Students' View
DIVERSE STUDIES IN ENGLISH
A combination of business, communication and IT studies got Kirsi Harjunpää to apply to SAMK’s IBS degree programme. Kirsi, who is now studying for her second year, thinks that this diverse packet meets her expectations very well.
– The studies have been as expected. I expected something different and that I received.
The difference of the studies has been appealing to Kirsi. During the year, the IBS students complete three extensive business cases, one of which is made for an actual company. The company has a problem or something to improve, and the students need to find a solution. The students make presentations and reports of these cases, so there are no exams for IBS students.
– The studying is really practical. We work with actual companies with real problems and get to solve them. First we learn the theories and then we apply them into our solutions for the case companies.
Kirsi has learned team working and communication skills, working in an international environment and combining know-how in theory and practice, and she hopes she can take part in an exchange programme to Paris. Afterwards, she intends to finish her IBS studies and graduate. After graduation she intends to continue in her current job at Pretax and hopes that in the future she can work in one of the company’s foreign offices.
– The degree programme has provided me with know-how, better language skills, experiences and new friends.
TEAMWORK AND ACTUAL COMPANIES
Adriaan Diepeveen comes from a small town called Sneek in the northern part of the Netherlands. After hearing that Finland had the world’s best education system, he googled ‘Entrepreneurship study Finland’ and stumbled upon the IBS programme, which seemed to be exactly what he was looking for.
– The IBS programme seemed to be really unconventional and modern, plus the Enterprise Accelerator offered by SAMK seemed to fit in with it perfectly. During the study, I could start my own business and get the coaching I needed for it.
Teamwork is definitely one of the key skills that Adriaan has learned so far. In the IBS programme, students work on actual company cases in teams. There are no clear instructions about how the group work should be conducted. Students really have to get creative with their work. Furthermore, students participating in the teams can pick which subject they want to look into and want to learn more about.
– Interacting with people from several different countries and with different backgrounds has taught me a lot. You have to make sure work actually gets done since you and your team are fully responsible for it.
The study is not just theory, it’s as practical as it gets. Students also learn things that they cannot apply only to the case but also take advantage of in the future when starting their own companies. That is the reason why Adriaan wants to recommend the IBS programme.
– Finland is a great country to live in and the programme is definitely something I would recommend.