Abstract Book of the 4th International Education Conference
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Experiential Learning in Student Integration and Support
Liisa Wallenius, Niina Moilanen
ABSTRACT:
Finnish National Agency for Education has a target of triplicate the number of foreign degree students and increasing the number of foreign graduates staying Finland by 75%. Haaga-Helia UAS has approached the challenge with a Research Development Innovation and Learning (RDIL) project called INTEGRA: Low threshold support for Porvoo international students. The objective is to create effective and sustainable actions to support arrival and integration, networking and job search, studies and well-being of international students.
The project has benchmarked best practices in higher education nationally and internationally, and analysed student, company and association needs and the current situation. Two international interns were employed to design and implement activities and support services with methods of experiential learning.
The activities arranged are e.g. low threshold pop-up hours on campus, an online information package and a website for incoming students and career events for liaising with local employers and associations. Also, the INTEGRA team has designed a networking and career design course that includes career design methods, work and life balance, an experiential learning project encouraging student, community and company engagement and networking.
The results have been evaluated as positive by students, employers and the university staff. Also, Finnish students have been involved, which has increased integration on campus. The project has enhanced the integration of foreign students, offered working peer support and alleviated the workload of academic advisors and career counsellors. The project is identifying best practices and feed forward to establishing long lasting support services for the future.
Keywords: Higher Education; Foreign Degree Students; Low-Threshold Support; Rdil; University-Industry Cooperation