Rector’s Greetings

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA gives high priority to international relations both in education and in research. Our research has just been evaluated by a peer reviewing process and the panel concluded that our research meets good international level. In Finnish universities, teaching is based on research. Students are also actively introduced in the research themes and projects of faculties especially when doing their Master’s Thesis.

THE QUALITY of our programmes and teaching is evaluated continuously. Last year, the Master Degree Programme in International Business was accredited by EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development). We utilise the results and recommendations of this process in the development of all our programmes.

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA welcomes international students as degree students in our Master’s Programmes or as exchange students. The contents of the international studies are tailored to represent our strengths in teaching and research. Our goal is to develop the courses and studying facilities for a better studying experience on our beautiful seaside campus.

WE ARE PROUD that you have chosen to study at our University, and wish to welcome you to become an international alumni of the University of Vaasa. We like to think of our alumni as ambassadors of the University of Vaasa. We hope that you have been satisfied with your studies and time in Vaasa, and please share that memory with your friends and colleagues. We wish to stay in touch with our alumni ambassadors and also wish to make the University of Vaasa even better place for research and studies.

Rector Matti Jakobsson, Prof.

EPAS Quality Label to the Master’s Degree Programme in International Business

IN THE SUMMER of 2010, the Master’s Degree Programme in International Business at the University of Vaasa was awarded the international EPAS accreditation which is an internationally highly valued quality label given for education in the field of business studies. In order to be awarded the EPAS accreditation, academic programmes in the field of business studies are evaluated based on practical relevance and internationalisation as well as programme design, programme delivery, programme outcome and quality assurance.assurance.

THE EPAS QUALITY LABEL highlights that the Master’s Degree Programme in International Business provides top-level education in Europe attracting students to the programme from all over the world. The academic excellence of the programme and the international study environment has resulted in the programme becoming one of the most popular international Master’s Programmes in Finland. Graduates will be prepared to work in a challenging business environment in Finland and abroad.

EPAS Accreditation System and EFMD

EFMD PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION SYSTEM (EPAS) was introduced in 2005 for EFMD members seeking recognition for successful internationalisation of academic programmes. EFMD, European Foundation for Management Development, has more than 700 member organisations in over 80 countries. Members include 12 organisations in Finland, including the University of Vaasa. World’s leading business schools and companies are active in EFMD. For more information about EPAS, please visit:

http://www.efmd.org/index.php/accreditation-/epas-

Studying in an EPAS Accredited Programme

Working in One of the Most Challenging Engineering Branches

Meet the Professor

IF YOU HAVE graduated from the Master’s Programme in Telecommunication Engineering or completed courses in Telecommunication Engineering during your exchange at the University of Vaasa, Professor Mohammed Elmusrati is no stranger to you. Professor Elmusrati is the Head of Communication and Systems Engineering (ComSys) Group at the Faculty of Technology, and he teaches several courses and seminars and supervises the degree students in their thesis work.

PROFESSOR ELMUSRATI HAS obtained his B.Sc and M.Sc. from the Faculty of Engineering at Garyounis University in Libya, and his Licenciate of Science in Technology and Doctor of Science from the Helsinki University of Technology. He has published more than 60 papers and reports in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences, and he is also a co-author of a textbook “Systems Engineering in Wireless Communication”, Wiley 2009. Professor Elmusrati has been teaching students and doing

PROFESSOR ELMUSRATI SENDS his

warm regards to our international

alumni around the world and is also

looking forward to teach and guide

many of the future alumni of the

University of Vaasa.

research in Garyounis University, the Helsinki University of Technology and the University of Vaasa, and his interest and enthusiasm for the field of Telecommunication can be seen when he describes it to be one of the most challenging and interesting engineering branches. “Telecommunication fits in all corners of our modern life, such as mobile phones, Bluetooth, radio and TV broadcasting, satellite communication, and also industry applications such as wireless automation and military applications,” explains Professor Elmusrati.

PROFESSOR ELMUSRATI HAS several research interests, such as radio resource management, digital communication, wireless automation, smart antennas, and system engineering applications in telecommunication. He continues the list of his research interests with game theory applications in engineering, adaptive signal processing, and data fusion and networked control.

From an International Student to a Teacher of Language and Culture

International Graduate

TOMOKO WATANABE GRADUATED from the Master’s Degree Programme in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Administration in June 2009. She is now teaching Japanology in Vaasa.

The Journey to Vaasa

TOMOKO BECAME ACQUAINTED with Finland during a trip through Europe as back-packer. She did her Bachelor’s degree in Scandinavian Studies in Minnesota, USA, and worked for a couple of years in Japan as exchange coordinator at the University of Kochi. When she decided to do a Master’s degree, she remembered how much she liked Finland when she was travelling around, and the Master’s Degree Programme in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Administration at the University of Vaasa caught her attention.

AFTER FINISHING HER M.A. degree, Tomoko is now teaching Japanology at university level at Fria Kristliga Folkhögskolan, (FKF), in Vaasa which cooperates with the Stockholm University. Students come to Vaasa to study Japanology, Japanese language and culture, from all over Finland. Tomoko teaches Japanese conversation and comprehension to students. She explains that “the students are so eager to learn the language that I often only speak Japanese in the classroom.”

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Landing a Job in Vaasa >

TOMOKO BECAME FAMILIAR with FKF when she attended the Global Village that is arranged by the International Office: “A student who was going on exchange to Japan told me that FKF was looking for a Japanese teacher. I contacted FKF and got the job.” She started the job in April 2008 while still being a student and has continued teaching after graduation. In addition, Tomoko is now also teaching survival Japanese at Vasa Arbis (the Swedish Adult Education Centre of Vaasa) to people who are interested in learning about Japanese language and culture in an informal environment.

Relevance of Education

TOMOKO IS TEACHING Japanese to Finnish as well as Swedish speaking Finns. She explains that “as a teacher of languages, it is necessary to understand the way that students learn the language based on their own mother tongue. The Master’s Degree Programme in Intercultural Studies in Communication and Administration has provided me with intercultural skills that help me to understand the language differences and how to adapt the teaching to it. I now see situations from different perspectives and appreciate different cultures.”

The STUDY HAS PROVIDED Tomoko with an ability to be open to the different challenges that her students are facing and to help her students to cope with new situations. Tomoko, therefore, feels that graduating from the University of Vaasa has prepared her well for the working in an intercultural environment.

Transformational Leadership from the Viewpoint of Industrial Management

THE INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT UNIT is taking part in a research project on transformational leadership, focusing on the impact of transformational leadership to the competitiveness in manufacturing operations globally. The project is part of a larger scale research, which is currently conducted also in other units at the University of Vaasa, for example, at the Department of Management. Cooperation has also been done with the Levón Institute.

Transformational Leadership from the Viewpoint of Industrial Management

INSTEAD OF PSYCHOLOGICAL OR SOCIOLOGICAL aspects of transformational leadership, the focus of the research led by Professor Josu Takala is directed to the viewpoint of industrial management. It includes decision-making about operations, resources such as knowledge, technologies and information systems, work flows, organising principles, and how the leaders should direct the resources, as well as how the teams in different tasks especially in turbulent conditions should be built. The students are actively taking part in the project, and the research is partly conducted by the students in their thesis work, and even in a couple of doctoral dissertations. Scientific and some professional publications play a significant role in the research as well.

THE RESEARCH STARTED in 2003 with the Finnish Defence Forces when a study was done with people in the reserve as well as in active service. The research grew, and in 2006, international comparative studies started taking place to contribute to studies of global manufacturing and other operations. The research project itself is an international project and there are several partners in close to 20 countries at the moment involved in it. The international partners include e. g. Kasetsart University and Bangkok University in Thailand, Wuhan University of Technology in China and Technical University of Kosice in Slovakia.

PROFESSOR TAKALA SAYS that the biggest motivational factor for this study is that in companies that are not in a state of any big change, the impact of transformational leadership may be threefold compared to the operations strategy factor itself. In cases when a specific challenge for a change exists, the impact is something totally different, even as great as tenfold compared with operations or even technology strategies chosen.FUNDING FOR THE PROJECT comes from several different

sources, such as TEKES, Finnish Defence Forces, and different companies. The research has been done and it continues within different projects for several companies, such as Wärtsilä, ABB, The Switch, Vacon, Nokia Mobile Phones, and Finnish Defence Forces (Military Academy, Air Force etc.) to name a few.

Challenge Yourself, Debate!

ONE OF THE NEW and interesting opportunities for Finnish and international students to work together outside lectures and to challenge themselves is offered by Vaasa Debate. Vaasa Debate is a debating team consisting of international and Finnish students, most of whom are studying at the University of Vaasa. The debating team was founded in the autumn 2010 and already on February 2011 they participated in Harvard National Model United Nations (HMUN) in the USA, an annual international relations simulation for students. This year’s conference was the 57th conference with over 3000 delegates from around the world.

THE STUDENTS in the debating team are students from different fields, and one of the members is Mariana Gonzalez Correia, a Portugese student in the Master’s Degree Programme in Finance at the University of Vaasa. Mariana wanted to join the debate team because she wished to improve her verbal skills and express herself more eloquently. “Ever since childhood I have stuttered, and I have noticed that debating and public speaking in general is definitely a valuable lesson in challenging oneself,” she states. Mariana feels that debating has given her more confidence to speak in front of a large group of people.

AT HARVARD MODEL UNITED NATIONS, all delegates were divided into smaller groups, or committees, and Mariana belonged in the “International Monetary Fund” committee. Debating in that committee gave Mariana an opportunity to exercise her economic and financial skills that she has learned through her studies at the University. Mariana feels that her studies provided her with information and conditions to express the point of view of her delegation more efficiently during the debates.

International Studies

Challenge Yourself, Debate!

MARIANA ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES the effect that debating has had on her as a student. For example, she feels more confident while expressing her opinions and knowledge in class. Experience in debating gives the ability to be diplomatic and to react quickly to different situations, and that is an important skill to have. Mariana feels that debating is a skill that should be exercised, and even taught, and that it would be useful for all students. All in all, “being a part of the debate team has been beneficial to me and although it has involved a lot of hard work at times, the challenge has been part of the fun” she concludes.

SOME OF THE MEMBERS of the debating team are also part of a Quidditch-team, a game that is known from the Harry Potter books. Quidditch has become a popular sports in the USA, and during their trip to the HMUN, the students also had a chance to play Quidditch against Harvard and some other college teams.

MBA for Energy Business Professionals

THE UNIVERSITY OF VAASA introduces its first international MBA programme for professionals in the energy sector. Applications for the Energy Business MBA are now accepted, and the programme will begin in September 2011. THE ENERGY BUSINESS MBA, accredited by the Association of MBAs’ (AMBA), is arranged in cooperation with the Aberdeen Business School (ABS) in UK that has a long tradition in providing management and professional business education. ABS is part of the Robert Gordon University (RGU) which is ranked as one of the top universities in United Kingdom.

Meeting Specific Requirements

THE ENERGY BUSINESS MBA has been designed to meet specific requirements of professionals working in the energy sector and its related industries. MBA programme director Mikael Hallbäck states that “energy companies need leaders with a holistic view of the energy sector. The Energy Business MBA is providing a curriculum with a variety of courses aimed at understanding the business environment.”

THE ENERGY BUSINESS MBA has attracted applications not only from the energy companies in Vaasa but from all over Finland and abroad. The courses will be taught in Vaasa by teachers from the University of Vaasa and Aberdeen Business School, and distance learning (Moodle) is also used to ease the travel for participants outside of Vaasa. “Participants do not need to be much away from work. The MBA consists of 54 seminar days altogether plus distance learning,” explains Mr. Hallbäck. Graduates from the Energy Business MBA will receive an MBA degree also from Robert Gordon University/ Aberdeen Business School. For more information about the Energy Business MBA, please visit:

International MBA

http://www.uwasa.fi/ebmba/english/

MBA for Energy Business Professionals Conferment of Doctoral Degrees 26-28 May 2011

THE FOURTH CONFERMENT of Doctoral Degrees was organised at the University of Vaasa at the end of May 2011. In the Conferment Ceremony, 43 Doctoral and 10 Honorary Doctoral degrees were conferred. The festivities lasted for three days, including Sword-Whetting Ceremony, the Act of Conferment, Conferment Service, Gala Dinner and a Conferment Ball. On the last day, the participants enjoyed a relaxing Conferment Cruise in the Kvarken Archipelago.

The International Office is wishing all international alumni a very nice summer!

uwasa.fi/internationalalumni