Experiences of teacher and researcher exchanges

Text: Kaarlo Somerto 2018

Marjut Jyrkinen has been working at the University of Helsinki since 2012. She is the Associate Professor in Working Life Equality and Gender Studies and the Consortium Director of the WeAll project funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland.

In January 2018, Jyrkinen did an Erasmus teacher exchange in Lithuania at the University of Vilnius and the Kaunas University of Technology. Prior to this, she had already done several teacher and researcher exchanges at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Marjut Jyrkinen, why Lithuania?

“I had already collaborated with researchers from the universities. Finally, they asked me to visit them, especially to teach intersectionality, meaning the study of overlapping differences, and the research themes of our project.”

“Researchers from Lithuania who are interested in these themes have also visited Finland.”

“In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, we exchange skills, views and experiences. A few researchers from the universities of Jyväskylä and Tampere were also staying in Lithuania while I was there. By getting away from my daily tasks for a while, the exchange allowed me to get to know my Finnish colleagues, too.”

Lithuania surprised Jyrkinen

“I was very positively surprised by Vilna and especially Kaunas. I wouldn’t mind taking a holiday there some time!”

Jyrkinen says the application process was quite easy. Staff members at both the University of Helsinki and University of Vilnius are familiar with organising Erasmus teacher exchanges. For Jyrkinen, the only challenge was finding the time. “A whole week, which was the length of my exchange, is a big investment.”

According to Jyrkinen, the best thing about the exchange was meeting her cooperation partners. During her exchange, she had enough time to really discuss with foreign colleagues, allowing them to have in-depth conversations that were genuinely productive.

“I was very impressed with how kind people were there. I felt so welcome.”

“It was nice to meet people outside a conference for once and discuss absolutely everything.

So, what did Jyrkinen learn during her exchange? Pedagogical skills are essential to her work as Associate Professor, and she feels they were something she got to develop during the exchange.

“Something you always want to keep in mind is the target audience of your lecture. During my visit, I realised I had prepared to explain some things in a very complex way to students who were just beginners. Basic teaching and taking the target audience into account is important.”

Was the trip to Lithuania Jyrkinen’s last exchange, or is she planning to travel more?
“I’ll probably go again when I have the time. International exchanges and cooperation are important and give you new insights.”

“I heartily recommend exchange to all members of the University of Helsinki staff. For me, teacher and researcher exchange is more fun than just going to one scientific conference after another – it’s a great way to broaden your views and get new ideas. It’s a positive experience that I can really recommend.”

Text: Kaarlo Somerto 2018

In the spring of 2018, Minna Kaarakainen, Senior Lecturer in Consumer Studies, spent a little over a week on a teacher and researcher exchange in New Zealand. Kaarakainen’s destination was the University of Otago, the oldest and largest university in New Zealand. The university has several campuses around New Zealand, and Kaarakainen’s visit took her to the city of Dunedin.

“Travelling took a long time, and I spent just a week in Dunedin. In addition, I went to Wellington to talk to the people at the Ministry of Social Development about public involvement, which took a whole day,” Kaarakainen explains.

Kaarakainen’s interest in public involvement was one of the biggest reasons for her to choose New Zealand as her exchange destination.

“I study the customerships of social welfare and healthcare services and public involvement. Public involvement has been studied extensively at Otago, and New Zealand has a history of involving its citizens in the development of its social welfare and healthcare services. In addition, I wanted to gain experience of teaching in a new country.”

“I have worked on different reports concerning social welfare and healthcare reform for 15 years. I’ve always been annoyed by how rarely the general public is involved in the process. Nobody’s asking for their opinions. The level of public involvement in decision making is completely different in New Zealand, on both the municipal and national levels. That’s why I wanted to go there, and I felt like I’d won the lottery when I found out that the University of Helsinki has an exchange agreement with the University of Otago.”

Kaarakainen enjoyed a productive and diverse exchange period. Teaching in English at a university with a different culture was an experience that helped her to improve her teaching and feel more confident about her teaching skills. Her visit to New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development was an eye-opening experience in terms of public involvement questions. However, the best part of the exchange was the new people.

“Internet and video connections may make it easy to keep in touch and meet people, but it will never replace actually being there in person. Let’s say I would try to get funding for a project on social welfare and healthcare customers; it would be completely different to send an e-mail to a professor at the University of Otago now that I’ve met them, as opposed to never having met them at all.”

Kaarakainen views international mobility as essential to her work. She hopes that as many people as possible take advantage of the possibility of doing an exchange and seeing the world outside their daily work and home offices.

“Every time you go to a conference or other meeting, your network of contacts grows. When you go on an exchange, you get to see daily life in the place and you learn to understand the life and culture on a very different level.”

Minna Kaarakainen recommends doing an exchange to all members of the University of Helsinki staff.

“Absolutely! Taking a look outside your own office should be considered mandatory."

Text: Hilkka Honkanen 2018

In spring 2018, Johanna Virkkula, University Lecturer of West and South Slavonic Languages and Cultures, spent a week in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fascinating capital, Sarajevo. The choice of exchange destination felt quite natural as Virkkula is studying the situation of languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and she has already visited the country a couple of times to collect data for her research. The Erasmus+ Global exchange allowed her to make a different trip to the country.

“I though a teacher exchange to Sarajevo would be a good way to build connections there. I already knew one of the professors, but our cooperation is still in its early stages. However, it’s completely different to meet your colleagues and potential future collaboration partners in person instead of just exchanging e-mails. When you’re there, the interaction is entirely different, even if you know the other person well.”

The Erasmus+ Global exchange includes eight hours of teaching over one week. Virkkula used them to give four lectures on her own research on how Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are taught in Finland, and the differences between Finnish and the local language.

“Planning the lectures in advance was a bit of a challenge as I didn’t know which year students I would be teaching. However, the students found my lectures interesting, and I was surprised to see that a distinguished local researcher, whose studies I’d been following myself, also attended my lecture. It was exciting and fun! In general, I had more interaction with well-known local linguists during my exchange than I expected.”

The exchange in Sarajevo was Virkkula’s first exchange as a teacher, but she already had some experience of studying in the Balkans.

“I was already familiar with the teaching culture through my student exchanges. However, in addition to the destination country, the exchange allowed me to view the teaching culture at my home university from a new perspective. I also noticed that even though there are minor differences between the universities, people have shared interests. But you only manage to see a glimpse of this in one week.”

Virkkula found her exchange period a bit short, but sufficient. “I spent two days of my seven-day exchange travelling, so I just spent five days at the destination. It’s a very short time for collaboration projects and such, but it makes for a good start.”

Virkkula was quite impressed with her exchange in Sarajevo, and she says that she can easily imagine doing another exchange in Sarajevo or elsewhere. “The exchange is fun and rewarding, and the application process is easy. If I do another exchange at some point, I would like to practise my teaching methods, to learn more about teaching. It would be fascinating to follow other teachers teaching a certain issue.” 

Finally, she gives a tip to others leaving for an exchange: “The University of Sarajevo had many interesting events while I was there. You should ask your local contact person about any celebrations, book launches and other university events in advance, so that you can add them to your schedule.”