Even though Finland is often viewed as paradise, being on an exchange doesn’t necessarily mean all your dreams come true. In Thea Yan Pan’s experience, there is also a dark side to happiness and to Finnish society.
Before coming to Finland, I had been expecting to find happiness here. From Beijing, China, I packed my dream for learning, curiosity for a good society, and the hard-gained residence permit, looking forward to starting my masters in the University of Oulu.
Happiness came true very soon after I arrived here. I got to meet and study with an international group of students, listening to different languages, experiences, and perspectives. I went to the river sauna bathing in the last summer light and with spirited friends. I joined friendly and welcoming food gatherings and nature excursions accompanied by classmates, together grilling sausages and drinking glögi.
I lived in very affordable student housing and eat cheaply on campus with friends. I had informative, well-structured classes and many study assignments that were to help me learn. I even had a Finnish family who treated me even better than my own parents. (This is through the Kummi family program.)
All of my basic needs are met. I have a community where I belong, get to study topics I like. Literally the best time of my life. In the past, I never knew what would make me happy. In the past years it was always hard work and struggle that guaranteed my survival and growth.
But life never truly gives you just what you expected.
Even when happiness surrounds you so much. The other side of happiness, agony clings to you.
It is the everyday experiences, shaped by the various social, economic, and institutional structures, through which we observe, understand, feel, and think, which also slowly lead to the development of more complex, nuanced, and even paradoxical ideas and sentiments. This is the case for my happiness experience which developed into other perceptions and feelings after some time.
I tried to talk about these things and make sense of them with my foreign friends, but soon people would get tired of listening to my negativity and tell me to be positive and appreciate the system here, which is better than where we come from.
I started to feel confined by studying with the same small group of people for 6–8 hours each day. The river sauna stopped as the cold dark winter came. Though there is an indoor sauna, I never had the time to go. I found the classes to be too packed that I had no time or space to breathe or think. The stable, warm, affordable meals and homes are comfortable and readily accessible, but they put my life skills at no use.
There are city and social events, but I neither have money nor time to participate. I tried to talk about these things and make sense of them with my foreign friends, but soon people would get tired of listening to my negativity and tell me to be positive and appreciate the system here, which is better than where we come from.
We are expecting a good experience in Finland, and people who live here know and believe that they are in paradise, compared to the other parts of the world. The newcomers and the locals believe in the same story of happiness. They run after happiness, interpret their life through the happy story, and find evidence for this conviction, even though sometimes the reality may lead to feeling otherwise: confined, sad, frustrated.
Then they would need to self-correct the negative feelings, or be reminded of the happy story to feel happy again. It seems as if in the discourse of happiness in Finland, unhappiness is seen as an unreal experience, especially for people coming from the “less developed”, “less democratic”, “non-welfare” countries. I felt as though it is a taboo to talk about or to be unhappy.
Increasingly, my change of perception made me feel agonized and confused.
Is it just because of me and my own problem? Is there nothing wrong with the environment that I am in? My eyes are open every day, wanting to see through the appearance of things. I see the people who want to stay happy, the ignoring or ignorance of problems, and the causes of my agony and painfulness: There is a fundamental lack of freedom in a comfortable, materially wealthy and orderly university environment. There is hidden inequality between the foreigners and the Finnish people.
Why so? As students, we enter a “contract” with the university to go through a sophisticated, planned training process. Students want to get something for their personal goals. The university gets financial rewards for producing people with prescribed qualification standards by the state and corporations. Any activities that transgress or go beyond planned training processes are not encouraged by the university institution. We students are no in a position to define and decide existentially what to do for ourselves, or how to interact with the university institution.
We students are no in a position to define and decide how to interact with the university institution.
As foreigners, and especially non-EU foreigners, we have gone through strict screening process to prove we have good quality, innocent intentions, and financial capacity, and with luck, we enter the country. Many of us are financially depleted after going through all the immigration process and paying for tuition fees. For survival, either we have to find work in a competitive, depreciative, manual labor market, or live with a minimum budget that supports only food, accommodation, transportation and nothing more.
Taking these reflections and analysis into consideration, could it be the happiness is a facade or illusion of reality? The reality differs from the single story of Finnish happiness. Not only there are unhappiness and unequal treatment, there are also exclusion and ‘unfreedom’. Behind the ‘unfreedom’ and inequality are significant structural issues. And those issues are so obscure and hidden, we almost don’t see them or we ignore them. I can’t help but wonder: Who possesses the right to happiness and dominates to discourse? What have we come to since we cannot talk about unhappiness? And even less so to talk about the social realities that often underlie this unhappiness.
To solve the issue, the first step is to break the taboo. The second step is something much bigger.
Julkaistu
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Thea Yan Pan
Studying in the Education and Globalisation program. Originally from China and currently interested in collaborating with students from different faculties to make our university more sustainable.
The University of Oulu will be divided into three separate campuses, rector Jouko Niinimäki says. He told us about the city centre campus project on our new podcast.
Along with the city centre campus, the campus of the University of Oulu will be divided into three campuses, Jouko Niinimäki, the Rector of the University of Oulu says. He talked about the plans for campuses in our podcast which was published November 5th. The first episode of the Mitä kuuluu kampus -podcast (‘What’s up campus’) deals with the city centre campus planning of the University. Read this in Finnish.
In the future, the University will operate at Linnanmaa, Kontinkangas and Raksila. The development of the Linnanmaa area and campus by order of the University will still continue after the construction of the city centre campus. All faculties or all teaching is not meant to be transferred to the city centre campus. For example, laboratories and other heavy teaching facilities will stay at Linnanmaa.
The whole interview is now available in podcast servers as well as in written form below.
MITÄ KUULUU KAMPUS -PODCAST EPISODE 1
Host Iina Tauriainen: Welcome to the Mitä kuuluu kampus -podcast (‘What’s up campus’)! This is the Oulu Student Magazine’s podcast, where we will discuss different topics, phenomena and people related to higher education. My name is Iina, and in this episode we will dive into the city centre campus project of the University of Oulu.
And who better to tell us more about it than the Rector of the University of Oulu, Jouko Niinimäki, welcome!
Jouko Niinimäki: Thank you!
Iina: If some of our listeners have not heard of the city centre campus project, could you briefly introduce the topic here at the beginning?
Niinimäki: Well, the city centre campus project came up in a board meeting about a year ago, when we started to think about our real estate strategy and we realized the fact that student admissions are being increased in Finland by a lot, and at the same time the youth in Northern Finland will quickly decrease about 30 % during a span of ten years from 2027 to 2037, particularly in the age group of people who will be coming to the University.
We discovered the fact that if we do nothing for the attractiveness of our University, it can mean bad things from the perspective of the University and of course Northern Finland as well.
Niinimäki: We started to think more about what the students themselves would actually want and especially those students, who are not studying yet. We quickly came to the conclusion that in the past, students have come from rural areas, but recently more and more of them come from urban areas, which means that there are also expectations that this is a city full of social life and that we have lots of services here. That is why we decided that our future’s answer for these questions is a city centre campus.
Iina: Where did this idea come from and why just now?
Niinimäki: Well, it has been somewhat of an age-old dream of the University of Oulu, or of some people at the University. When I first started my job as the Rector in 2005, it was almost the first thing that the Advisory Board suggested to me that the University should be moved to the city centre.
Surely I have also considered this city centre campus as a big change, even though the entire Linnanmaa campus is not moving, but rather we will continue to operate here as well and Linnanmaa will be further developed. But yes, I have considered this as a big change that we are moving to the city centre, but then, through this kind of thinking we arrived to this conclusion, and precisely because our facilities, from the perspective of attractiveness, have reached the state where we need something new.
Iina: What would you be pursuing with this city centre campus, what is the objective that you are trying to accomplish with it?
Niinimäki: Well, what we want from the city centre campus is that the campus would be accessible: you can very easily access it by train, you can very easily access it by taking the bus without having to change between buses, and you can access it with a bike from all around the city. This way it would be easily accessible and in that regard, the carbon footprint of the city centre campus would in the long run be lower than here, where very many people have to drive their cars to get here.
On the other hand, the city centre campus will surely be a new kind of a learning space. We are moving towards this kind of a model of several different locations more and more. In the future, the University of Oulu will have three working circles so to say. One will be home, where independent work will be done, and of course there will continue to be other facilities for independent work here at Linnanmaa and at Kontinkangas, and the city centre as well, first and foremost for the people who can’t or don’t want to work at home. Then there will be laboratories and facilities specialized in experimental work, which will primarily exist here at Linnanmaa and at Kontinkangas. Then there will be the third, so the facilities specialized in communal working, where students, researchers and teachers from different study programs will encounter each other, and where the citizens will in turn encounter the University.
Niinimäki: We believe that with such a central location we can accomplish the same kind of activity naturally to the campus than what for example, the University of Helsinki does in the very centre of the city. I believe that the campus will offer a lot for everybody: to students, teachers, researchers, cooperation partners, citizens, that the location is so central. And when we are building a campus that’s entirely new, we can approach it with the kinds of visions that might not even be possible here. I am surely looking forward with great interest to what we can accomplish, and we are aiming for world-class solutions.
Iina: Yes. You already told us that applications have been accepted and that this is a very topical issue at the moment. What happens next?
Niinimäki: Well, next up we have to determine how many people will be moving there, and how many students will, in their time, be working there. Then there are these different logistic needs related to these people: what kind of a road network is needed, what kind of public transportation is needed, how much parking space is needed. What kind of spaces for bikes are needed, what kinds of biking roads are needed, so we have to quickly change the so far pretty general ideas into something quite concrete.
Niinimäki: I suppose it would be worthwhile to mention the road and traffic infrastructure, since there has been so much talk in the papers that this will be very expensive for the local residents. So it is good to mention that there is a plan for an event arena in the area, as well as two supermarkets and the University, so I really don’t believe that the University would be the main burden that determines the construction of the road network and traffic connections, but rather the University will be involved in using the infrastructure, which’s size and weight will be determined by other measures than the needs of the University.
Iina: In an Instagram poll that our magazine conducted, 64 % of our readers did not support the moving of the campus. Who do you think this move will benefit the most?
Niinimäki: The move will of course benefit most the students who will eventually study there. I truly understand that some are not directly on board with this plan. I believe it is because we have not been able to communicate about this project broadly and sufficiently enough. My own experience from tens of events, where I have spoken about this myself, has been that when we explain the backgrounds and the facts behind this decision, people understand what this is about and they support it.
Naturally when we have a big group of people, we have 3000 staff members and then there are over 20 000 students, so bringing the issue comprehensively forth for such a large crowd has been difficult. Surely this has been presented to the Student Union (OYY) and the groups of people there which we have been able to present it to. But maybe in public communication we have had some difficulties getting our message through, when this has been opposed so energetically and perhaps even systematically, that the opposing messages have drowned the information that we have given about the issue, and that might be one reason why people don’t support it.
Niinimäki: From the perspective of the University, the students who are studying here now, won’t be studying anymore when the city centre campus is ready. So that might also lower the support, that it is seen as a risk, that it will harm the development of Linnanmaa, but the students of today don’t get to enjoy the benefits of it.
Iina: I have to ask, how does it feel to be in charge of a big project like this, that is getting such a negative response?
Niinimäki: To me the response has not seemed that negative, because where I have been talking and discussing about it, the response has been more positive, and there is also a big, enthusiastic group of people bringing this forward. I think that the conversation around the campus topic has been extremely useful to us, to the University and to this project, that is has surely been welcomed. The conversation was bound to happen at some point and it is good that it has been going on since the beginning.
Iina: That is true. What would this move of the University mean for Oamk, which has recently moved to Linnanmaa?
Niinimäki: Well it doesn’t.. Of course Oamk has been aware of this matter and we have done these things together with them. I don’t think that, now that we are building close cooperation with Oamk in our own profile, it is in no way an exaggeration to think that Oulu University of Applied Sciences is going to work in collaboration with the University at the city centre campus in one way or another.
Niinimäki: Then it goes without saying that the fields and the areas that are especially important to this polytechnic community, and the facilities, the joint facilities that we have, they will remain here in Linnanmaa. As well as with the research institutes, I don’t think that when we talk about the University having changed its strategy, that it might not be true.
What is true is that the University has changed its real estate strategy, but the University has changed its real estate strategy so that it can carry out its own strategy, which is to remain as this kind of a large, high standard Northern science university.
Iina: In this part of the podcast we tend to ask our readers for questions on our Instagram and that is what we have done this time as well. There were many questions because there are many interested in this topic. Let’s start with the concerns related to the lack of space. The first question is what happens to the laboratory facilities at Linnanmaa? Are they going to come to the city centre campus as well?
Niinimäki: The laboratory facilities will remain in Linnanmaa. The city centre campus will be a space for learning and and encountering and collaborating and holding meetings. Heavy laboratory facilities are not meant to be moved there.
Iina: Okay. How are opportunities for student organization facilities arranged on the new campus?
Niinimäki: This was the first thing that we discussed with the Student Union, how the guild spaces are going to be. And yes we have promised that guild spaces will continue to exist. We will examine with the construction planning whether it would be possible to arrange such amazing underground guild spaces that we have here. This matter indeed needs to be planned carefully together with students and staff members. And of course it means that appropriate spaces will continue to be available in the future as well.
Iina: That is awesome. In fact, we received another question about it, which is are students going to be included in the planning process?
Niinimäki: Absolutely. Naturally, students are an important interest group and of course we are going to include our students and also try to include high school students, who are those, and maybe middle school students too, who are of that age that they will come here eventually and what are their propositions.
Iina: Yes. Then we have a question based on history. So, 40 years ago we witnessed intense opposition when the University moved to Linnanmaa piece by piece. Now, partially the same people are intensely opposing the move to the city centre. Where do you believe that this change of opinion is coming from?
Niinimäki: Well, I think that opposing things in general is very human, that when we keep up with the same old that we are used to, it is in some way safe and familiar even if it wouldn’t be exactly optimal. A big change is always something that creates threatening scenarios and creates the unknown, and that is why I think that it’s very natural that with these kinds of big projects there are those who want to stick with their opinions even if they were the ones who originally opposed the previous big change.
Iina: Well, we already talked about the laboratories staying here and that there will be activity on several campuses. We have people wondering, that will the student community become scattered on three campuses or will the entire unit of Linnanmaa move to Raksila?
Niinimäki: The entire unit of Linnanmaa will not move to Raksila in any case. A part will move from here and the University of Oulu will continue to develop Linnanmaa as well. I don’t think that scattering students is what we want to do here, but rather now that there has been research saying that most students want to live in the city centre and students want to live near a campus, then of course we have to consider that the idea of the city centre campus is not just being there for some faculties but that it’s a shared city centre campus for the whole university community.
The question is, that how are we going to arrange studies in a way that everyone can get those studies on the city centre campus. We don’t want that a student’s day or a teacher’s day would be scattered in a way that they would have to go back and forth the city centre and another campus, but rather we have to create such solutions where we can operate in a sensible way without that.
Niinimäki: I believe that when we go, when we think about this city centre campus solution, we are making the kind of solution that will tie our hands until 2065, that is how far reaching these investments are. I believe that studying will largely change into more digital and during that time when the city centre campus will crucially affect the operation of the University of Oulu, and I truly believe that the effects will be the kind that those gatherings in one place for a lecture, kind of like naturally, and encounterings will decrease, we will need more and more attractive places for encounters that people will come to for the sake of the encounter. In that sense this city centre campus, which will be easily accessible, pleasant, near services, near quality student housing, it will be a place where we can accomplish this.
Iina: Yes. This has actually been thought of, will the remote studying situation affect the future, is the situation here to stay. Will this have any impact on the size of spaces or something like that?
Niinimäki: Yes it has an impact. This is of course in no way a completely new situation. During the past 10 years, universities have given up I think nearly half of their spaces, generally in Finland, and the use of university spaces has decreased. In the University of Oulu when the city centre campus planning had begun, it was thought that the use of our spaces will continue to decrease and that we can decrease the use of those spaces in a way that the studying and working experience would improve.
In that sense the decrease of using spaces was already the objective at the time. Somewhere at the University we can already see the kinds of phenomena where lectures are being streamed online, and most students at this moment as well are taking those lectures as online streams and only a small part of students attend the lecture in the lecture hall. Surely the conclusion already before corona was such that the time of these megacampuses and massive lecture halls is over.
Iina: Okay. The scattering between three campuses made me think of the campus of Kontinkangas. Has there been any thought of its fate?
Niinimäki: Kontinkangas will also remain. The hospital there is very important, and the fact that we have Dentopolis on the campus of Kontinkangas, where the dental hygienists of the University of Applied Sciences and our dentist students and the patients of public dental care encounter, and that has been an excellent learning environment. Here in the health care district, other than dental care too, it is important to think about similar solutions.
In that sense, Kontinkangas as an operational environment is also a subject for us to consider. The consideration of Kontinkangas can’t wait for the finishing of the city centre campus, but now that we are getting this city centre campus into planning, we have to start thinking about the issue of Kontinkangas. I might think that the city centre campus is an important place for Kontinkangas as well. One new relevant thing that the city centre campus enables is that the students of Linnanmaa and Kontinkangas can encounter each other there. Let’s hope that all kinds of great things will come from that.
Iina: So this sounds like we have a trinity of three campuses and one place for encountering. Did I understand correctly?
Niinimäki: Well yes. Certain laboratory entities have been centered here, and also entities of natural sciences and technology, and at Kontinkangas entities of bioscience and medicine. I dare to suspect that the movement of students and their encountering on the campus is very little in the time management offered by the University. Surely students encounter each other in their free-time but let’s hope that the city centre campus will function as a place for that encountering, and let’s build it that way so that our entire student population from all fields will encounter each other there. You are understanding correctly that the city centre campus will precisely be an environment of encounters.
Iina: Our readers have also wondered how sustainable development is considered in the campus planning?
Niinimäki: Sustainable development is considered in the construction materials and the construction itself in such a way that, at least my own wish is that wood would be used as a construction material and in that way work as a carbon sink. The central location of the building in relation to the where students live will lead to people coming there more by bike and by foot than here on average, and it will decrease the carbon emissions that way, and of course when we build the campus in the framework of sustainable development, we consider our possibilities for energy supply, heating questions and such.
Then there is the interesting matter of energy symbiosis coming from nearby stores or indoor ice rinks and other places. If the neighbour needs cold and the other needs warm, then how can we draw more from that coexistence from the perspective of sustainability. One thing that has been written in the city’s planning reserve, is that along with the stores and the city we must think how we can consider the carbon footprint in the area’s planning.
Iina: This last question is a good way for us to end, which is this: Is the city centre campus project the megalomaniac way of Rector Niinimäki to earn his place in history?
Niinimäki: Well that is certainly not what this is. It is the decision of our Board and perhaps the Rector’s courage would have never been enough to start something like this, but afterwards thinking about how our Board found this matter to be essential and started working on it, I have appreciated that bold decision very much.
Iina: Yes. Thank you so much for visiting.
Niinimäki: Thank you.
Iina: I hope that this episode will clarify student’s thoughts on the matter, because this is a big topic and it’s very understandable if it is not fully understood.
Niinimäki: Let’s hope so and let’s get back to it if necessary, we are happy to talk more about this and its background, or anything. This is a very good way to communicate this matter through you.
Iina: Yes absolutely, and we will return to the topics of higher education in our next episode. Bye bye.
The podcast will return every month with new topics regarding higher education. Stay tuned!
Translated by Saana Haapala.
Julkaistu
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Iida Putkonen
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Tiedeviestinnän maisteri ja glögin ympärivuotinen kuluttaja. Etsii revontulia, riippumattoja ja juuri oikeita sanoja.
The University of Oulu is continuing remote studies and remote work for the entire spring semester until the 31st of May. There will also be a new mask recommendation starting tomorrow, the 29th of October.
Remote studies and remote work will continue at the University of Oulu until 31.5.2021. The University of Oulu made a decision on the matter today, the 28th of October. There will also be a new guideline for using masks starting tomorrow. Masks are recommended to be worn at campuses for the next two weeks in all public spaces.
The updated information can be found on the University’s website. The Oulu University of Applied Sciences also recommends using masks on campus. They informed students about this on the 19th of October.
The decision to arrange the spring semester’s teaching remotely is influenced by the current corona situation and future predictions, according to the University. The mask recommendation is based on local Oulu recommendation that was made yesterday, the 27th of October. The recommendation concerns the next two weeks, 29.10. to 12.11. According to the recommendation, a mask should be worn in all public spaces indoors as well as public events.
The University’s take on the local recommendation is that you don’t need to wear a mask if you can keep a safe distance to other people or work alone. The University also recommends no events with more than 20 attendees be held between 29.10.–12.11.
Jarmo Okkonen, Human Resources Director of the University of Oulu, told the magazine that the University would inform students more on thursday the 29th.
Earlier the University decided to continue remote teaching until the end of the year. Then Administrative Director Essi Kiuru told the magazine that the University hoped to return to normal contact teaching during next spring.
Oulu University is not alone with its new rulings. Similar decisions have been made in universities all across Finland, for example in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. Masks have also been recommended in universities nationwide.
The University of Oulu originally decided on remote teaching for the second teaching period on the 16th of September. Remote teaching has continued in Oulu since spring 2020. The University opened its doors for the first time since the corona shutdown in August. You can find the latest information on the corona situation on the University’s website.
Julkaistu
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Iida Putkonen
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Tiedeviestinnän maisteri ja glögin ympärivuotinen kuluttaja. Etsii revontulia, riippumattoja ja juuri oikeita sanoja.
Even before his studies in Finnish language, Sami Lopakka always dreamed of writing a novel. Even though he is a published author now, the career still feels unreal.
Musician, author, project manager, Sami Lopakka has collected a list of titles over the years. He is probably best-known for his career as the guitarist and songwriter of the metal band Sentenced. He is also a Master’s graduate in Finnish language ─ and from time to time a little bit of both.
“I made music during my studies at least half professionally ─ we recorded albums and toured all over the world with Sentenced on a regular basis. Around the time I graduated we decided to retire the band as well,” Lopakka says.
The transition from being a student and a musician to being a Master’s graduate was challenging for Lopakka. After touring the world he suddenly had to stay where he was, and instead of studying he had to find a job. After receiving his diploma he felt, in his own words, lost.
“In many ways I was in a new situation and somewhat adrift. Eventually, along with some friends, I ended up starting a business which had really nothing to do with my degree.”
His career as an entrepreneur lasted six years, but according to the man himself the business never really took off. Once again it was time to find another path. That was when Lopakka ended up at a job that felt, and still feels, right for him. He ended up developing the kinds of services that he never had when he graduated.
“After my career as an entrepreneur, I have been working on different projects and initiatives concerning employment issues of graduates. In that respect there is a logical continuum since these are the kinds of services I was missing when I graduated. So, the beginning of my working life was a bit of a struggle but eventually I found my own place, just with a little delay.”
These days Lopakka works as a project manager at Urasampo and offers guidance for higher education graduates. Even though the field does not quite match his Finnish language degree, Lopakka is nonetheless grateful for his studies.
“My studies further specified my own expertise and what kinds of skills I have and don’t have. Surely years of studying at a university also teach organization skills, stress tolerance and the ability to continuously keep developing ourselves. A job is learned by doing it, but studies can offer a set of tools for that learning”, Lopakka explains.
An author schooled by life
In addition to developing career services for graduates, Sami Lopakka also makes music and writes literature. He says he will continue to do so in the future as well. Writing is not exactly new to him since he used to produce lyrics for Sentenced during his studies. He also chose Finnish language as his major because of his interest in language and writing. Despite the common features of his roles as a student, songwriter and author, the roles are very different to him.
“I don’t think that my job as a musician has given me any help as an author other than with choosing the subject of my first novel. Of course both as a songwriter and as an author, you need to be able to shamelessly express and expose yourself. But writing song lyrics and prose are two completely different things ─ sort of like an athlete would switch over from gymnastics to road cycling.”
However, songwriting or graduating from the Finnish language programme did not magically make Lopakka an author. He had to learn the secrets of a creative job just as any other job.
“Authors are not born in auditoriums, but schooled by life, slouching over a keyboard in the middle of the night. In order to write fiction you need to be able to draw upon your life experience,” Lopakka says.
A lifetime of experiences can certainly be found in the author’s works. He describes his own text as “so grotesque and full of pitch-black humour that a smart person probably wouldn’t publish it under their own name.” Yet his second novel Loka was published last year, with his name on it.
Even after the publication of his second novel, his career, which for a long time had only existed in his dreams, still feels like a dream sometimes.
“Writing novels was a distant vision already in my twenties. I didn’t think it was going to become a reality for a long time. A career writing novels still feels unlikely even though I have already published two novels,” Lopakka laughs.
Now his novel Loka is nominated for the Botnia award of the Writers’ Association of Oulu. Botnia is an annually granted award especially for Northern Ostrobothnian authors. It is granted for the fourth time in October. The nomination for an award of 10 000 euros is a sign that Lopakka’s career is in fact real and even growing. He feels honored about the nomination.
“It feels great for sure. Writing is a very lonely job and in my case, also a job that takes years. So every spotlight that shines my text feels meaningful.”
If writing a novel really takes years and agony, how does Lopakka manage to do it?
“At heart I write because I have a compelling urge to scream into the wind and pour something out of my own chaos. For me it has always been the only way to create something meaningful out of nothing.”
Who?
Sami Lopakka
45 years old.
Comes from Oulu and has lived his whole life in the area.
Author, whose first book Marras was published in 2014. His latest book Loka was been nominated for the Botnia literature award 2020.
Works as a project manager at Urasampo developing career services for graduates.
Graduated from the University of Oulu in 2005 as a Master of Arts (M.A.) from the degree programme of Finnish language.
Was the guitarist of the heavy metal band Sentenced from 1989─2005 and an entrepreneur for six years.
Thinking back to his years at the university, he especially enjoyed finishing his Master’s thesis and the freedom to choose your subjects based on your interests.
Encourages the students of today to consider the possibilities of working life already during their studies, and to build a network from your peers, education staff and people from extracurricular activities.
In his free-time he consumes music, movies and literature, and enjoys nature.
Dreams of a peace of mind.
Read this article in Finnish.Translation by Saana Haapala.
Julkaistu
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Iida Putkonen
Oulun ylioppilaslehden entinen päätoimittaja. Tiedeviestinnän maisteri ja glögin ympärivuotinen kuluttaja. Etsii revontulia, riippumattoja ja juuri oikeita sanoja.
The announcement begins. A meeting fee of 41,20 euros per meeting is paid to student members from 1.10.2020 onwards from the following meetings: Collegium, Board of Examiners, Education Management Group, the Education Council, the Faculty Board, Faculty Steering Group and Education Committee. Announcement ends. A number of questions arise: What meeting? What committee? What fee? What student member?
A student member represents students in university administration. Their job is to bring forward a student’s perspective and look after students’ interests. A student member is plenipotentiary in the meetings of the university. In other words, they have an equal say and vote in all matters just as any other member does. These members are called hallopeds, a.k.a. student representatives in administration, who influence the future of education and research in the university they represent.
Hallopeds can also represent in administrations outside a university. As for the University of Oulu, its hallopeds can represent in the boards of student owned restaurant chain Uniresta, Oulun ylioppilasapu ry (‘Student help association in Oulu’) and the Student Housing Foundation of Northern Finland (PSOAS), and also in the nationally operating delegation of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) and in the locally operating executive board of FSHS healthcare service unit of Oulu. Hallopeds are appointed either by the Student Union or the student body.
You might be thinking ‘wow that’s a lot of responsibility’. So many delegations, committees, councils, management groups and boards! There’s no denying that the list is quite extensive. But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The University is a big institution, where several matters require decision-making. Without student representatives nobody would know of the real problems that students face. After all, universities were founded to suit the needs of students. Students themselves established the university institution during medieval times, and sought out their own teachers.
But what are the things that students might want to influence these days? Who has the energy to meddle with the details of every bureaucratic decision? As a matter of fact, the issues can be rather tangible. If for example, a student restaurant serves bad quality food or neglects allergies, hallopeds can address that. They can also affect what kind of thesis supervision a student receives. With the help of hallopeds these things can change. The accomplishments of hallopeds include for instance, the Quiet Room at the University, and the “55 study credits” overall patches and meal tickets, although the latter don’t exist anymore.
What about the fees then? A student representative does not receive a salary per se, but they do receive a meeting fee of 41,20 euros from most meetings they attend. So, did the announcement from the beginning mean that hallopeds are getting more money? From the beginning of October, hallopeds receive the meeting fee from more meetings than before, but the numeral amount of the fee has not changed. Influencing the extension of the fee was Aino Rossi, a Specialist in Academic Affairs at the Student Union of the University of Oulu (OYY). Among other people, she helped accomplish better compensation for the efforts of hallopeds.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A SUPERHUMAN
A third-year economics student Antti Pennala thinks that anyone can be a student representative. All you need is the motivation to use their own time to further common affairs. Pennala is a student representative in the Education Management Group (EMG), where they collaborate with Education Deans and the Vice Rector for Education to discuss education strategy. Basically it means that Pennala is affecting the development of future education at the University of Oulu.
According to Pennala, what is important to understand about halloped activity, is the long-term nature of the decisions and the fact that they might not affect the students of today.
“The people needed as hallopeds are the ones who care about making a difference on what our University is going to look like after we’re done studying here”, Pennala says.
According to OYY’s Aino Rossi, hallopeds are not superhumans.
“You don’t have to be a super-student in order to be a halloped. It’s more important to know the problems of ordinary students. If you apply to be a halloped and indicate your interest in the issues, you are very likely to get appointed. The applicants aren’t exactly pouring in from every open window”, Rossi says.
Nita Tuomi, a student representative in the Faculty of Science Education Committee, agrees that being a halloped is quite effortless. She believes that anyone can be a halloped because the job is really not that difficult.
“Working as a halloped in the Education Committee requires nothing more than a few hours a month and an interest towards education and its functionality. Specialists in Academic Affairs in particular can benefit from working in the Education Committee because they can function as an excellent link between students and the University all the way to its administration!” Tuomi says.
Nita Tuomi represents students in the Education Committee meeting. There for example decisions are made concerning the student admission amounts and the design of diplomas. The meetings are held once a month and the material for the meetings needs to be viewed beforehand.
Antti Pennala also says that his activity as a student representative in the Education Management Group is really just attending the meetings. In preparation for the meetings he needs to go over the meeting material and meet with his vice member as well as OYY’s Specialist in Academic Affairs, Aino Rossi.
“We decide in advance which matters we might want to discuss in the meeting. When we’re there, we pay attention to the conversation, and as it goes on we comment on the things worth commenting. So if you absolutely don’t have to, you’re better off not commenting on everything,” Pennala says.
Pennala’s enthusiasm for getting into this type of interest work came from getting to know other hallopeds at the University.
“It was suggested to me that I should apply in the Education Committee for Oulu Business School. I got elected and had my first experience with halloped activity”, Pennala recounts.
According to Pennala, halloped work provides you with many opportunities to develop yourself. For example, in the meetings you might come across bigger themes, and once you have already grasped them, you can make use of them in working life as well. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new.
“As a halloped I can fulfill my thirst for knowledge and learn something new every day. It’s rewarding to succeed when you have spent so much time commenting on some new principles, and you notice that the matters are actually passing in the meetings”, Pennala says. He also emphasizes learning to collaborate with the faculty and university administrations.
Merely by complaining though you won’t get very far.
“Generally it might feel like nothing is ever going well when it comes to student-related issues. Still it’s important to remember that positive feedback is needed as well. This concerns all things in life but with halloped activity it has been nice to notice that this is in fact the case”, Pennala reminds.
Not everything about a student representative job in administration is just learning, bureaucracy and hustling around. It also involves meeting a bunch of new people, who you can work and trade thoughts with.
“This wouldn’t be half as fun if you didn’t get to meet and spend time with new people, who have similar interests as you do. In fact, I would like to see more hallopeds from every year and all faculties. It doesn’t really matter where you come from but what you are prepared to do. The views of a new student are just as valuable as the ones of an older one”, Pennala says.
“ONE HALLOPED REPRESENTS HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS”
Nita Tuomi had also decided to apply as a halloped after hearing the recommendations of earlier hallopeds.
“I acted as a Minister in Academic Affairs at the subject organization of biology Syntaksis. I thought that being a halloped could also benefit the subject organization”, says Tuomi.
Tuomi also says that by being a halloped she has been able to affect student-related decisions still under planning, and reshape them to better suit the needs of students.
“Because of halloped activity, I am more informed than an average student is about matters concerning University administration, which naturally affect students directly. I feel like I can truly make a difference through this job and get to see the results immediately”, Tuomi explains.
Annakaisa Tikkinen, a student of English Philology, says that when it comes to decision-making in administration, a student member carries the same amount of responsibility as any other member.
“You’re not just a messenger there. In the bigger picture it’s about the realization of the entire University democracy”, Tikkinen states.
That is why it takes a serious level of commitment to be a halloped.
“By calculation, one halloped can represent hundreds or thousands of students. It’s important to commit to the job, so that the voice of students can be heard when making decisions”, Tikkinen highlights.
Tikkinen herself is a student member in the University’s Board of Examiners. There matters such as petitions for correction of students and student applicants are handled. One can file a petition for correction if they are for example unsatisfied with the evaluation of their thesis, a decision concerning acceptance of credits or the scoring in student admission.
Tikkinen says that affecting the rights of students and the development of the University community feels meaningful to her.
“It’s also good preparation for working life!” she adds.
Both Pennala and Tikkinen agree that as a halloped you need to know how to speak up.
“The most important thing is having the courage to speak up at the right time. Whether it’s about stating your opinion or saying that ‘hey, I don’t understand, could somebody explain, please’. Working in administration is also a good place to practice that courage even if the thought of it might seem scary. Being a halloped is good for someone who has courage or someone who wants to have courage”, Tikkinen says.
“Having the courage to speak up when it’s needed can be helpful: you can deal with big themes and sometimes think outside the box”, Pennala says.
OYY’s Aino Rossi explains that there are many more good sides to halloped activity. As a halloped you can gain experience, networks (for example, with the University administration and people responsible for academic affairs), filler for your CV, study credits, and from many meetings you can get money or even meeting snacks. Then there’s information regarding University matters still under preparation, and you can also comment on documents you can’t otherwise influence.
OYY also organizes coffee meetings, get-togethers and other meetings for hallopeds as well as annual christmas parties, May Day mead-celebrations and a water-bus tour. At these events you can meet subject organization active members and other hallopeds. Without these kinds of activities the job could get quite dull, and just hanging around in the meetings would make the experience rather one-sided.
THE GROUPS ARE REFORMED IN AUTUMN
Now, who can become a halloped and how? Anyone can apply as a halloped and you don’t need to have any prior experience in organization or interest work. Open calls can be found at OYY’s website and in the halloped portal of the University of Oulu.
Many additional calls are still going on at this moment. Every other fall there is a larger open call, where all hallopeds are elected. OYY trains all of the student representatives and arranges orientations. The latest orientations have been this September, but additional training can be arranged throughout the year regarding subjects that the hallopeds themselves request.
Most student representative jobs in administration last two years. You can however resign during your term if the job gets too straining or if you happen to graduate. In addition to the ordinary members there are also vice members involved. Vice members don’t need to participate in the meetings unless the ordinary member is unable to attend for some reason. Aino Rossi also points out, that the experts at OYY will help with any problems and answer questions.
Hallopeds do not have to work without the support of other students either. Hallopeds can be provided with feedback, which they can take into account. Student members represent students and oversee their interests, which is why they need the support and opinions of other students. Questions and feedback can be sent to the present hallopeds straight via email. The contact information of all present hallopeds can be found at halloped.fi/en/oulu. There you can also find all of the committees, the lengths and descriptions of halloped jobs and ongoing halloped calls.
So, the stiff announcement from the beginning shortly entails the following: The student members, who represent students in the meetings of University administration, are being paid a meeting fee from more meetings than before. Students are getting financial compensation for the work they are doing – That is all in a nutshell.
This article was translated by Saana Haapala.
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Anna-Sofia Tastula
Maisterivaiheen kirjallisuuden opiskelija ja syksyn toimittajaharjoittelija. Lapsenmielinen noolikontti, joka on kiinnostunut kuolemasta, kirjallisuudesta ja kuolemasta kirjallisuudessa.
What is it like to stray from the straight-forward path of a solid job? We talked with some entrepreneurs from Oulu to unveil their motivations for seeking out entrepreneurship.
Developing a strategy, paying bills, hiring people, contacting customers… the daily lives of entrepreneurs are anything but monotonous. However, there are also risks in the constantly changing situations of entrepreneurship. In this article we take a look to the lives of those who choose the path of building their own companies.
Until university, our paths are fairly straightforward and easy to follow. You start in kindergarten move on to school, institute, or university and finally get a degree. After that, it is not that easy. Maybe twenty or thirty years ago you wanted to find a job in a good company where to make a career, and then enjoy your retirement.
These days however, it is more common to change jobs several times during our professional lives. The recent economic crisis also turned the professional market more unstable. Facing this situation many still pursue a stable income as an employee, but others decide to create their own businesses to make a living.
If you decide to be an employee, you need to attract the interest of recruiters, find someone to hire you, adapt to your workplace and do your best being useful and proactive. If it is a win–win relationship, you get promoted, or just keep working in that company. If it is not, you will either seek another job or be fired. But what about those who instead of looking for someone else to employ them, start a company themselves? How does that entrepreneurship path evolve? What challenges and rewards does it offer? To solve these questions, we approached local entrepreneurs to hear their stories.
What is an entrepreneur?
If entrepreneurship is the activity of setting up a business expecting to get profit, then we can agree that an entrepreneur is a person who organizes this business venture. However, it is not an easy task to define entrepreneurship. For example scholars don’t seem to agree on how exactly to do it. Some of the variety of definitions include:
“‘The creation and extraction of value from an environment”
Alistair Anderson
“The capacity of seeing things in a way which afterwards proves to be true, even if it cannot be established at the moment”
Joseph Schumpeter
“The tactical invention of new practices that change styles of living”
Daniel Hjorth and Chris Steyaert
These definitions articulate two core elements of entrepreneurship: invention and action. Although partially agreeing with this, Mia Kemppaala, founder of the Polar Bear Pitching event, also adds other characteristics to define entrepreneurship. She considers that some characteristics common to all entrepreneurs are to be constant learners, problem solvers, and non-conformist people. In her words: “Entrepreneurs identify a problem in the world, and instead of complaining, they act and try to change the situation.”
This active attitude is also highlighted by Zara Kukkamaa, MBA graduate and CEO of Hohot Consulting, and Ville Saarenpää, chairman of the Oulu Entrepreneurship Society. When asked about entrepreneurship Kukkamaa referred to the Finnish word “yrittäjä”, which means “one who tries”. Similarly, Saarenpää points out entrepreneurship is about “doing things, trying things, and being curious about things to be aware of the possibilities”.
But is this “continuous trying” not also present in the life of employees? Either developing a product, organizing an event, or implementing a change, we must be curious and try different solutions. If you are at risk of losing your job or you need to find effective solutions to real-life problems, you need to try different options before finding the most suitable. So, if using creativity to find solutions is also a part of a “standard working life”, that isn’t enough to define entrepreneurship. Why is it so difficult to define what it’s truly about?
The cost of trying
Besides creativity another word usually associated with entrepreneurship is freedom. But not having a boss, managing your own schedule and setting your own salary also has a cost: uncertainty. You can follow the path, identify a need, develop a solution, test it, and then sell it, but you don’t know what can happen later.
In that sense, Hanna Manninen, CEO of MABD, says: “You need to learn how to live with the stress of the uncertainty because you never know where the next paycheck is going to come from.”
It seems the difference between being an employee and an entrepreneur lies on the consequences of failing. For most employees, the consequences of mistakes in their jobs is not something dangerous, but for entrepreneurs it may imply losing clients, employees, and in worst cases, even the companies they have built.
Maybe this is the reason why the entrepreneurship path does not suit everyone. In the words of Kukkamaa: “Everybody can try entrepreneurship once in their lives, but not everyone fits in being an entrepreneur for the rest of their lives.”
Regarding risks, Manninen considers that a dose of madness is needed to run your own business.
“As an entrepreneur you can learn, but not everyone is made for it. For being an entrepreneur, you need to be a little bit mad to go after your dreams, but you also need to be brave and believe in your own skills”, she says.
Similarly, Vili Valolahti and Joonas Tapio, Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of the Oulu Entrepreneurship Society, respectively, consider that part of becoming an entrepreneur is managing risk.
Valolahti says: “As an entrepreneur, you have to be brave, but you also need to be careful”, and Tapio complements “without a risk, you cannot make a profit, but you need to evaluate and manage the risk.”
Trying to manage that risk, many times entrepreneurs face burnout, concern, and depression. When asked about their daily activities most of the interviewees included an incredible wide range of activities. As Toni Eskola, Electrical Engineering graduate and CEO of Qridi says: “I can’t even list them, there are so many. Sales, Finance, Management, Administrative Work, Product Development etc. More and more management things which I need and take time.”
In fact, in one of the first studies about mental health issues and entrepreneurship, Dr. Michael Freeman studied 242 US entrepreneurs, finding that 49 % of them had mental health issues. Acknowledging this complex situation, many interviewees tried to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In the words of Matti Haapamäki, graduated from Industrial Engineering and Management, and current CEO of Load Last Save: “A person can learn to do anything they set their mind to, but I don’t believe in always being able to give 100 % of yourself in every situation. Everyone has off days and we should not feel guilty about that.”
The effects of the environment
In a study published in 2018, Robert Fairlie and Frank Fossen divide business founders between “necessity” and “opportunity” entrepreneurs. For the former, entrepreneurship is a way to overcome unemployment, while the latter start their businesses when having a job. Likewise, Giacomin, Janssen, Guyot, and Lohest analyzed the profiles of 538 Belgian company founders, finding that their socio-economic characteristics (e.g. age, family, economic environment) could impact their approach to entrepreneurship. For example, children of entrepreneurs were more likely to fit into the “opportunity” category, while older people starting their own businesses conceived them as a necessity.
The results of Giacomin and colleagues partially confirm that a protective welfare system can lower entrepreneurial intent. Although Finland is a stable economic environment, not long ago, an unexpected situation pushed the emergence of many entrepreneurs in Oulu: Nokia’s collapse. Kemppaala believes this situation “challenged everyone’s assumptions about the future of the city, emphasizing the local characteristics to make a difference.” Against the odds, Oulu people embraced a Sisu attitude, adapting and turning the challenge into an opportunity.
But despite that specific moment in Oulu’s recent history, the Finnish welfare system provides safety. Here, more likely people will get a job with a regular income that assure them a good life and retirement. So, if there is safety in regular work, why take up entrepreneurship? For Kemppaala it is a potential side effect of the current socio-economic structure. “I do appreciate the social system that we have. I have been blessed by it. But I also think it can be like a double-sided sword. It is a good thing helping people to overcome their needs, but it can also promote some passive attitude.”
However, that same environment provides a safety net for entrepreneurs willing to innovate and add value. For example, the funding programs for students in the Oulu Innovation Center or the grant support for entrepreneurs from TE-keskus, plus all the options given by Business Finland. For Tapio the system helps those who dare to pursue creating a company. “You don’t learn about possibilities in the classroom, you have to go to the real world. Doesn’t matter if you fail, as far as you don’t have debts or anything like that, you will have second chances.”
The expected pay-off
If entrepreneurship is such a challenging path, what drives and helps entrepreneurs to persist when facing discouragement? Exploring in the interviewees’ stories, I found they persist because of the positive personal outcomes, as well as a strong sense of purpose. About the former, Kukkamaa realizes that her entrepreneurial role helped her to develop certain skills. “I have created my personal authority in the field where I am working. I have also improved my management skills to organize my team.”
Likewise, Haapamäki thinks he has become more adaptable. “Now I have a stronger ability to learn new things and take in feedback, both be empowered by the positive and learn from the negative.”
The sense of purpose is evident when talking with Manninen. She manages her art gallery with the confidence of the positive impact of art in people, and the impact she can make in Oulu with her company.
“There is a relationship between the entrepreneur and the community. We can change the way businesses are run and how people are managed. As an entrepreneur, I can decide what things to do, what my values are. I don’t need to fit into someone else’s culture, but I can create mine”, she says.
Aligned with this, Eskola considers his company as the place from where to contribute. “I see this as my own place to do good to the world. I am not trying to get there easily. Our vision has been and still is to have a positive impact on people’s self-awareness and learning. For that we work every day.”
Since the sustainability of a company is dictated by the income and profit made, it was interesting to notice that no interviewee considered money as a main motivator. Although some people may consider entrepreneurs greedy, Kukkamaa thinks this could be explained by their willingness to talk about money. Considering the high rate of new businesses failure it is reasonable that entrepreneurs need to constantly talk about money. Either in their relationships with customers, investors, employees or colleagues, money is intimately tied to keep the boat afloat.
Instead, most of the interviewees understand their incomes as a consequence of their effort in helping people. In that sense, Eskola points out: “You have to make a profit if you want to become a sustainable company. But when and how much are other questions.”
***
The entrepreneurship path is full of twists and turns. Although it contains risks, it also offers rewards and fulfillment. Resilient, creative, eternal non-conformist learners, entrepreneurs overcome doubts and learn from their mistakes when building their businesses. Also, although we have presented entrepreneurs and employees as different, they can also be complementary. In the words of Haapamäki: “There are few things which have the perfect time to be done. Entrepreneurship is not one of them. You’ll always have doubts. But you can reduce them by being someone else’s employee.”
Employee or entrepreneur, employee while entrepreneur, employee then entrepreneur (or the other way around), … whichever your path is, if you belong to the yrittäjät, eternal and non-conformist learners, the seed of entrepreneurship lies in you.
Edited 15.10. Changed one sentence in an interviewees line per their request.
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Pablo Santur
Learning specialist in thesis writing mode. Former TV scriptwriter. Foodie. Anime lover. Twitter: @pablodsantur
