Last modified 15.3.2011 at 13:14

The quality of education brought Nadja to Finland

Text: Niko Peltokangas Photo: Pekka Kallasaari

Good teaching and not so far away from home, thought Nadja Prokopenko when she moved to Finland to study in Oulu University of Applied Sciences. What does she think now?

Studying in Oulu has met Nadja's expectations and even surprised her in a positive way.

Nadja has been studying in the Degree Programme of Civil Engineering since autumn 2009. Born in Russia, Nadja came to Finland from the city of Petrozavodsk, Karelia.

There were three main reasons why she applied to Oulu UAS.

- I had heard about the good level of teaching. The university also has the departure of civil engineering and that's what I wanted to study. And Finland is Russia's neighbour, very close to home!

Studying in Oulu has met Nadja's expectations and even surprised her in a positive way.

- It has been good to see all the technical stuff that teachers have shown on the lessons and exercises.

In the Degree Programme in Civil Engineering the language of teaching is mainly Finnish. However, the degree programme has increased its international co-operation, and there are projects and study possibilities in English for foreign students.

The degree programme has two options: House Building Engineering and Municipal Engineering. Graduates work in the fields of design, management, research and development as well as sales and marketing.

Language skills needed

At the moment Nadja is writing her bachelor thesis for an architectural frim about the usage of a simulation program.

She did her practical training in Russia.

- I worked as a design engineer, and my duties included making calculations of different constructions of the real building in my home town, then drawings and calculations of the construction costs.

Nadja is confident of finding a job after graduation. Language skills may be the only challenge, she says.

- I think it will be easy to find a job because I have also my Russian diploma and here I'll get an international one, and I also have two years of practice in Russian engineering companies.