VSM/CityU Students in Finland

For those who do not know us, we are four students from VSM / City University of Seattle in Bratislava currently studying through Erasmus exchange program at the University of Applied Sciences in Oulu, Finland. Before coming here, we were a little concerned and maybe afraid how we will be able to cope with a different school system, since Finland is well known for one of the best school systems in the EU. Now after about a month of studying here we can compare and proudly say that the school system at this university is very similar to school system at VSM / CityU.

A couple of weeks ago when we received an email from the student union with an offer to present our school and country to other international and Finnish students we did not hesitate at all. In order to be well prepared we contacted our school with a question, if they would mind to send us some materials about our school. After exchanging a couple of emails with Ms. Balšanová (External Affairs and Student Services) and Mr. Zlocha (Director of Marketing and Development) to discuss the details we did not have to wait long for a big box full of brochures, T-shirts, CDs and PowerPoint presentation sent via e-mail. We have prepared a PowerPoint presentation full of pictures of Slovakia and some additional handouts about Slovakia and VSM / CityU on our own.

When we arrived to the school at the day of presentation and set up our presentation table, we figured out very soon that we are the only “brave” ones who decided to take a part to present their school and country. Finnish students are very “special customers” (rather quiet and reserved) so we decided to use “special marketing strategy”…..offering candies :-). The day went fast and smoothly, all the materials were handed out and even the international coordinator Piritta Nätynki liked it. After all, being the only one was far not as bad, since we had “a monopoly on our potential customers”.

To conclude, we are very glad we have had a chance to be here also thanks to our school and we would recommend to everyone to consider Erasmus exchange program.

Authors: Igor Franček
Romana Synková