Finland! A land of opportunities

Blog by Mudassar Hussain; Jamk International Business Alumni

I am Mudassar Hussain originally from Pakistan and I live in Vantaa. I am Jamk Alumni and I studied international business from 2014 to 2017. I chose Finland because of its free and high-quality education for students.

In the beginning, after reaching Jyväskylä, I wanted to move to some other country because I did not have many fellow Pakistanis in Finland and felt alone, but soon international environment at JAMK made me comfortable in a new environment. My fellow students included Russia, Canada, Finland, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Nepal. Studying and working with them helped me to know each other and new cultures from their countries.

I cannot forget the amazing staff Jamk provided including permanent and visiting teachers from all over the world. We had teachers from Poland, India, Pakistan, the US, France, Ireland, and of course Finland. Teachers usually had a lot of practical experience and examples to share during the lecture which helped to understand the topic in a better way and ask a question from real-life experiences.

Courses in IB included a practical approach. During our course data analysis in business management, we worked for the Jaxbar application project led by Professor Piotr Krawczyk. Famous IB spring ball party every year also let the student practice all the aspects of project management and organization for a project management course.

With the help of the school, I could find a workshop at uusiyrityskeskus jyväskylä which was targeted at immigrants. I got huge inspiration from it, and I made my own company MHB clean in Jyväskylä. I didn’t have to look for another company for compulsory practical training because the formation of my own company and doing marketing and development activities for it, were counted towards my work experience. Labor and Tax office always helped to fulfill any form or any help needed during the business activities. I was specifically interested in understanding consumer behavior so I ended up doing thesis research for the customers of my own company.

Thesis is available for reading here: https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/134239

I started learning the Finnish language at Jyväskylä ammatiopisto (Gradia now) which helped me to find jobs later in the years easily in the Helsinki area. Many schools are teaching the Finnish language (Free as well as paid). Another benefit for learning Finnish languages included me getting Finnish citizenship where language proficiency is a must. In Finland, there is compulsory military training for every male citizen where I participated also. I learned so many skills and knowledge including discipline, first aid practices, using arms, and the Finnish language including making many Finnish friends.

After living almost 8 years in Finland and looking back, I’m thank full to Jamk , the Finnish education system, and Finland as a country providing a lot of opportunities to grow as a person and develop myself.