WÄRTSILÄREVIEW

Table of ContentsCatching up with Ilja Teppo…6

From the Director…10

Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams…14

All Together, Not All the Same…20

Designing a newsletter is a process…24

The possibilities in thought and communication are akin to those in folding paper. We seem to enjoy picking out, reflecting on, and recounting highlights, the times when great outcomes are achieved by intentionally made creases, reactions to uncertain-ties, educational opportunities (cue the infinite list).This first edition of Wärtsilä Review considers the intricacies of developing a new version of a

multicultural campus at Karelia University of Ap-plied Sciences (Karelia UAS). The relocation of the Degree Programme in International Business (IB) to the Wärtsilä Campus at the beginning of the aca-demic year 2013-2014 has facilitated access to multicultural opportunities at the Centre for Busi-ness and Engineering, now the home to seven bach-elor level and one master level degree programmes. This newsletter covers some of the outcomes of the first academic year. While the newsletter is pri-marily meant to give voice to current students, we

PREFACE:So Many Ways to Fold Paper

will also hear from the Director of the Centre, in-structors, a former student of IB, and the designer of the newsletter herself. The articles discuss daily observations, educational integration possibilities and the current state of in-tegration, an international project attended by IB and Engineering students, life after school, and the process of designing the newsletter itself. This ini-tial study year with the new Wärtsilä degree pro-gramme lineup has indeed simultaneously gifted all involved with new challenges, possibilities and out-

comes.There are many folds to the happenings here; let’s take a look at some of them.

Adam LerchEditor For more information on the Centre for Business and Engineering at Karelia University of Applied Sci-ences, please visit our website.

Catching up with

Ilja Teppo »

Text: Ilja Teppo and Wärtsilä Review / Photo: Jussi RautilainenWhat becomes of those who graduate from our programmes

is of great interest to us. We begin the newsletter articles by iterviewing Ilja Teppo, a graduate of the Degree

Programme in International Business and a well-known figure in the music scene of Joensuu and beyond.

Catching up with

Ilja Teppo

WR: Tell us something about your career as a mu-sician / performer so far.Ilja: I have 3 projects / bands: Kaukolasipartio, which is performing in Finnish and the main purpose is to get people to smile, Dusha Pitera where we are writing and singing songs in Russian, and a solo project where the lyrics are more serious and moody.All in all I started to perform already during my study years in IB in the beginning of 2000. Initially, me and my brother were invited to a very small “living” room concert where there might been a maximum of 20 peo-ple. Step by step people started to talk that the Teppo - brothers are performing, and we started to have more gigs every month. In 2010 we finally had a 5-member band called Kaukolasipartio. It consists of me, my brother Johannes, Sampsa Asikainen, Pertti Feller and Kämy Kämäräinen. Since that year we have been build-ing our personal and unique style in the field of Finn-ish entertainment. Traveling with Kaukolasipartio is great especially because every evening the performing venues are completely different. Every single gig is a great new experience.Another musical project I conducted together with my student colleague Petteri Hannonen in 2006. We were studying in IB and also at Winter School in St. Peters-burg. Therefore, we got the idea to form a band which would write songs only in Russian. Dusha Pitera was traveling to different rock clubs of Saint Petersburg and Moscow during 2006-2011.Unfortunately, we have been taking a one-year break now due to the busy lives of the members. This pro-ject has given many unforgettable memories: We have been interviewed many times on TV and on the radio in Russia, we have been selected into the final of a highly valued music competition in Moscow, and rock clubs have become familiar with us. In the Metro on Stage competition we were playing a gig in the sum-mer of 2011 in the Moscow’s Victory Square, and it was broadcasted to 40 million homes all around Russia.

WR: How do you find the music profession in Finland? From what you know, is it unique compared to other coun-tries?Ilja: It is possible to work as a musi-cian in Finland and earn enough money for a living if you just work a lot and you have goals to fulfill. Also copyright issues are at the top level here and you are able to get some of your income from that. In Finland distances be-tween concert cities are long; it means that a large part of the work is basically traveling by car or train.

A music career in Eastern Finland can be quite chal-lenging in a way that access into radios or TV in Hel-sinki is much more difficult than in the south.

WR: Is a musician an entrepreneur? Ilja: In my case he is. It is 24/7 work. The music busi-ness is also a business and if you want to “perform” well in the show-business market you need to be at least a bit of an entrepreneur.

WR: Anything about your studies at IB and NKUAS (the former name of Karelia UAS) that has helped you in your career as a musician? Ilja: I am sure my studies at Karelia UAS / NKUAS have had a great influence on my personal and professional growth. Even though I was still searching for myself (in a professional aspect) during my studies at NKUAS, I was still able to learn a lot there. First of all it gave an understanding of business in general. Secondly, it makes a kind of discipline in your life, compared to work in the musical field. It brought me so many good friends with whom later on I have organized mutual projects.

WR: Any advice for someone considering a career in the music industry?Ilja: If you have the passion to make music for a living, then go for it.

“…if you want to ‘perform’ well in the show-business market you need to be at least a bit of an entrepreneur.”

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From the Director »

From the Director »

WR: Could you please describe your role as the Director of the Cen-tre for Business and Engineering?JK: I see my role as two directional. On one hand I´m a member of the Di-rectors Board where I represent the Centre and its students and personnel when discussing and developing the future of our University. On the other hand my role is to guarantee that those decisions and plans will be im-plemented as agreed upon also in our centre. I cooperate closely with the Education and Development Managers who are the key persons in run-ning this Centre. All together, we try to make this centre a good place to work and study.

WR: How do you see these two fields connecting, and furthermore how do you view possible collaboration between the two fields of study (business and engineering) at the Wärtsilä Campus?JK: There are a lot of career opportunities to those who have a mix of engi-neering and business knowledge, for example in purchasing and logistics. However, it seems that it’s easier to offer business studies for engineering students than vice versa. Photo Karelia UAS archives

From TheDirector

Text: Jyrki Kankkunen & WR With the IB Programme joining in the autumn of 2013, the Centre for Business and Engineering abounds in numerous new possibilities in collaboration opportunities for students and staff. We consult the centre’s director, Mr Jyrki Kankkunen,

about his views on the present and what lies ahead.

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But I´m happy that also business students have par-ticipated in courses offered primarily to engineering students. I hope that the new curricula will offer more opportunities to make collaboration with the two fields of study. That is one of our goals in curriculum development.

WR: The IB Programme has moved back under the same roof as the Finnish language Business Economics Programme. How closely will these programmes cooperate with each other? Please comment on any integration of studies that will take place.JK: Maybe we could give a more precise answer after a year or two, when we have the new curricula im-plemented. But the aim is that the programmes op-erate very closely and the curricula could offer more opportunities for students to take courses from both programmes in English and or in Finnish.I hope that there will also be mixed lectures and pro-ject work to support international students to inte-grate into Finnish culture and for Finnish students to learn more from other cultures.

WR: Please give a few reasons why applicants should be interested in applying to any pro-gramme in the Centre for Business and Engineer-ing.JK: The Centre for Business and Engineering is big enough to offer a large variety of studies in engineering and in business economics. Our lecturers are well mo-tivated and very professional; many of them have long professional careers. We operate un-der a quality assurance system, which is ranked one of the best in Finland. But the most important thing is that in every group we have well m o t i v a t e d students who support each other in their studies.

“I hope that the new curricula will offer more opportunities to make collaboration with the two fields of study. That is one of our goals in curriculum development.”

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Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams »

Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams »

Understanding the intricacies of communication within teams must be one of the finer skills to learn when preparing for any

career. If one adds an element of multiculturalism to a team, the challenges and likely the potential for rewards simultaneously in-crease. Do cultural differences trump other team issues regarding their effects on work outcomes? How well can a team given two

weeks to operate work? These are some questions worth ponder-ing, so let’s ponder.

Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams

Photo Pierre Becker

WR: What attracted you to the project in the first place?KJ: When I first received the informational email regarding this, I knew that I would be really motivated and interested in participating. I always prefer to work in a multicultural envi-ronment and speak different languages and improve my lan-guage skills, and this was a great opportunity for that. I sent the motivational letter even though I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to participate because I’m a first year student. Usually in this type of project second and third year students are preferred. When I received the information that I had been accepted to participate, I was surprised and very happy!

WR: Describe the makeup of the team you participated in, not simply by mentioning nationalities of the in-dividuals but maybe more so by considering who took on leadership roles and how any hierarchy played out.IA: The team was made up of two ladies and three gentle-men. There were those who did not like their opinions to be criticized and others who did not talk so much during the discussion initially. In the end however the team seemed to have blended so well that those who initially did not like to be criticized were quite okay with it. We did not officially choose a team leader, and it worked well for the team. During per-

sonal feedback, all of my team members indicated that they had actually seen me as a natural team leader; that is why it was decided that I act as the CEO in our simulated company.

KJ: I had a great project team that included five students and four nationalities: French, Estonian, Austrian and Finnish. We got along very well and quickly had an idea that everyone agreed upon and were interested in work-ing on. In the beginning there were no roles in the group, but slowly the leader and the “silent person” started to stand out from the group. It was not the culture that di-vided our roles; it was the experience and age. Our team leader was the oldest and she had the most experience in regards to working history, so she was the one making the final decisions. She was such a great leader, always listen-ing to others and understanding everyone’s points of views. After a couple days, only three out of five of us were work-ing effectively. That was a little bit stressful for us, but at the same time we felt we did really good job, as was shown in our final results: we shared first place by re-ceiving the highest funding along with another team. Even though the work was divided unequally in the end, we still kept a great atmosphere and enjoyed each other’s company.

In February 2014, teams of students (along with teachers) from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, and Germany were greeted by their Finnish hosts for the third and ultimate annual episode of the Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams Project, an Erasmus Life Long Learning Programme sponsored two-week event meant to foster cooperation among individuals of different cultures. “The idea was to help participants develop communication and team-working skills (such as negotiating, problem-solving, presentation and decision-making skills) via teachers’ inputs and practical project work,” stated lecturer Kirsi-Marja Toivanen-Sevrjukova, who has served for three years as an institutional coordinator in the project.During the two week intensive project, students were divided into five-member multicultural and multi-disciplinary teams, each of which had the mission to take part in a hypothetical call for new projects organized by the European Union (instructors) to support European initiatives. The results of the project were presented at the end of the second week in an exhibition attended by students and staff of Karelia UAS. Success for individual teams was measured by proposed funding, which was determined by a group of

visiting and local instructors. Notably, several members of the Finnish representatives are students at the Wärtsilä Campus Centre for Business and Engineering, studying in both the Degree Programme in International Business and the Degree Programme in Engineering. Two of them, Karoliina Jaakkola (KJ) and Isaac Adaam (IA),

shared their thoughts after reflecting on the two weeks.

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WR: How might this project have prepared you for fu-ture work?IA: My confidence level in working with people from the na-tionalities in my team had greatly improved. Hitherto, I felt I did not have enough practical knowledge and experience, and this prompted me to ask several questionsregarding working with people of those nationalities.KJ: The additional knowledge I gathered from the course is a benefit to my everyday studies and building business plans in school, so I feel like it had a great effect on my future. Creat-ing the idea of a charity business plan had a great impact on my future because that’s something I wish to build a career around. Actually, I am in the beginning of building my own volunteering organization, and I feel like I got some very use-ful knowledge that I can utilize now when I’m building a seri-ous project.

WR: What was the best academic highlight of the two-week project?IA: The ability to write project proposals, the development and design of a corporate logo, and improved skills in pres-entations.KJ: Maybe the actual intensive business project building was the most effective part of the project, and the individual group feedback from different lecturers gave me information that is useful for my studies in the future. The workshops were also very interesting, especially brand building, which included the visualization of the brand and how to explain your brand image for example in using colors.

WR: What was the best highlight of the project outside of the school premises?IA: Helping the Finnish team win the elephant soccer compe-tition at Koli.KJ: One of the best experiences was the winter Olympic-like

competition (sic) in Koli; we had such a great time there! It was nice to spend a day somewhere else than in school, and to get a day-off from the business plan project. I think we needed to get some fresh air to stay motivated and creative for the academic part of the course. We Finnish students organized some free-time activities for the foreign students, like bowling and partying, and it had a great effect on the group atmosphere. We got along very well, and some of us made life-long friendships.

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Other Participating Institutions: Jean Monnet University, Roanne, France School of Business Administration in Karvina, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria University of Tartu-Viljandi Culture Academy, Estonia University of Applied Sciences Wildau, Germany

The team representing Finland for 2014. The two interviewees, Karoliina and Isaac, are on the left hand side.

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All together, Not All the Same »

All together, Not All the Same »

The IB Programme boasts a great number of exchange and non-Finnish degree students in ad-dition to the domestics. This is a strength that stirs up countless cross-cultural situations that demand adapting, changes in comfort zones, con-fusion, and most importantly, plenty of learning, both on and off campus. Wärtsilä Review gath-ered some comments from IB students in the fall of 2013 to get their impressions on what studying in a multi-cultural environment here entails.

“When the plane left from Finland to Turkey, it was just the sound of engines and maybe the turning over of a newspaper, but on the same day, when the second plane left Turkey to my home country, Iran, it was hard to hear the sound of the engines because of too many loud conversations! Welcome to Iran!” -Sadr Bolourian, Iranian degree student.

“…in Greece we try explain what we are talking about by movements of hands. This will make the receiver understand the meaning of our sentences. In Finland, I have experienced people talking with no movement at all. Even in the most important, happy, or exciting moment they present it as a nor-mal ordinary thing that just happened. I have to admit that I thought that without emotion there is no reason to even men-tion something, but after a month of consorting with Finns I realized that actually this is all someone needs to know and just words can explain the feeling.” -Choumos Marios, Greek exchange student.

All Together, Not All the Same

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All Together, Not All the Same“Being in a high-context culture, Vietnamese people are usually reserved and secretive, communicating in a more implicit and indirect manner, prone to using non-verbal communication. However, I find Finnish people friendlier and more trustworthy. Even though they are not talking much, they still show cozy friendliness and hospitability towards foreigners.” -Dylan Nguyen, Vietnamese degree student.

“Students can raise their opinions quite freely in my class. However, in my country, the young people cannot talk while an older individual is talking because it can be seen as a very disrespectful action. The younger one has to wait until the older one stops….The studying environment in Finland requires me to be active and take initiatives. I was a timid and silent student in my class in those first days.” -Nguyen Kim Oanh, Vietnamese degree student.

“I used to study a lot of theory and very little practice, which lead to a lack of academic experiences and reality. In contradiction, in Finland we study and practice simultaneously, applying the knowledge directly on the group projects, and step by step we are concerned with the academic parts. This requires me to spend more time read-ing books at the library, keeping in touch with group members and updating information. It is totally opposite to the learning situation in Vietnam, which is mainly individually based.” -Huong Ngo, Vietnamese degree student. “Another issue is the punctuality: I am used to delays of 15 minutes, but in Finland everything and everyone is on time,” -Alexandros Kordonis, Greek exchange student.

“The biggest difference for me was shaking hands with other young people instead of hugging.” -Luíza Ribeiro Fagundes, Brazilian exchange student.

“Dealing with other cultures on a daily basis has taught me courage. Every day at school I have to step out of my comfort zone in order to have conversation with others. It is important not to be afraid of making mistakes.” -Niina Pietarinen, Finnish degree student.

“As I experienced in communication, if they (Finns) do not have anything important to say, they will keep silent.” -Guillem Puntí Generó, Spanish exchange student.

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Designing a NewsletterIs a Process »

Designing a NewsletterIs a Process »

I felt it was proper to design something that would match Karelia UAS’s new logo and visual identity as a way to celebrate its recent name change from North Karelia University of Applied Sciences to Karelia University of Applied Sci-ences. I was inspired by its lively color schemes, playful and crafty looking shapes and patterns; thus, the idea of origami and paper crafts was born. With that being said, it’s worth mention-ing that I still created designs and illustrations that were self-expressive. This newsletter turned out to be a fantastic exercise which taught me ways to incorporate an identity with my own personal style and ideas. This newsletter follows Karelia’s main color schemes and fonts whilst im-plementing my own ideas. In the end, I feel that

my illustrations along with Karelia UAS’s visual identity work well together. Learning to work through small challenges such as trying to find a suitable layout or creating the perfect illustration turned out to be a fruitful experience not only as a student but as a future designer as well. In a way I see this journey of designing this newslet-ter similar to the process of creating an origami animal. I started with a blank piece of paper (or electronic page in this case), started thinking, planning, folding, redesigning, failing, trying again, folding some more, and I ended up with something I can be proud of. When I started de-signing this newsletter I had no idea I would have learned as much as I did and I would recommend creating a newsletter to any design student.

Designing a NewsletterIs a Process

Text: Elena Kyriakou

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“I started with a blank piece of paper (or electronic page in this case), started thinking, planning, folding, redesigning, failing, trying again, folding some more, and I ended up with something I can be proud of.”

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Karelia University of Applied Sciences Centre for Business and Engineering Karjalankatu 3, 80200 Joensuu, FINLAND

www.karelia.fi/enbusiness(at)karelia.fi