My student experience: a two-week intensive course

07.01.2020

My Erasmus journey in Finland started with a two-week intensive course. Before I started my regular courses, I planned to warm up with this two-week course “Circular Economy” which also grants five credits. This course was organized by Turku University of Applied Sciences and the aim was to help students to understand the basic concepts of circular economy and to develop business skills. With the help of the discussions and projects, students who are coming from across the world are encouraged to learn and think in different ways.

We were incredibly busy in this two-week period, but it was so much fun at the same time. Throughout the course we had the chance to listen speakers from different backgrounds such as textile industry, transportation and smart city services. In addition to these talks, with the help of the school trips to waste factory, water treatment plant etc. we had the chance to see the real-life circular economy applications in practice. The participating students were divided into small groups to prepare a project for World Circular Economy Forum event in Canada and at the end of the course each group presented their projects. In our project with a group of four, we planned to design a “recycle room” that has recycled products which are made from recyclable materials. Our aim was to overcome the prejudices about the recycled products and show those products can be as good as non-recycled products while giving less harm to the environment. We thought that creating a room like this that participants can have a live experiment would be more effective than just explaining.

This course was a great experience for me in terms of gaining an understanding of a new topic and meeting new people from all over the world. During the lectures, after each topic had been explained, time had been given for our discussions and exchanging ideas. This enabled us to better understand the issues. In addition, the continuation of some classes with school trips helped us to continue the classes without getting bored. Overall, I can say that it was a really good start for my studies and the only drawback was the time. I wish it was a longer course.

Cansu