International mobility continues to increase at the University of Tampere

International mobility among students of the University of Tampere continues to increase.  At the same time there is a decrease in the overall number of incoming foreign students of higher education in Finland.  It appears from the statistics of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility) that for the first time there was a downturn in the number of exchange students and trainees entering Finland in 2009.  This lack of entrants was felt particularly among higher education institutions in the north of Finland.  Numbers of those going abroad from Finland continued to grow.

At the University of Tampere there was an increase in 2009 on the previous year in both incoming and outgoing students.  Last year foreign incoming students numbered 508, whereas in 2008 the corresponding figure was 454.  In 2009 outgoing students from the University of Tampere numbered 454, the corresponding figure for 2008 being 376. 

What attracts international students to the University of Tampere?

“Reasons pertaining to the University are the positive experiences of earlier exchange students and the good range of teaching with English as the language of instruction,” says international coordinator Kaisa Kurki.

Students of the University of Tampere are also keener on going abroad, with more students going on exchange than from the universities of Helsinki or Turku.

“This could well be because in autumn 2008 we stepped up information dissemination on the opportunities for going on exchange.  We provided not only general information on exchanges but also information at the departmental level.  And then at the beginning of 2009 we published reports or travel accounts by returning exchange students on the www pages in a travel account database,” Ms. Kurki continues.

ERASMUS is the most popular programme for international mobility.

“According to participants’ own accounts they have gone on exchange to practise their foreign language skills, to get to know a foreign culture and to live abroad.  Another significant reason for going on exchange was having friends in far-off places and a desire to acquire greater self-confidence,” says Ms. Kurki.

In 2009 students from Germany and Italy were the biggest incoming nationalities, while the most popular countries of destination were Germany and France. (Source: International Student Mobility in 2009, by Kaisa Kurki)

Text: Merja Haverinen
Translation: Virginia Mattila
Photo: Pasi Järvenpää