You get plenty of chances to take part in international studies at any Finnish university either by studying in Finland or as an exchange student abroad – or both! Our Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) offers you plenty of opportunities to practice your language skills and to build your network across different cultures. In addition to this, Proakatemia has some additional options to grow your international experience and to combine it with your daily studies. I have gathered here a list of options and some websites to provide you with further reading about the topic.
Team of International Relations
At Proakatemia there is a Team of International Relations that takes care of all international visitors who visit Proakatemia. It is run by a teampreneur who is elected as the head of international relations by the previous head of international relations. The team consists of first and second year students, so it is a mix of older and younger teampreneurs. Each year the team also makes a trip abroad, for example lately they have been to Brazil and Switzerland.
Read more: http://academicadventures.fi/2018/01/12/international-relations-proakatemia/
Academic Adventures
We love our team learning model so much that we want the whole world to hear about it! Thus, in May 2017 the first Academic Adventures event took place at Proakatemia. It is an international week of team learning, a five-day event organized entirely by the teampreneurs for educational staff all over the world. The participants get to experience Proakatemia’s team learning model in action by taking part in training sessions and dialogue as well as networking with the coaches and teampreneurs of Proakatemia. The event has been a success and the feedback given proves us that there is a need for team learning and coaching around the world regardless of the level or sector of studies. Next Academic Adventures will take place in 25.-29.5.2020!
Read more: http://academicadventures.fi/
Exchange Study Programs
Just like in any university in Finland, Proakatemia’s students can also spend a semester abroad as exchange students, most often through the Erasmus+ program. There is a handful of students that take this opportunity each semester. Most likely our students go to European universities, for example in Spain, the Netherlands, England, Germany or Switzerland. However, there is at least one brave student who also went all the way to the United States of America!
Nordplus Study Tours
Nordplus is a cooperation programme between educational institutions in the Nordic and Baltic Countries. Our students can apply to study tours that usually last from three to five days. In these study tours students from Nordic and Baltic countries gather to innovate a solution for a case they are given. The richness of this is, that the students are divided into groups and come from a range of cultural backgrounds as well as from different fields of study. A group might consist for example of a Danish engineering student, a Finnish student from Proakatemia, a Norwegian marketing student and a Lithuanian business student.
Read more (only in Finnish): Tromso (Norway) https://proakatemia.fi/4722/ and Tallinn (Estonia) https://proakatemia.fi/tartutko-kiinni-vai-annatko-olla/
Final Camp
As a part of the curriculum of Proakatemia there is a project called Final Camp. This is an international project that each team organizes themselves before their graduation. So, the whole team of 15 to 20 teampreneurs first have to make money with projects and then pack their bags and go abroad together for their final project. This year the graduating teams are going to as far as China, California and Namibia!
Read more: http://academicadventures.fi/2019/04/02/go-big-or-go-home-proakatemias-final-camp/
Internship at the Riekes Center
The Riekes Center is a non-profit organization in Redwood City, California, about a half-an-hour drive away from San Francisco. The center offers Creative Arts, Athletic Fitness and Nature Awareness programs to people of all ages and backgrounds. Although it is not a university, it shares similar values and a growth mindset as Proakatemia. The cooperation with Riekes Center started in 2016 when a team called Noste did their final camp there. This led to a continuum, each year a graduating team does a project at Riekes for their final camp. In 2019 the cooperation developed further and Riekes welcomed three groups of 2-3 “Finnterns” to the center for two weeks at a time. Through this cooperation we can learn from each other and help our organizations to reflect and develop through feedback and honest communication. Hopefully we can soon welcome Riekes interns to Proakatemia as well!
And The List Goes On…
This was just an overview of the options for taking part in international studies at Proakatemia, but the possibilities for international studies are as plenty as your imagination! Our students have been in Chile on a 10-week-program, our teampreneurs organize education export in cooperation with TAMK and there is an innovation program in Portugal each summer. Also, for the past two spring semesters we have had International Business students studying with us as an international cooperative experiencing team learning in action. Proakatemia is used to develop great things into even greater things, and in 2020 we are excited to offer a full degree of Entrepreneurship and Team Leadership in English!