Cross-cultural learning in Finland: Singaporean students share their experiences from two weeks at Aalto University

This September, Aalto University Summer School hosted a group of 18 students with various study backgrounds from Temasek Polytechnic. The Finnish Global Engagement Programme was designed with morning lectures introducing students to aspects of Finnish society, politics, innovation, and art. Students were able to directly put the knowledge learned in these lectures into practice with accompanying social activities and company visits each day in the afternoons.

Pharmaceutical Sciences student Cheryl Peck and Mechatronics Engineering student Fardeen Ikram both came to Finland with the group to gain a better understanding of Finnish ways of living and learning in the search for practices that could be applied to their home country of Singapore.

Bridging course content with local community

From formal activities such as touring the Finnish Parliament and visiting Otaniemen Lukio Upper Secondary School, to more casual events including watching an ice hockey game and taking a ferry to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress – Temasek students were able to engage on a personal level with locals and experts across various cultural scenes in the Helsinki region.

The students watched the Cannes Palme d'Or awarded film Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki at Cinema Orion, and the musical Minna Craucher at Espoon Teatteri. 'It allowed me to see a side of Finland in an entertaining and relatable manner,' says Fardeen.

For Cheryl and Fardeen, studying at Aalto University Summer School was quite different from their past travels abroad. 'Finland is the first time I’ve gone to Europe,' Cheryl said. She was particularly interested in how the Finns approach work-life balance and achievement. 

‘I’ve always wanted to see what Finland is like, because I’ve heard so much about it being the happiest country while at the same time offering a top-notch education. I wanted to travel outside of Asia while also learning more about Finland to hopefully bring back and apply my knowledge in Singapore.’

Opportunities for student-led innovation

As a student of Mechatronics, Fardeen was awed by Aalto Design Factory during the students’ lecture visit to the Aalto Ventures Programme. 'Aalto Design Factory would be a paradise for me as an engineering student,' he said. 

'The space is an excellent combination of up-to-date and innovative technologies, while at the same time providing students sufficient training and easy access to start their own business or prototypes. Students are not simply taught how to think, but rather inspired to forge their own paths, and provided the tools to do so when it comes to entrepreneurship and prototyping,' Fardeen concludes.

Towards a future of cultural understanding  

Overall, Temasek students remarked on how the two-week program made them more open minded and curious about others, and expressed the importance of cultural understanding as a vital tool for the future. 'What we see about the world on TV shows, YouTube, and other media are such a small percentage of the people in other parts of the world that can only provide a surface-level knowledge of other cultures,' Cheryl said.

'That’s why these exchange programs are very important – it’s one thing to say ‘I know about Finland’, and it’s another thing to say ‘I know about Finland because I’ve been there for two weeks, and learned from the people there first-hand’.

Fardeen agreed, adding 'Global collaborations like this are important because, at the end of the day, these are things that cannot be taught in classrooms alone or from our home countries. This experience allows us to be more open-minded, and people need to experience it for themselves.'