OH BEHAVE!
Towards Understanding Communication in
Finnish Universities
Project:
Guidebook helping international
students interact successfully with
university teachers and faculty by
lowering cultural barriers
Funding: Tampere University of Technology
Text:
Jouni Lyly-Yrjänäinen
Soila Kolari
Minna Baggström
Tiina Niemi
Sanna Nokelainen
Artwork:
Henri Lautamäki
Every year students from all over the world come to Finland to live a time of their lives – with very different expectations. However, in addition
to all the parties and social events students also have lectures to attend and assignments to prepare, creating a need to interact with teachers
and other faculty members. Student-faculty relationships are culture specific and some ways of interaction considered appropriate elsewhere
may not be – because of cultural differences – be considered polite here in Finland. By openly explaining international students the very
founding principles of our society and how those cultural aspects impact communication, interaction with teaching staff and other faculty
members can be made much more pleasant – not only for teachers and other staff members but also for the international students themselves!
Studying in a Finnish University
Interaction with teaching staff is often very informal showing the
equality and teachers primarily place trust on students. This
sometimes gives wrong impression to students coming from
more authoritarian cultures resulting in problems in interaction
as well as classroom and exam behavior.
Cultural Competence – Culture Impacts Communication!
The booklet will first discuss briefly how culture impacts
communication and motivates the students to start paying
attention to various nuances in intercultural communication.
Living abroad or having foreign friends makes one notice
cultural elements usually taken for granted.
In many cases, these problems can be avoided by openly
sharing international students how the interaction here works,
what explains interaction here and what is expected of them!
Studying Prepares for Professional Communication
Learning to communicate with teachers and faculty members in
Finland prepares for intercultural communication at workplace!
Understanding Finland to Understand Interaction
Finland has long history with Sweden that culturally connects
our country to Western Europe and Lutheran religion also has
had big impact on our society and values. Hard work and
honesty are characteristics associated with Finns even today.
Finland is also very equal country where everyone is given the
same opportunities, despite the family background or gender.
Thanks to our values, students are expected to be selfmanaging and well-mannered young adults capable of taking
the responsibility of their studies. This often confuses
international students with different cultural background!