiu

- I had 40 friends

- Friends from 4 countries

- Friends from 2 continents of Asia and America

*Now at the beginning of 2011 when I’ve enjoyed my JAMK-IB life for a while:

- There are 424 friends in my list

- Friends from 31 nations

- Friends from all continents except the Antarctic

I bet you see a huge difference between those two points of time regarding how international my IB life has become, and note that I have been at JAMK for only 1.5 years!

Well actually not that hard to explain… The very first thing I want to reveal is that whenever being at JAMK campuses, I always have the feeling of being in a miniature world. I hear all kinds of languages at the school restaurant, I see all sorts of learning and living styles of my international friends when we are together. Could it be any cooler than to have many Chinese friends to practice the language with them right after your lessons, or to check the correctness of some culture lecture when the person who sits next to you in class is from that country?

© O. Glukhovskaya

© O. Glukhovskaya

Moreover, IB professors are from various nations (Poland, Finland, the US, Turkey for the time being) and with many years of working experiences, they do know how to bring us to any corner of the world. We also welcome a number of guest lecturers from, again, all continents. The point here is, once we have those kinds of daily “tests and experiments” with our international teachers and friends, the accuracy of our understanding about business knowledge from the global perspective will be much more guaranteed.

Remember when I told you in the very beginning that we IB-ers are asked to go abroad at some point of our study? Such a pleasant requirement! Thank to JAMK’s wide network with many higher education institutions outside Finland, IB-ers can choose to go exchange in our favorite nations (in/ outside Europe) for one semester or one academic year. We start to apply for the exchange period in the spring of the second year, and there are three choices for one student to apply. The school will then give us mobility grants (200€/ month) when the exchange period is started. Actually I have just sent my exchange application before writing today tale. My choices are the US, Canada and the UK for the next school year. Cross your fingers for me guys!

The last piece of my IBers-going-even-more-international tale is about the Seventh International Youth Scientific Conference which is hold annually by the Business Faculty of JAMK and Frida University in Obninsk, Russia. This conference is regarded as a concrete bridge for JAMK IB-ers and Business students in Russia to perform and share relevant knowledge and experiences. I participated in the conference last April, and that has been one of the best times of my life. :)

© A. Zhang

© A. Zhang

Not only gaining lots of professional and personal development after giving presentations about Business/Politics/Innovation topics, or appearing as an ambassador for my hometown Vietnam in the country fair, or joining in thought-provoking Cafe World sessions; I also had such  a memorable time with Russian teachers and friends: our pan-cake party, the country tour across Moscow-St. Petersburg and other outrageously beautiful Russian cities (the list does go on). The warmest connection has been kept between us since the conference, and more great times are coming on our promise.

Have you got more excited about being an IB-er? We still have more stories reserved for you… *giggling*.

~ Kathy

2011 21/01
Kello 9:58 | By Johanna Kesti | Posted in Facility Management | Tagged , , , , , |

FM life

Even though many parts of the students’ life for FMs are similar than for MMMs, I thought that it would be a good idea to mention some things about our studies. However, it is a good idea to read also Mona’s posts to know more about life in Jyväskylä.

© J. Kesti

© J. Kesti

The FMs are mainly studying at JAMK’s Lutakko campus which has just about a perfect location. We are just a short walk from the city center, right next to Jyväskylä’s travel center, harbor and conference center. The campus is a blend of old and new, as the Dynamo building is modern looking and Turbine building is actually an old factory with red brick walls. Finding the campus is rather easy as there’s a tall, red chimney between the two buildings. And the chimney even has a small sauna inside it. :)

Some courses, including language studies, are held at the main campus about a 20 minute walk away. The compulsory courses have lots of business, research & development, and management studies. As for the elective studies, FMs are free to select courses from all degree programmes but you are expected to focus on at least one field of FM. However, you are allowed to do some courses on subjects that have nothing to do with FM. Yes, bird watching is one of those options, but you can also select courses on first aid, business clothing or photography – or something completely different. The choice is yours. If you are interested on going to student exchange, it is the perfect time to put your personal study plan to use, and do as many electives as possible on your field of interest.

Like Mona has already told you, JAMKO is our student union. But the study field organization for hospitality management students is called MatkaRaTa Ry (which translates to travel lane, but actually comes from the Finnish names of the three study fields that are in the Tourism and Services Management). All FMs have the possibility to participate in their operations, and the MatkaRaTa events are a perfect way to meet other hospitality management students – some of whom are studying in Finnish. In order to get to know Jyväskylä and other students of JAMK, the freshman event Tursajaiset is something you will not want to miss. The event will take place in September and more information will be available in the beginning of the autumn semester. ;)

 BR,

Johanna

P.S. As my lovely internet connection decided to stop working, this entry was posted even later than the previous ones. Sorry about that.

2011 19/01
Kello 0:36 | By Johanna Kesti | Posted in Facility Management | Tagged , , , , , |

International mix of studies

OK, I know I said (or wrote) that I’d write more about the seminar project today. But as we had an info-session about practical training this morning – and we will have a seminar meeting tomorrow, it feels like a reverse order would make more sense. So today something about the studies and practical training, FM seminar coming tomorrow. :)

As I’m nearly finished with my courses – the last compulsory course is now on – it’s time to really think about practical training and my thesis. I want to split my training to two parts, and hopefully go abroad this summer for the first training. And I’m hoping to combine my second training and thesis. Most of FMs make their thesis for a company, and for me it feels like a good option. At least I might get some ideas from the company itself instead of having to come up with it all on my own. At the moment I have a general idea of what I’m interested in and how I would like to do my thesis. Now I just need to look for suitable companies and start contacting them.

© J. Kesti

© J. Kesti

FM students have really good opportunities to go abroad during the studies. And I guess we should have good opportunities since a year abroad is compulsory in the studies. Now when I say compulsory, I mean “compulsory”. Nobody’s forced to go anywhere but it’s highly recommended. And of course it makes sense because we’re studying in an international degree programme. Usually the classes are international on their own – 60 % of my classmates aren’t Finnish, our class consists of 8 nationalities – so we don’t need to go looking for other cultures. Many of them are blending into the Finnish culture, creating a unique study environment. Every year is different as new students bring their own culture to the mix. However, for us that want more international experiences, JAMK provides good contacts around the globe. Exchange studies and practical training abroad both have their own grants, and because of that money shouldn’t be an obstacle for going abroad. All you need is will and bravery.

But as the time is yet again not my friend, it’s time to head to sleep. BTW, in case somebody is worried, the late hours of my posts have nothing to do with the studies, I’m just a night person who has a strong habit to procrastinate. :D But I’ll try to post something a little earlier tomorrow. I promise – to try.

BR,

Johanna

2011 14/01
Kello 21:22 | By Mona Pitkänen | Posted in Music and Media Management | Tagged , , , , , |

Spreading the MMM love around the world.

ce_bigboom2

© H. Kynsijärvi

This spring is dedicated to my upcoming exchange. First it is the “waiting and recklessly stressing” phase, when I’m  searching for the best exchange places, trying to find out where I can apply and where I could actually be accepted to. At the moment I’ve almost passed that stage, so my stress level is slowly coming down as I have kind of decided where I want to go. Next up is the applying stage, when I have to fill in the application and then again anxiously wait whether JAMK approves. After that it’s waiting once again, this time for a reply from the exchange school: am I good enough for them? Then FINALLY when (hopefully) a “Yes” is received, I’ll start to arrange all the practicalities and hysterically celebrate the fact that I made it. Therefore I’am already apologizing the teachers and basically anyone I’ll bump into this spring: I’m sorry, I might just be thinking of something else.

As MMM is an international degree program, going for exchange is strongly recommended. It’s a great way to make new contacts, open new doors (a lot of “new”) and just to get a wider perspective of both the industry and world in general. At the moment I personally think that MMM could have more direct exchange places, but as new contracts are made every year and because you are allowed to apply to every exchange school JAMK has, there’s something for everyone. We have exchange places in e.g. The Netherlands, France, China, Japan, Canada, UK and the US (NY). The time of the exchange period differs usually from 4 months (1 semester) to 10 months (1 academic year) depending on the receiving institution.

ce_sencity

© H. Kynsijärvi

Often the students are going abroad in the third year either for half a year, or then for the entire term. Some leave already in the second spring, so it’s pretty much up to you and your study phase. I’m now leaving for the third year, and I’ve scheduled my studies so that I have enough credits in my pocket when I come back to return to Helsinki for my thesis and practical training (yaiks!).

It is also possible to do your practical training abroad, so internationality is well presented. For example, you could be in exchange for 6 months in the Netherlands, then go to Australia for 6 months, and after that do your practical training in, let’s say, Singapore.

We have a great opportunity here at MMM, as it is possible for us to complete a double degree. It means that if you go to study to the Netherlands (Amsterdam) to our cooperate school for the third year, and then write a thesis that both schools accept, you can graduate from both schools. That might give you additional and beneficial competence in the future.

You can see the internationality here at JAMK, because we have also non-Finnish students in our class. In first and second year students there are e.g. Mexicans, Germans, Austrians, Vietnamese, Bulgarians, Ethiopians and Russians (just to mention a few). So from where ever you are, you’re welcome to join our big family!

Cheers,

Mona