Two international Student Ambassadors from Turku University of Applied Sciences

Text: Oona Karhunen 
Photo: Joni Vainio

Muhammad Umer, who grew up in the United Arab Emirates, had several reasons to participate in the activities.

“I want to improve my networking opportunities and gain more information to help me in my executive management studies. If I succeed in providing a good image of Finland, perhaps others want to come here to study, too. Finland has growth potential”, says Umer.

The task of the student ambassadors is to increase the renown of the competence and business life in the region, market the higher education institutes of Southwest Finland and promote the internationalisation of the region.

“If you have 30 seconds to tell something about Turku, say that Turku is a historical but modern city”, said Mika Akkanen, Manager of International Affairs at the City of Turku.

“We are very proud to have you as our student ambassadors" said Director of Communication at the City of Turku, Saara Malila, at the event.

In the future, the ambassador network will become an extensive network of international experts. The purpose is that its members promote the renown and internationalisation of the region. Päivi Oliva, International Relations Specialist at Turku University of Applied Sciences, considers the appointment of student ambassadors very positive.

“The appointed students are fiery and have the will to speak for our UAS. We are very grateful that we get to benefit their attitude this way”, Oliva says.

Altogether 11 international student ambassadors were appointed. The other ambassador from Turku University of Applied Sciences is Muhammed Yousaf. The ambassadors from the University of Turku were Ionela Cioaca, Minghui Gao, Eftychia Giatsiou, Tarek Omran, Christina Athanasopoulou and Anna Skuratova. The Åbo Akademi ambassadors were Veronika Bauer and Emrah Yildir, and from Yrkeshögskolan Novia, Kyung-Yeol Chun.

In the next round, also other ambassadors besides students will be recruited. The ambassador programme has been implemented within LOURA – Intercity Collaboration of South-West Coast of Finland and in the POLKU project.