Press release

The first Nordic Summer School brought MBA students from Munich together in Tampere

Published on 7.9.2021

Tampere University of Applied Sciences

TAMK MUAS Nordic Summer School 2021 group photo.

The German master students had a well-deserved sauna evening in the middle of their studies in Tampere in late August.

In times like these a break from the remote studying mode may be a perfect reason to join any intensive course in another country. For this master’s degree student group from Munich, a summer school arranged by TAMK was more than that. It was a chance to visit Finland, to experience TAMK’s teaching methods and to get a three-week package of business and leadership education to complement their MBA & Eng. studies.

The first ever Nordic Summer School at TAMK brought a group of 15 MBA & Eng. students from Munich to Tampere in August 2021. Having studied mainly remotely in Germany, this trip to Finland was the first time the group from Munich University of Applied Sciences met each other live.

Both Hüseyin Özdemir and Christoph Weis were ready to pack their bags and go as soon as they saw the Nordic Summer School programme specially designed for them by TAMK.

“I wanted to go and study in another country, to be able to compare other schools and cities. Studying in English was also good for improving my language skills. The teachers were great,” Hüseyin explains.

TAMK MUAS Huseyin Özdemar. — Being a fan of sauna, Hüseyin Özdemir claimed that the Finnish sauna gets much hotter than the ones in Germany.

“I wanted to see new places and learn new stuff. I could say that I learn for my life, and most of the stuff I learnt here I need in my daily work,” Christoph says. He recognised the same pedagogical approach in both MUAS and TAMK. “It’s practical, and the focus is on the student.”

TAMK MUAS Christoph Weis. — Christoph Weis was pleasantly surprised having spent the first weekend in Finland at a nice summer cottage in the countryside.

Hüseyin and Christoph knew what to expect since they were well prepared for their summer school in Tampere. For Hüseyin, this also gave a perfect opportunity to meet his good friend working at Tampere University. The study schedule allowed the students to see the city besides TAMK campus even if a lot of educational content was squeezed into the three-week package.

“I wondered what it would have been like if we had half a year instead of three weeks. The pace was quite fast. But I liked it like this, having many tasks and group working and learning from each other. I liked to have the connection we had with the group, because remote studying can be exhausting,” Hüseyin says.

The hybrid studies suit the MBA students since they are all working at the same time. Studying a master’s degree is hard work but also rewarding. Not only with credits but also with new contacts and experiences. An intensive summer school in a partner university like TAMK in Finland is a bonus.

Pilot programme paves the way for new educational products

The first Nordic Summer School was hosted by Sven Rassl, Programme Director of TAMK’s Master’s Degree Programme in International Business Management. He says that creating such an intensive programme for MUAS master students was a long process. Lots of negotiations and careful planning.

“It is also a great example of collaboration. This is how we bring our strategic partnership into practice.”

The summer school courses were selected from the curriculum of TAMK’s Master’s Degree Programme in International Business covering eg financial management, global operations management and leadership practices.

“The students’ background was in engineering. Most of them had 3 to 5 years of work experience,” Rassl says. “Their goal for the summer school was to complement their engineering studies with business studies.” The summer school returned 15 credits for the MBA & Eng. degree.

The feedback and the results of this pilot programme will be carefully analysed by TAMK’s Global Education team. The objective for the future is to develop similar educational packages into TAMK’s regular product portfolio.