Intensive week gathered participants from three countries to Seinäjoki
SeAMK organised a Blended Intensive Programme – Harmonizing Engineering Diversity: A Sustainable Approach to Rebuilding Industrial Sites in Seinäjoki 22nd – 26th of April. The participants of the intensive week were from three different schools:
- FH Münster, Germany with 14 students (mechanical engineering) and 6 staff representatives
- Thomas More, Belgium with 13 students (construction engineering) and 3 teachers
- SeAMK with 14 students (construction and mechanical engineering) and 3 teachers
During the intensive week students brainstormed ideas for the re-use and development of the technical office depot of the City of Seinäjoki. The project started with two lessons before Easter and culminated in a week-long intensive week in Seinäjoki.
Andreas Hövener, a senior lecturer at FH Münster, hoped that the students would work well together, have fun, and find interesting solutions to the task at hand. He also looked forward to working with students and staff from Thomas More.
Andreas is visiting SeAMK for the fourth time. The participants from Germany arrived to Finland on Sunday.
– I have been in Seinäjoki before. I think it’s a nice little place and the people here are friendly. Everything is so convenient. You can go from place A to place B quickly. SeAMK is a really great place so it’s good to be back here.
Second-year construction engineering student Panu Rintamäki is looking forward to a week of socialising and networking with the other participants of the course. Panu has participated in this kind of intensive weeks before and design thinking and brainstorming are something close to his heart.
– Participating in a week like this is fun and as a bonus you get credits for doing something nice. (Comment translated from Finnish into English)
Alongside the lectures, the participants also got to experience the local culture
In addition to lessons and group work, the students have also visited the Alvar Aalto centre, the Törnävä museum, the Piiri area and experienced the Finnish food, sauna, and ice swimming culture.
Merel Vandezande, a construction engineering student at the Thomas More, said that the most fun part of the week was getting to try out ice swimming.
– My favourite thing was the ice swimming. I was really scared to do that but when I was there, I got in like tree times. I didn’t expect it to be that nice. If I have a change to try it again I will definitely do it
Merel participated in this kind of intensive week for the first time. During the week she learned a lot from Finnish and German students and gained many new perspectives.
– We (Thomas More students) are construction students, so we think things differently than for example German students who are engineering students. I got a lot of new perspectives to look at things.
Eemil Hiltunen from SeAMK has taken a part in intensive weeks like this twice before. Eemil, a second-year construction engineering student, was in Germany last spring and about a month ago in Salzburg, Austria, for an intensive course.
– These kinds of weeks are a great way to develop your English language skills. Your language skills improve more and more because you have to speak English all the time. You learn the vocabulary of the industry in a completely different way than if you had read it in a book. It’s also fun to get to know other countries and their cultures, and in return to introduce others to our culture and how we live here. (Comment translated from Finnish into English)
Eemil recommends these kinds of intensive weeks to all students.
– I recommend this course to anyone who has the opportunity to participate. These are really great experiences. (Comment translated from Finnish into English)
