Getting Work Experience: An International Student’s Perspective
As an international student from India, choosing Finland as a destination for my higher education was a natural choice. Finland, in addition to excellent teaching, is also a great place to live. Most students seek to get employed after graduation, but often come across employers who require students to have work experience. The City of Turku along with the universities in Turku organize a training program called Project Aces, which aims to provide practical skills and valuable work experience to students.
The city of Turku, despite being the oldest city and former capital of Finland, provides a perfect blend of city life and living among nature. The city of Turku has multiple world-class universities that provide outstanding education and study opportunities for students. I chose Finland, and in particular Turku for primarily the quality and unique nature of the studies at the University of Turku. My Master’s programme in Law and Information Society is one of a kind and offers exactly what I was looking for – combining law and technology studies. Additionally, it is possible to choose courses from other departments to supplement the main study courses. This choice makes it possible to make the studies multidisciplinary, stress-free and flexible towards the needs of the student. It is possible for international students to find opportunities to gain practical work experience while studying.
Work experience and employability
Most students seek to get employed after they complete their education but often come across employers who require students to have work experience. Work experience is essential to increase employability, particularly as an international student in Finland. Additionally, to be employable, it is necessary to have specific practical skills that are usually not taught as a part of university education.
The City of Turku along with the universities in Turku organize a training program called Project Aces, which aims to provide practical skills to students. These skills are developed by students working on genuine projects in cooperation with clients. This work helps students to gain much-needed practical experience and teamwork skills for future working life. The training happens once every year, usually starting from May and ending in August. For me, this training seemed like the best way to spend summer productively and gain some practical skills with work experience.
Valuable work experience though Project Aces
Initial meeting and interview
The training included an initial meeting wherein students were invited for a group interview. During this interview, the students introduced themselves and gave information about their current studies and practical competences. Based on this data, the students were then assigned to a team comprised of other students. The team was then assigned to a client whom they first met during the subsequent meeting.
The client
In my case, the client was FELM (Suomen Lähetysseura), a non-profit management organization based in Finland. Just like all client organizations involved in Project Aces, FELM had approached Project Aces with a genuine project for the students. The students were given details of the project by the client after which students devised a plan to execute the project.
My team
I was part of a team comprised of two other students from multidisciplinary study backgrounds. We, as a team, spoke to the client and ascertained the scope of the project. This opportunity allowed us to gain experience in interacting with a client and planning the project independently. Every team was assigned a coach from Project Aces who provided guidance whenever needed to their team on managing the project. This ensured that the students had assistance in the eventuality of an issue within the project. The students also had to plan regular meetings with the clients to ensure the smooth execution of the project. This helped us learn the importance of effective communication, time management, and multitasking within the team, along with the client.
Midterm meeting
The teams met again in June for a midterm meeting to discuss the progress of the project. Herein the teams learned how to evaluate the development of their projects. An essential part of this evaluation was to understand the evolving nature of the project and develop the required adaptability. The teams were to present these ideas in the form of a presentation, which developed public speaking and team communication.
Our team executed the project effectively and preparing a detailed report of the results for the client. As the client was satisfied with the work, our student team was invited to visit FELM headquarters in Helsinki to present the project results to the senior members of the organization.
Project Aces caters to the needs of students
The entire project provided an excellent opportunity for the students to develop practical work skills and get an insight into work life in Finland. This was also an excellent means to meet potential employment networks and gain knowledge of recruitment methods in Finland. The training provided by Project Aces was immaculately planned to cater to the needs of the students and was a highly positive experience. It is an invaluable way to gain insight into the Finnish work culture
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Ameya Foujdar
Participant of Project Aces 2019
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Last updated 8 August 2022
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