All staff & professors at the University of Eastern Finland were very cooperative and tried to help us to fulfill our timetable and arrange additional on-site meetings.

The best part of my visit to the university of eastern Finland is exchanging different intellectual & cultural insights with professors and researchers. My biggest challenge is to benefit maximally from my visit time to arrange meetings and see newly implemented techniques in teaching and research.

Kuopio, Finland is a small beautiful city full of lakes & forests with a charming nature. It’s very quiet, especially with its small population. However, people are very kind and helpful. I was surprised at how people in Kuopio, Finland love licorice! They have a large variety of licorice products. I was glad to see snow falling on the trees on my last day, it was a different experience for me although all people there were annoyed form snow falling almost half of the year.

My advice for colleagues at PUA who will travel to arrange their schedule before their visit for more meetings and tour visits to explore all university facilities.

The advanced teaching techniques, particularly flipped classroom techniques that I have explored in the partner university can be brought to my university especially the development of a more interactive learning environment to gain a special focus in PUA. On a personal level, I have recognized different cultures and observed a different country from my home country. I have learned about Finnish people and Finnish culture.

The studies and researches at JAMK University for applied science differ in comparison to my previous experience as it provides:

Extensive range of interactive and self-learning strategies.

Modern learning environments, skilled personnel, and excellent services

Well-equipped facilities and libraries providing free computer services and Internet access.

A wide variety of interesting professional courses taught in English like concept lab, experience design, research and development as an expert

An efficient, yet relaxed and international atmosphere

They got Erasmus Award for Excellence 2013.

Staff, professors, researchers, and others of JAMK University for applied science were very helpful and easy to communicate, discuss, and cooperate.

My regular day as a teacher at JAMK University for applied science starts with a Campus tour, meetings with staff members or administration, then giving a lecture, Lunch, complete lecture, leaving campus to make a free city tour, or visit the home of a staff member.

The best part of my experience at JAMK University for applied science was giving lectures to international students, concept lab session attendance, a home visit to one of the teaching staff, and attending an ice hockey match.

The biggest challenge for me during my trip was the train that I have to change at a certain point within ten minutes.

My impressions of Finland  and Jyväskylä city are:

Finland is a Nordic country that deserves being the number one population in happiness indicator worldwide, also the first educational system in Europe, and the 4th rank in the education system, with a population of 5 million, and very developed transportation system, in addition to their advanced rank in technology.

Jyväskylä is a beautiful city, with a very friendly and civilized population of about 300 000 people. Furthermore, it is a student-friendly city offering a wide range of activities and opportunities,  a modern center for industry and learning, a “pocket-size Metropol” with a lively urban center,  all the services, shops, schools, and work are close at hand, and a wide variety of leisure and sports activities.

My advice for colleagues at PUA that, in the future, will do staff exchange at JAMK University for applied science, that they have to focus on their predefined goals and discuss every detail in their visiting agenda, focus on practical results, new ideas and practices. Moreover, find out the reasons for every different and new teaching method. And Finally, try to develop and maintain an excellent and continuous relationship with their teaching staff.

This experience added to my professional role at PUA a lot, including new practices such as innovation week, new courses like concept lab, new teaching strategies such as self-learning, and removing pressure on students (tasks due dates, and exams)  preparing online courses, as well as, using the available resources effectively such as the Library.

I have taken with me from this experience on a personal level, was how to achieve the educational goals without pressure on my students, as well as, the great experience of teaching mobility for international students, experiencing new culture, and building excellent network with experts and teaching staff at JAMK University.

How long was the exchange period?

From [02/06/2019] till [08/06/2019]

How do studies and researches at (JAMK University) differ in comparison to your previous experience?

They are giving a lot of attention to student-based learning; thus, all their teaching and research activities and strategies are designed accordingly.

What was the best part of your experience at (JAMK University)?

Gaining a broader understanding of how to create an engaging and interactive studying atmosphere.

What was the biggest challenge for you during your trip?

To find halal food.

What are your impressions of (Jyvaskyla) and (Finland) that you visited?

Very organized and clean with a lot of trees everywhere.

Is there something about life in (Jyvaskyla) and (Finland) that has surprised, impressed you?

The intensive use of bicycles for better health and more fun.

Do you have any advice for colleagues at PUA that, in the future, will do staff exchange at (JAMK University)?

Try to get the benefit of every single second during your visit because there’s a lot of things to be learned there.

Is there something from your experience that you can bring in to your professional role at PUA?

For sure a lot of things, for example, the exploration of innovative learning strategies and techniques, which will lead to a higher degree of innovation in teaching and research skills in our faculty and University. Increase the capacity to trigger changes in terms of modernisation and international opening within my University. Increase motivation and satisfaction in my daily work and share my experience to inspire my colleagues. Increased joint researches between the two Universities.

What have you taken with you from this experience on a personal level?

More self-confidence in networking.

Concerning the undergraduate students at AUTh, earning a degree requires successful examination in a total of fifty (50) courses, including:

• thirty-seven (37) mandatory courses, and
• thirteen (13) elective courses.

Attending certain courses requires prior successful examination in one or more requisite courses.

Many, among the most important is that in Thessaloniki is located The Aristotle University, which is the largerst Greek University, which means many young students. Mild climate, excellent structure of the roads, hospitallity, low criminality, sea, mountain etc are also contributing in its fame as a city for young people, but also older people enjoy living in Thessaloniki. Young people are just better communicating their preference better, they may move and reestablish easier, while older people do not easily change their living practices. It’s a safe place. There are no terrorists and there is almost no crime. People are cool and in most cases friendly. It is the second biggest city in Greece. There are fast food restaurants that are open 24 hours a day. The shops are all together so you go to the city center and you have them all. There is public transport to move around.

I can tell my experience in the following points:

– Play a decisive role in academic exchange, good practices dissemination, and knowledge diffusion.

– Support multicultural co-existence, social and cultural cohesion, and promote sustainable regional development.

– Make multilateral, rather than unilateral approach, a core aspect of our work in education, research and administrative level.

– The most important is the development of some of the methods of interactive learning that I use to teach some courses.

Best regards

Walid Fahmy

Associate Professor and Vice dean of the faculty of legal Studies for student affairs

How do studies and researches at (Oradea university) differ in comparison to your previous experience?

They made integrated subject courses with each other.

The courses topics are the same but their content are different.

What was the best part of your experience at (Oradea university)?

Make a strong relationship between us and Oradea staff.

How to deal with students in academic advising?!

What was the biggest challenge for you during your trip?

They teaching courses in Romanian

What are your impressions of (Oradea) and (Romania) that you visited?

Kindly people in Oradea and, this city is known as the safest city in Romania

Is there something about life in (Oradea) and (Romania) that has surprised, impressed you?

The architect buildings.

Do you have any advice for colleagues at PUA that, in the future, will do staff exchange at (Oradea university)?

To be kind and have contacts of people may be helpful.

What have you taken with you from this experience on a personal level?

If you have a good relation with people, they will help you to reach your goal.

University of Eastern Finland is research based. The professor gives full details about experiments to be done for one week and tells the researcher to take enough time to do good preparation for the experiment before it’s done. Then the professor does a weekly meeting with the researchers in his/her team to negotiate together what are the solutions of the problems faced during the experiments. Also they teach the researcher how to complete the experiment although the components of the kit is finished.

The staff, professors, researcher and others that I have met had been very helpful to me both in research work and social life. For example DR/Anne Lecklin brought to my apartment furniture form the university stores as the apartment was unfurnished and she took me from the railway station when I arrived and derived me home and next day she took me to the daycare first and then to the university. It was easy to talk with finish people in English, some of them don’t know English but they are few. Finish people are very helpful, if you asked for help they help you immediately.

The best part of my experience was that they taught me how to think in a better way to solve problems in research and I think this way of thinking is beneficial even in life. Also, I attended (in Silico Training day) and it was the first time for me to know about in silico methods. I was very happy as my experience for travelling as an Erasmus student was published in the UEF site (https://blogs.uef.fi/on-the-move/) and my picture on the Writer’s page: https://blogs.uef.fi/on-the-move/writers2/sherihan-salaheldin-abdelhamid/.

The biggest challenge for me during my trip was my fear from the cold weather about the health of my son (9 months) who was with me. But they took care of my son perfectly in the daycare (eating, drinking, playing, and wearing suitable clothes while playing outside), also his teacher taught him how to walk independently, eat by himself and there was no fees for the daycare as my grant is low.

Kuopio is very beautiful city full of green areas. Really I liked the nature a lot. I lived in (Sarkiniementie 18), the location was very good as it was half an hour walking and 6 minutes by the bus to the University, there were services near me like supermarkets, pharmacy, restaurants and the daycare. Transportation was very easy as in my street where I used to live there were more than one bus stops.

The advice for colleagues at PUA that, in the future, will do staff exchange at UEF, is to learn about computer based programs that they use either for practical work or for statistics, as these programs are beneficial for us in PUA.

We have received a great deal of support and orientation from the staff there. We were in a direct contact with Dr. John Jameson, Dr. Alex Gibson and Dr.Bernard Damian .All of them have showed outstanding level of support all through our stay.

The major getaways would be the importance of embedding industrial background as well as industrial examples in every module and in discussing every concept. Everyone is doing his job with great passion. Passion is a key driver for success.

Ireland is one of the fastest growing capitals in Europe. Dublin is considered a center of tourist attraction with heavenly green areas. Irish people are very kind, down to earth and helpful in general.

I was surprised with the level of tolerance given numerous backgrounds coming together.

I had realized a different methodology of teaching that they had been applied in their education system. They tend to apply an open discussion within the lecture, brainstorming, between the professors and the students, they apply critical thinking approaches on the very young ages to improve their critical thinking and creativity skills.

 The best part of my experience, was giving two lectures about my field of study to students at AuTh. This was a new experience for me to give lectures for international students at a foreign university.

 The biggest challenge for my trip was the funding part. I had to pay all the required funds of air plan tickets, hotel reservation, insurance and Visa appointment. All in advanced, and then get my fund back from AuTH.

 Thessaloniki in Greece is more similar to our city Alexandria in Egypt. When I arrived in Thessaloniki in April it was still raining. The people in Thessaloniki were very kind and friendly and helpful. The city is commercial naval port with a lot of transportation and trading movements. The city center was a bit mixture between modernism and historical monuments.

 They city is very youthful, the average age for people there is 35. With total Greece population of nearly 11 million people.

 I really encourage my colleagues to go there, the staff of the University is very friendly and very hospitable, they look for expansion of extended relation with external partners outside of the EU.

 I took a lot of experience on personal level. It was my very first time to go for an international scholarship position. I gained a lot of experience from writing my application to build up my CV and sending emails to professors.

Extending my networking skills and establishing external network with other professors of my field. Learning from the education system how to enhance the critical thinking of the student, how to make the students motivated and full of enthusiasm. The library was the most place , where I have spent my time. Working and cooperating with other professors to discuss master programs projects or graduation projects.

 Finally I’d like to thank you again for all the help you gave to me to accomplish this mobility.

How do studies and researches at PUA differ in comparison to your previous experience?

In Finland courses are formed into holistic entities. E.g. innovative tourism service skills contain courses as Future trends in Tourism and Branding in tourism. 

Did PUA staff, professors, researcher and others that you met been helpful and easy to communicate, discuss and cooperate

Absolutely, they were really kind and hospitable

What was the best part of your experience at PUA?

To experience hospitality of PUA staff and notice activity of PUA students. Also to notice admistrative elements on walls was exceptional.

What was the biggest challenge for you during your trip?

Local traffic. It was horrible to person who is accustomed to law and order.

What are your impressions of Alexandria and Egypt?

Controversial, places of visits were excellent, food was very tasty, staff was just lovely, but amount of trash on streets was huge and traffic was horrible 

Is there something about life in Alexandria and Egypt that has surprised, impressed you?

In Alexandria impressive was places to visit same way as Pyramids in Giza. Also hospitality of PUA was impressive.

Do you have any advice for colleagues at JAMK that, in the future, will do staff exchange at PUA?

What comes to me, I could always foster staff exchange at PUA as well as student exchange.

Is there something from your experience that you can bring in to your professional role at JAMK?

Making visible different elements of everyday life at school as PUA had done it.

What have you taken with you from this experience on a personal level?

I have started to wonder more and more about development of societies. But getting to know person it is easier to get to co-operation later on.

TU Dublin staff was very helpful, supportive, and friendly; it was easy to communicate with them especially Dr. Bernard Damian, Dr. John Jameson, Dr. Alex Gibson and Dr.Eoghan O’Grady. This support was not only showed on academic level, it was also found on Nonacademic levels. Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It represents a very popular Tourist destination full of sightseeing places. We were lucky as we were able to visit many of these tourist attractions such as Trinity College, St. Stephens Green, EPIC museum and many other places. I was surprised with the way Irish people are attached to their history, and the belonging level to their country that appears in how they are working with passion and dedication.