Kohoa City Campus week 18-20 September 2023

Last week saw the second part of the pilot project for having teaching and integrated content at the city campus venue Kohoa in Kouvola. The week was arranged by Xamk, the town of Kouvola, the Regional Association of Entrepreneurs, Kymenlaakso Chamber of Commerce, and Kouvola Innovation. The week was meant to focus on welcoming new students to Kouvola and having entrepreneur talks and meetings with a view for finding training places for both new and continuing students, and also for those exchange students thinking of finding training in Finland. Another focus was giving practical information to students thinking about starting their own business in Finland.

The Monday began for IBKV23SP with a Finnish breakfast at 8am consisting of porridge and coffee/tea. For many international students this was a totally new experience, and many had never tried porridge before. There were a few mixed reactions to the taste of a salty cereal, but I’m sure some will come to like it in the winter when it starts getting colder. There were some students that did not take the opportunity to have the free breakfast, so there was more for those that did.

Monday continued with a welcome from Ari Lindeman, Xamk Director Of Business, who welcomed the students to the week and how these kinds of events are an important part of studies and integration to living and studying here. This was quickly followed by Kirsi Vainio, Head of Communications and Marketing for the town of Kouvola, with a presentation of the services and activities available in the town and surrounding area. This was followed up by the surprise information that the candidates for the Finnish presidency would be having a question time downstairs on Kohoa after lunch and that students should think of a question to put to them.

The next segment was arranged by lecturers in Digital International Business starting with a Customer Oriented Marketing workshop facilitated by Hugh Clack. Students were put into teams and given two specific locations to visit. The task was to and observe and analyse the retail environment of the town centre, paying special attention to the look of the stores they were given. On return students presented their findings via a Padlet board. The results will form part of the course for follow-up.

After lunch, students had the chance to see and hear the presidential candidates but this part was unfortunately all in Finnish. At the end, there was a chance for one question in English and the chosen student from the group was Avneet who posed the question “What would the future president do to address the problem of over 20,000 international students and graduates living in Finland that have work previous experience, but can only find low paid employment?” Each candidate was given the chance to answer and did well using English as you would expect. It was made clear by each of them that of course the president does not have power in that respect, but most of them would make sure that the government should be aware of such issues. Let’s see what the future brings and who will be the next president of Finland.

The afternoon continued with Intercultural Competence workshops by Sara Czabai and Slaveya Hämälainen and we ended the day at 4pm.

On Tuesday the day again began with the breakfast at 8.30am. The facilitator for this day was Kari Jääskelainen, Regional Director for the Regional Association of Entrepreneurs in Kymenlaakso and Marika Kirjavainen, CEO at Kymenlaakso Chamber of Commerce. There were meant to be several entrepreneurs representing local businesses and talking to students about practical training and thesis possibilities. However, some last minute cancellations meant that there were gaps in the programme.

Dr. Marko Torkkeli, Professor of Technology and Business Innovations at the LUT University, gave a talk about logistics and food technology entrepreneurship, but I think the students present might not have been the correct target group. Another of the planned speakers, Ariful Islam, fortunately did turn up. The fact that his workplace is in the building helped a little. Ariful is an alumni of Xamk, and told of his story applying to and arriving in Finland for his studies, and his successful story ever since. Ariful is also now teaching part-time at the Kouvola campus.

Wednesday and once again a porridge breakfast at 9am, which for some was most welcome as the weather outside was extremely wet. The day started with the facilitator Kimmo Niemi, CEO at Kouvola Innovation Oy who talked about the services of Kinno and how there was help and support for students thinking of starting their own businesses. This was followed by a surprise speaker, Marko Kangaskolkka from Flyinglynx, who explained the importance of telling your story and being pro-active in seeking training places or employment in Finland.

The next session was the time for students to take the stage. There were practical training presentations from DIB students, Rushita Foneska, Valentin Vlasov, Christopher Banefka, and Ksenia Parshina. The main aim of this was to show students where and how training can be found in Kouvola and other areas of Finland.

Again, some changes to the programme meant that the final part of the event was facilitated by Xamk’s Patteri entrepreneurship society. They also gave students a workshop of activities based around the Japanese principle of Ikigai.

All in all, the event that had been in planning since the spring, went off quite well despite the changes and cancellations. Feedback has now been received from participants and will be taken into account for future events. A big thank you to all participants and facilitators for an interesting three days.