Studies

Studying at a student exchange institution of higher education abroad may be very much different from studying in Finland. How hard you will have to work as an exchange student depends on your skills and readiness, the country of destination and also on the host institution.

From the home institution's point of view however studies are the most important reason for studying abroad and a student selected for an exchange programme is expected to study full-time. A period of studying abroad is not an acceptable reason for a delay in studies. You should take your studies seriously and make realistic course plans taking into consideration your current language skills. You are first and foremost a student and not a tourist. You can receive ECTS credits only by passing exams. All studies should be finished at the exchange institution. You will get information from the Director of your Degree Programme about your chances to take on-line courses and/or project studies during the student exchange.

If you receive Student Financial Aid from KELA they will follow the progress of your studies. You will get information about the specific ECTS credit requirements directly from KELA or from the Secretary of the Student Financial Aid Committee of EVTEK. By the way, studying is the most economic way to spend your time!

You should take care of earning the required annual amount of ECTS credits in order to avoid problems with the student financial aid!

In terms of studying an exchange student is considered a ”normal” degree student and he is expected to find out many things by himself and to follow all the instructions and rules of studying which the local students of his host institution follow. For example, your presence may be obligatory and travel has to be done during the holidays of your host institution.

Please also note that the examination period is a part of a normal semester and you should take that into consideration when planning your return to Finland. If a host institution offers an opportunity to retake exams an exchange student also has this opportunity. If the local students are not offered a chance to retake exams then neither are exchange students. Re-exams in Finland are an option only if the student has participated in the original exam and has failed. The local teacher is your contact person at the host institution and at your home institution you can contact the International Office in order to find out who will organise the re-exam in Finland.

All outgoing exchange students will be registered as present during their student exchange period. The presence announcement should be done in a normal way on WinhaWille!

Selecting Courses; Learning Agreement

Outgoing exchange students will plan their studies in advance and prepare their Learning Agreement. You should check the selection of courses at your host institution in order to prepare the Learning Agreement Form (incl. Study Guides, the Internet, other informational material).

Departmental Coordinator for the Learning Agreement depends on the field of study:

Institute of Technology; Institute of Art and Design: Director of the Degree Programme
School of Business Administation: Study Coordinator/Principal Lecturer

Institutional Coordinator for the Learning Agreement is the Student Exchange Coordinator of your field of study.

Learning Agreement:

has to be approved by the Departmental Coordinator of your degree programme before you will go on student exchange.
after the approval you need to ask the Student Exchange Coordinator of your field of study to sign the form; leave a copy to the International Office
should be sent to the representative of the host institution who signs the form before the beginning of the student exchange period
you should discuss possible changes with a person responsible for degree programme at the host institution and the possible changes must always be first approved by the Departmental Coordinator of your degree programme as s/he is responsible for the credit transfer of student exchange studies to your degree
copy of the Learning Agreement form has to be approved and signed by both the home and the host institutions and it has to be retuned to the home institution's International Office within 1 month from the start of the student exchange period

Please note that the Departmental Coordinator of your degree programme can refuse to transfer the credits from studies completed during the student exchange to your degree if they were not agreed upon in advance.

Studying

Normally the final timetable can be decided only after you have arrived to the host institution because the actual lecture timetables are not usually available before the start of your exchange period. Therefore there might be double bookings or some courses might have been cancelled.

A student should be active in finding information. Information for students is readily available at EVTEK but this may not be the situation at host institutions. You should find out, go and ask many things by yourself. You will find course information, for example, on the home page of your host institution and in Study Guides. Sometimes you will get information about the general selection of courses at your host institution from former exchange students. We recommend that you create good relationship with the contact person at your host institution already in the early stage. Issues and confusions related to courses need to be handled between a student and a contact person. EVTEK is not able to administratively influence on the educational system of another educational institution.

Please note that it might be difficult to get information about a particular course while you are still in Finland. Sometimes you have to make decisions and select courses on basis of inadequate information. A Student Advisor of the host institution is not necessarily able to help you as he might lack information about the finished studies and background of the EVTEK student. Some courses might be cancelled or their timetable might change.

So, you should select a wide range of courses at your host institution already when preparing your Learning Agreement form. You can then eliminate, if needed, some of the selected courses assuming that this is accepted by the rules of your host institution. Often the final course information will be available only at the host institution and usually you will have the possibility to change courses.

ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System)

The European system of measuring and comparing studies (ECTS) was developed to provide an instrument for increasingly more common international studies in the EU region. It helps to evaluate studies completed in another country and to transfer the credits to your home institution. The ECTS Credit System also helps to plan your studies: you are able to estimate the quantity of work each course requires with the help of ECTS. The ECTS Measurement System is based on the quantity of work required to complete a full year of academic study.

The ECTS Credit System was introduced at the vocational universities in Finland in spring, 2005.

The ECTS Credit System in broad outlines:

Every starting programme at a university of applied sciences has been measured in ECTS credits since January 1st, 2005. ”Op.” is abbreviation of an ECTS credit in Finnish.
One academic year equals 60 ECTS credits.
Bachelor of Engineering degree at EVTEK University of Applied Sciences consists of 240 ECTS credits, completed in four (4) years.
Bachelor of Business Adminstration degree at EVTEK University of Applied Sciences consists of 210 ECTS credits, completed in 3,5 years.
Bachelor of Arts degree at EVTEK University of Applied Sciences consists of 240 ECTS credits, completed in four (4) years
The student workload required to complete a full year of academic studies in Finland is 1600 hours which equals 60 ECTS credits.

Completed Courses

You should apply for the credit transfer of ALL the courses completed during the student exchange. You need to apply for the credit transfer of all the studies completed abroad at the same time and immediately after the exchange records are available.

Please note that the courses completed in the host institution do not automatically appear in Winha student administration system but you need to apply for transfer of credits.

You can apply for credit transfer for courses that are available in the degree programme (common basic, professional and specialisation studies, advanced elective studies, and also language studies, please note that you might have to present your language skills to a language teacher). The Director of Degree Programme (Institute of Technology and Institute of Art and Design) or the Principal Lecturers (School of Business Administration) approve all the studies for credit transfer.

It pays off to be active in keeping track of your completed courses. You should collect detailed contact information on your teachers and on the courses already during the exchange. You should also ask your host institution for a certificate of your credits (transcript of records, study transcript) received during the exchange before returning back to Finland. This is needed for the credit transfer of your exchange studies. You need to collect descriptions of all the courses that you have completed and attach those to the study transcript. The course descriptions contain the following information:

total number of hours of the course
course type
lecturer, name of the professor
grade scale
number of credits (Erasmus: in ECTS credits)

The final certificate will often be sent directly to the student or to the International Office afterwards.

After returning from the student exchange, you need to fill in the Credit Transfer Application Form. The forms are available at the Student Affairs Offices and in the OVIportal and they are submitted together with the attachments to the Student Affairs Office of the student’s field of study. Student need to attach to the form copies of the transcripts of records/study transcript of the studies completed at the host institution, course descriptions and the Learning Agreement.

In Addition to Studies

As mentioned before, one of the most important goals of the student exchange is – besides studying – to learn the local language and to get to know the culture and the customs of the host country. An exchange student may also have the opportunity to visit not only the student exchange city but also some other parts of the country, neighbour countries and also to get to know the cultures and customs of exchange students from other countries.

Making friends with both locals and other exchange students is important and as an exchange student you should be active in making this kind of network because a student tutor, for example, is not available at every student exchange institution. You should also keep in mind that no matter whether you wanted or not, you will be representing your educational institution and your home country in the eyes of others.

It is very important that you always remember to respect the laws and regulations of your host country. You will get information about the laws and regulations, for example, from the embassy and/or from the consulate of the host country. Punishments for serious crimes can be very harsh in some countries and foreigners are not entitled to receive any special treatment.

It is good to keep in mind that an exchange student has volunteered to enter into a particular country. Every country and culture has its own practices and customs which may significantly differ from the ones in your home country and culture. This means that you should not insistently blame the local people or customs in case something does not work as you expect. Possible setbacks and changes in your plans are part of the deal and they make you to become more proactive, flexible and independent. The best way of getting to know a foreign country and its culture and people, its customs and phenomena is living there.

Extension of Student Exchange Period

A student going on student exchange for one semester may in some cases have the opportunity to extend his student exchange period and stay for one more term.

First you need to contact the Student Exchange Coordinator of your field of study. The Coordinator will check whether there are student exchange places available for another semester within the framework of the contract between the higher education institutions. The host institution may not necessarily know whether the home institution has already selected another student to student exchange for the next semester.
Then contact the Director of your Degree Programme or the Principal Lecturer at the home institution who will evaluate your academic situation.
After this you should ask the host institution if they can approve the extension of your student exchange period.
You need to prepare a new Learning Agreement for the extension period and it has to be approved according to the approval procedure described earlier.