University of Helsinki
The first three exchange students from Belarus and Georgia have arrived in Finland in January 2013 via the Baltic Sea Region – Caucasus Network (BASERCAN*) coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute.
Two of the students, Katsiaryna Ivanova (Belarusian State University, Minsk) and Elene Sonya Chumburidze (Ilia State University, Tbilisi), shared their first impressions of the University of Helsinki and Finnish university culture with Aleksanteri News.
“The studying process is quite different from what I have experienced at my home university. I really like it that students here have so much freedom in their studies and this keeps them motivated all the time. The university library pleased me a lot. I found many good books on the topic of my course paper. I think the best thing here is that the students can actually get access to almost anything they need for their studies,” said Ivanova.
The positive feedback continued in Chumburidze’s comments, as well: “I was delightfully surprised at how much the professors care about each student, yet hold a totally liberal approach to the learning process. Moreover, I am pleasantly stunned at how easy the adaptation process in Finland has proved to be, as both the Finnish and international students are so open-minded and helpful,” said Chumburidze.
Project Coordinator, Laura Quist, found the feedback encouraging: “This is a unique network that has already proved to be a great tool for exchanging knowledge and strengthening higher education cooperation between universities in Finland, the Caucasus region and the EU’s Eastern Partner countries”. The first teacher exchanges will begin during the coming spring and the next call for both student and teacher exchanges for Autumn 2013 will be opened in March.
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*BASERCAN receives funding from the North-South-South Higher Education Institution Network Programme which is financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Finland through the development cooperation funds.
Text: Niina Into, Information Specialist, Aleksanteri Institute, Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies
Orginally posted by: Aleksanteri Institute in ALEKSANTERI NEWS, 25 February, 2013 / Issue 1