Past two weeks have been full of new students starting at different degree programs at TAMK. This Wednesday was the first day for new students in the English-speaking degree programs. In the first couple of days they must hear welcome from dozens of different people. The days are full of parties with the student union tutors and more practically-oriented stuff with the staff.
Yesterday when I was leaving work and walking to my bike I passed Bubiklubi’s Bubirundi event getting started. I young man at the mike said he has never attended these parties sober. I guess that’s the point. One of my friends behind the desk was one of the organizers. Later in the evening I saw her checking into five different bars on foursquare.
Point here is not to criticize alcohol consumption – I couldn’t really care less about that right now.
What I’ve been thinking about is the message we give to new our students on their orientation week. Where are they coming to? What kind of place this is?
What happens during the orientation days? Stick-up-the-ass opening ceremonies, student counceling services, course registrations, curriculum overviews, student parties, student union activities, etc…
Sounds a lot like school. We have a ‘dual model’ in Finnish higher education with academic universities and universities of applied sciences. But have we also created a dual model in running the universities? Good old teachers versus students. Fun versus work/studies (not fun). Oh, I can’t wait to get out of this class to go to a party tonight.
This is the wrong signal right from the start!
This is not school! No one is here against their will. This is real life. That’s why there are real projects, real customers, real conferences, real study trips, real challenges, real competitions, real internships, real exchanges, real international activities, real mistakes, real accomplishments, real learning.
There are amazing stories from things our students have achieved during their studies but too few still challenge themselves. Too few realize realize their potential because the mentality is to survive the courses and go and have fun somewhere else. Unfortunately this approach unleashes about 10% of the individual’s potential during their degree studies. We can’t afford this.
Our most important message should be to help our new students to see the possibilities and potential they have. It calls for fundamentally different collaboration between the students and the staff. And fundamentally different kind of communication. It’s not about taking care of things, it’s about taking care of people. It’s not about counting the work hours, it’s about getting results.
No one is to blame here. This is more a call for action. We can transform the campus into something completely different where people actually want to be.
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I am in a flu today, so I couldn’t meet our new IB students today. To take my own words into practise I sent them the following video about my thoughts for their study path.
What do you think? I’m a crazy person or is there something here?
Dear Stickmaster,
Absolutely, definitely, positively 100% true. I want to be onboard making this campus transform happen. We desperately need it. And by “we” I don’t mean just us teachers or the students but also the entire country. What happens to our economy if universities end up spitting out factory-manufactured graduates who are bored by default, unable and unwilling to achieve anything beyond the 9-5 office work. Learning and working are both supposed to be fun, big time; I know it can happen, for many people it has, but it requires a radical change in how we perceive teaching, curriculum, university architecture, leadership – hell, just about everything that still reminds us of the industrial era in our universities.
PS. Love what you’ve done with the design of this blog!