Russian school vs. International Baccalaureate

The point of this blog is to relate it to studies in Metropolia as well as to tell you guys something about my experience in education. Since I have been studying in Metropolia for 2,5 month only, I can’t really compare many things to the places where I have studied before. That is why I decided to tell you about how eventually I ended up studying in Metropolia. The thing is that I have managed to graduate from two schools at the same time: while studying in the IB program, I did my Russian curriculum on a distance education.

Here we go!

The actual studying process in Russian school and IB program differs a lot. In Russia, pupils have 19 courses which continue for the whole year, while in IB the number of courses is only 6. I can’t really say which one I prefer more because on the one hand, it is good to concentrate only on 6 subjects and get really good at them by the end of the program, but on the other hand, having 19 subjects widens your outlook a lot. Another difference is grading system. In Russia you never know when the test will be, this makes you scared and prepared for each class. In IB you have only pre exams and finals. It’s also good, since you have to do many more things apart the actual syllabus, but then you find yourself trying to read everything at the last minute 😀 Another thing is that in Russia students are lucky enough to just do their everyday homework, pass tests and graduate with no problems, however IB is a hell of a challenge that makes you write several academic papers, do 150 hours of volunteering and still nobody guarantees that you will survive until the end and get your diploma..After all here I would chose IB over Russian school, it is a challenge, and even if it makes you study all the time, forget about friends and the world out there, in the end of the day it made me realize that I have achieved a big goal in my life and made my family proud of me. I don’t regret about becoming such a nerd for a while, I became smarter, more experienced, fearless and that is why now I am where I am looking forward to a bright future.

Now let me tell you about more interesting things. Another comparison that I would like to share with you is students’ life inside of both schools. I can name only three big events that my Russian school offered to pupils: Eurovision (which was really fun!), New Years disco and a talent show.  All these were fun but because schools get little money for this sort of things, they all lacked visual effect, almost no decorations, children would rarely wear costumes. This is my class by the way, performing on the Eurovision. We were covering  ”It’s my life” perfomance from Glee.It maked us spend more time with each other preparing the perfomance, eventually many of us became friends.

There was way much more fun in Finnish lukio. I have experienced so many great events organised by the school. We had baptising, old dances, school night, second graders cruise, gala, lazy day when everyone would wear pijamas, summer and winter Olympic games, Christmas show and many many more!!

Baptising takes place in the beginning of every new study year and all the first graders swear to obey elder students and after that get lots of water top of their heads!

School night is one of the best ones. Each year there is a different theme for that. The one on the picture was about Rock festivals. School offers special food, the whole school is decorated according to the theme, all pupils dress up accordingly and organise a great show.

Old dances is a beautiful day organised for second grade students. All girls look like princesses and guys wear suits. We all practice for several months and learn old fashion dances. In my case we also learned Gangnam Style as a surprise dance. After the dances all the participants went to an after party to a hotel that we booked for the next day. But this is another story which is not likely to be appropriate for this assignment….:P

After all I feel happy and proud of myself for completing two schools, I see twice more opportunities. And great that I have already chosen one of them,  Metropolia University of Applied Sciences! It really does connect people! In this short period of time I met lots of amazing people, coming from all over the world and how amazing it is to listen to their experience and ways that brought them to Metropolia. Even in our small group for this blog assignment, all the members have really fascinating international stories about how they ended up in Metropolia. I am greatful to be in this international, communicative and friendly enviroment. Let’s see where I go next, but by this moment, Metropolia is the best place to be 🙂

Metropolia vs. Russian and the US schools

Now, it’s my turn to talk about my experience of being in Metropolia. It hasn’t been so much time since the school started. That’s why; I still have some of my thoughts or events mixed up because so many things happen 🙂 But nevertheless, I’ll share some of my thoughts about several aspects of our school that I find important for me.

Extra curriculum activities

In terms of after school activities, Metropolia does a great job, and really offers a variety of stuff to do. I remember when I was studying in Russian high school; most of the activities are usually outside of the school. They don’t have to be expensive or anything, but most of the time they are not offered in school, which is not convenient, sometimes. It takes time to get there, and it’s not easy to gather with friends during those things anymore. As for Metropolia, things are a bit different. I have an option to do numerous types of sports and fitness activities in campuses that are located everywhere. So, I can choose my preferable location and sport, which I’m definitely going to do starting from second semester. One single pass for everything makes it even easier because you don’t have to purchase every single one for different campuses or classes. In addition, I always thought that it’s awesome when school allows you to create a club or some union by yourself and lead it. In my American school, I knew a girl, who started a girls club and helped shy girls to fight with their fears and believe in themselves despite some existing issues or stereotypes. Also, some active teachers started their own leadership classes in order to help and teach students achieve things in life and so on. All those clubs are very creative, encouraging and develop self-confidence and activeness. And it’s great that Metropolia staff understands that and provides us with these opportunities, too.

Communication between students/teachers/staff

One of the most unique aspects of Metropolia that I have experienced is the way teachers communicate with students. Friendly informal and most importantly family atmosphere is seen everywhere. It especially makes a huge difference for me as in Russia the education system still remains hierarchical. In school and university vertical relationships are seen much more often than informal style of communication. Students stand up when the teacher comes in to class. Teaches can be called only by first and middle names, and it’ not really common to hang out with teachers outside of school. Thus, Metropolia’s way of communication appeals to me a lot.

“You are not a number”-

is another concept that is very important for me. Right from start, when I came to entrance exams, I clearly saw that here students are not just someones who will study for several years somehow and leave unknown without attention. In the opposite, I always feel that all teachers are highly educated and friendly professionals who are eager to assist you and help in any matters. This is a rare phenomenon in many schools around the world. We can eat together with teachers in the cafeteria; call by the first names which make the communication more informal and easy. I experienced several times that school staff is always willing to assist and arrange a personal meeting if necessary. I feel that such attitude helps to avoid any misunderstandings and get rid of stressful atmosphere. When I come to school every day, I don’t feel like it’s a torture or a mandatory act. I’m sure that many other students will share the same position with me. When you enter school, you don’t feel pressure but eagerness to meet teachers because the process of studying is entertaining.

Subjects offering

As for me, Metropolia has a wide range of subjects offered. Especially, we can start choosing subjects after the first semester of school, which is great as it gives opportunities to develop the skills that you wish. Personally I value that a lot because after studying in the US I realized how significant it is to be able to make some changes in your curricula yourself. In Russia, one has almost same classes from 7th to 11th grade and those classes last all year long. No choices can be made. Plus there are 17 classes during each semester, which makes it extremely hard to follow everything. In addition, if one is not good in math classes for example, he/she might be in trouble because there are around 5 different math classes on a distant level all the time. It might be a very good training for the future as I for example had to cope with those classes a lot in order to understand the material and achieve good results. That made me more determent person and encouraged me to set the goals and be more persistent. But this system might be a bit challenging for other individuals. That’s why, I was impressed by American system, where I was able to concentrate on my strongest sides, take electives, and try to make a schedule as suitable for me as possible. And this is what I equally value in Metropolia. Not only can I choose languages and electives, but I can also take courses during summer or from other Universities. This is a very flexible and encouraging system for students that really wish to study and develop themselves.

Partying

No secret, partying is a great way to relax after hard studies and make some friends. I can say with the confidence that Metropolia succeeds in that. The only issue that arises sometimes is that many parties are organized by Helga or Laureamko, which makes prices higher or attracts too many students in one space which even makes it hard to brief, not even dance. But in general, I receive so many notifications connected with meeting, parties, and events that it even makes it hard to choose where to go. And that’s awesome! Comparing this to my US experience, huge amount of parties, etc help to communicate with much more people. Just think, would you meet and make friends will people from Finnish business degrees, engineering major, or even with our competitors from Haaga-Helia or Aalto? In this case it’s very possible. It’s an important part of student life and really helps to bring people together, find your soul mate, or just dance and lose some calories.

It’s an awesome place to be and I’m glad to be here.

Yours,
-metropoliastudent

Korean vs. Finnish student life

Hello everybody!

It appears so that now it’s my time to tell you about my adventures and findings about the differences between studies and student life in Korea and here in Metropolia. First, boring but essential facts: I grew up studying in Finnish school system and I’ve studied in Laurea University of applied sciences in tourism for two years and during those two years; I had an opportunity to go to Korea for exchange. The comparison that you soon will read about is based on the four months studying in Korea and soon to be third month studying in Metropolia. [WARNING: The following content is based on writer’s own opinion. If you don’t agree with what’s been written, you can a) comment below b) don’t comment below c) close the tab.]

Friendship:

It has been said that Finnish people are very closed, value wide range of personal space, not easy to approach and hard to make friends with. I don’t know how it is elsewhere but here in Metropolia luckily this is not the case. People were really open and most of the students just moved from another city, which I think only helped in making new friends. Of course since most of us studying here in Metropolia Myyrmäki Campus are business students studying in an industry, which requires you to be open and easily approached to succeed, helped in making friends as well.

In Korea it was the same. Not the part that they are known to be closed and distant, but similar in a part where they truly and honestly were one of the nicest, friendliest and honest people I’ve ever encountered when travelling abroad. I noticed on the first days in Korea that Korean people were really shy when it comes to speaking in English but once they got over it, they are quite curious personalities, which only helped in making friends. People that you don’t know might just come up on the street to ask where you’re from, why you’re here (in Korea), what do you study etc. and because of their and my curiosity, I now am lucky enough to have numerous of good friends living in Korea.

 Students well being:

 Let me start this topic with a mood killing fact: in a recent research it’s been proved that in 2011, 13 out of 100 000 Korean students committed suicide and over half of the 15-24 year old students are thinking about committing suicide. And the heaviest reason for this phenomenon is because of the pressure to succeed in studies and the pressure to succeed in working life. From what I heard and learned during my exchange, I got an expression that Korean employers value education more than working experience. This could also be case only because most students looking for a job only has their school certificate to prove their competences and most employees looking for a job are planning to work in one place their whole life. These facts only supports what I saw when I was in Korea.

Most of my Korean friends did complain about the load of home works, the competition among students and the pressure their family put to succeed in school. During exam week and a night before an exam the library and classrooms were packed. Students would sit in front of their books for 12 hours straight (some even longer) to study, some even forgetting or feel like they don’t have time to eat in between of studies. This being said, I think it is quite clear that there is a lot of improvement that has to be done.

I think the biggest difference between student’s well being in Finland and in Korea is that here in Finland the pressure to have a well paid job doesn’t rely only on our degree certificate: Finnish employers seem to value personality and experience more. Also, students here are well informed on how to stay sane in between of pressures caused by school and students usually have a lot of events and possibilities to see a therapist, to be part of a sports team or club, which helps to connive our well being.

Party:

One of the first words I learned in Korean was ‘’소주’’ (written in English: Soju). This -my friends- is a brand of an alcohol that Koreans drink almost like water. I promise you, this is a word and a brand you see and hear everywhere you go in Korea. Because of its popularity among Koreans, I thought it is like beer to Finnish people. Take a wild guess of how wrong was I. Soju is a clear and colorless alcohol with a content of 16,5 to 45 % of alcohol by volume. I learned how deceiving this drink was on our school’s welcoming party (during my first week in Korea) and made quite an impression on my Korean and exchange friends. This being said, I would like to conclude that Koreans do party just as hard as Finnish people. Similarities continue with the fact that in both countries I’ve blessed with being witnessed a lot of puking on the streets and seeing a lot of ‘’too drunk to walk’’ students from Mondays through Sundays. The only difference between these drinking and partying cultures, I think is, Koreans drink until they pass out because of the pressure their friends set and Finnish people do it voluntarily. 

-studentmetropolia

References:
http://beyondhallyu.com/culture/south-korea-the-suicide-capital-of-the-world/
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/03/20/poll-shows-half-of-korean-teenagers-have-suicidal-thoughts/
[accessed 16^th November, 2014]

Overly social people

Finnish people are grumpy, unsocial alcoholics. At least that is the stereotype that many foreign people have about us. I am a Finnish citizen and have also attended a Finnish school all my life. Until now. I started here in Metropolia Business School about three months ago. It was quite a change. Not in a bad way though.

I’ve always travelled a lot and therefore met a lot new people from different countries. No matter the country these people have something in common. They are social, open minded and willing to talk to strangers. Basically they have all the social assets that Finnish people lack of. In Finland it is weird to sit next to a stranger on a bus and if you open your mouth for small talk they’ll just think that you are crazy or something. Today when I was waiting for the train to school there where more than 50 persons waiting for the same train. None were talking together. I hate this.

Going to Metropolia Business School is almost like going abroad. A lot of people from completely different countries. And these people are social. On the first few orientation days people were already talking to each other, and yeah I’m not even kidding. In this school it is so easy to go talk to anyone from the international side and have a chat. This would not happen in Finnish speaking schools. I don’t know if it’s the English language or the internationality of the students but people are way more easier to approach here. It is easy to make friends and we have an awesome atmosphere. I love this.

Attending for this study programme in this school has made me realize something. These stereotypes of grumpy Finnish people are actually true. I am having stereotypes of my own nation and actually these are not even stereotypes, they are cold and harsh facts. Thank god I’m in Metropolia.

Finnish vs. Russian higher education

Hello, fellow Metropolians! 🙂

Before coming to Finland and starting my studies at Metropolia Business School, I have experienced studying at two different institutions of higher education in my home country, Russia. I studied English philology for a year at the Kazan Federal University and then I studied to be a translator from English into Russian at the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod for two years. Now that I’m in a Finnish university, I notice quite a lot of differences between the European way of learning and the education system in Russia. Here, I won’t talk about every single one of them (nobody’s got time to read that much 🙂 ), but I’ll outline the main contrasting aspects of Metropolia and the universities in Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod.

• International atmosphere

The first and probably biggest difference I noticed was that here in Metropolia we get to study with people from all over the world. What’s more, the teaching team is quite international, as well. Where else can you meet so many foreigners under one roof? Even I, not a big party goer and generally not an overly sociable person, have already met fellow Metropolia students from Mauritius, Hungary, Austria, Vietnam, Turkey, USA, Canada, India, Venezuela,  Saudi Arabia – you name it. As for me, this opportunity to mingle with people from different countries puts our studies of business into truly international context.

Speaking about Russian higher education, it is far less open to university multiculturalism. Of course, this may depend on the institution. For example, from what I’ve heard, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia promotes cross-cultural exchange and is very supportive of foreign students coming to my home country to study. However, the two institutions I’ve been a student in didn’t have any international departments. A few people from China or Vietnam coming for exchange every year was pretty much the most international experience that the universities could get. Probably, the main problem is that while the education is free in Russia for the locals, institutions charge exorbitant amounts for studying there as an international student.

• Language of studies

Another distinctive feature of Metropolia is that the university offers so many international study programs where all the subjects are taught in English. What’s even better, most of the teachers in the business department are native speakers. So, basically, here at Metropolia we not only learn the subjects related to our major, but also get an excellent 4-year-long course of practical English.

Unfortunately, in Russia it’s virtually impossible to find a university degree program taught entirely in English, even at a linguistics university. Generally speaking, the country doesn’t have enough teachers who speak the language fluently, and even ones who are fairly good at it. If you’ve ever been to Russia as a foreigner, you may have noticed that people don’t even reply to English-speaking tourists when they ask for help in the streets – that’s not because the locals are rude, but because most of them simply don’t understand a word of English (except, maybe, words like “yes” or “wow”, but it’s hard to ask for help with these 🙂 ).

• Subjects offered

Finally, when comparing Russian university education with Finnish, the difference in subjects that a student has to take in order to get a degree is extremely noticeable. At Metropolia, right from the start of our European Business Administration studies, everything that we learn is directly related to the major. 100% of classes we have are business-related. By contrast, if you were to study for this degree in Russia, out of 5 years you have to spend at a Russian university, 3 would be filled with subjects that are totally irrelevant to your major, for example, sociology, philosophy, and, of course, PE. I don’t know about you (if you have an opinion on this, you’re welcome to share it in the comments), but I find the Finnish approach way more efficient, since we all have but a limited time to learn what we want to specialize in – why waste years on the general things that we can read about at leisure? And the most devastating fact is that all these subjects are mandatory – there is no such thing as elective studies at Russian universities. Clearly, Metropolia offers us more flexibility in terms of what we want to study and when.

If you also have experience of studying in your own country before you came here, write your thoughts on Metropolia vs. your previous uni – it would be really interesting to read your comments! 🙂

Good luck with your studies!

– yogurtrules

Before and after

Hello everyone!

It’s been almost 2,5 months since I started my studies in the Metropolia Business School. Today I started thinking and reflecting  about education before and after becoming a student of Metropolia and decided to share my perspective on certain aspects of our university and compare it to the previous educational institution I attended. Hopefully, this post will also help prospective students to take Metropolia into consideration when applying to higher education institutions.

What most of you may find appealing is Metropolia’s international atmosphere which exists thanks to the broad range of students and lecturers who come from different countries and have different backgrounds. In my previous school, Tikkurilan lukio (Tikkurila Upper Secondary school) the case was also the same, because I studied in an international programme called the International Baccalaureate (IB). I enjoyed my time at my previous school as I also enjoy my time at Metropolia now thanks to the international atmosphere that prevails in the school. However, the best thing about the international environment in both institutions is the fact that I have learned and I’m still learning many new things about the ways of doing business in different places around the globe.

Another important aspect  is that Metropolia offers education conducted entirely in English within its international programmes, which was also the case in Tikkurilan lukio. I appreciate the opportunity of studying in English because I’m very fond of foreign languages and cultures, but also because of the fact that English is the lingua franca of our time and it’s used as the official business language of many global companies. So, if you want to go across the borders to do business, it’s important to be able to communicate in English.That’s why I am glad that both my present and my previous school provide a high quality education in English.

However, there are also some differences between the schools. First of all Metropolia is a university of applied sciences and Tikkurilan lukio is a high school and naturally the level of communication between students and lecturers is different. For example, in high school we referred to our teachers by their first name, which is very common in Finland. At the beginning that was very strange for me because I’m not originally from Finland (although I’ve been living here for a few years) and in my home country we refer to our lecturer only as ‘Professor’. But, with time I got used to the Finnish laid-back manner and started feeling comfortable with that. Afterwards, I came to Metropolia and the level of communication between students and lecturers changed once again. Now, we students refer to our teachers by Mr./Ms. followed by their surname. Since I was used to referring to teachers by their first name in high school, it took some time for me to get used to the rules of Metropolia, but now everything’s alright because we students know how we should refer to our lecturers properly.

Finally the last aspect of the comparison are the subjects offered by both schools. Metropolia as a university of applied sciences offers different subjects each semester. This semester we have 7 compulsory subjects (courses): Gateway to business studies, ICT, Economics, Integrated marketing, European markets and business practice, Business law and Foundations of Management. Every subject is important for business in its own way and even though 7 courses are not a lot, the schedule is still very tight and students should do some time management to keep up with everything. In high school we only had 6 subjects which we studied during period of 2 years and the subjects were divided in 2 levels i.e. higher and standard. There,we had the opportunity to choose what we want to study from a range of subjects. My subjects included: History, Biology, English, Finnish, Mathematics and a self-taught language. So, the subjects we study now in Metropolia and the ones I studied before are different.

Despite the similarities and differences both schools have enriched my knowledge about the world and allowed me to meet amazing people from all around our planet . Now I leave you with some wise words by Benjamin Franklin.

– 11striker