Invest in yourself by exploring your interests

I happened to be familiar with Karelia UAS already before my engineering studies in Industrial Management, as I had completed 2 academic years of studies in business economics here. During the winter of 2020, a new degree program in Karelia was introduced in the joint application system – Industrial Management. The program caught my attention as my experiences in working life, before and during my studies at Karelia, were from the manufacturing industry and at this point, so was my plans for my future career.

I am originally from Southern Finland and initially I applied to study in Joensuu based on friends’ recommendations and a desire to surround myself with a completely new environment. When the opportunity to apply to the degree programme of Industrial Management arose, I didn’t think twice on the curriculum I saw that this programme had an approach that would benefit me greatly in finding my career path.

Invest in yourself by exploring your interests. I believe that the degree programme in Industrial Management is all about this. The approach of our degree challenges us to view topics and problems from many different points of view such as manufacturing, leadership, management, finance and design & development. I find this to be extremely valuable in building our competence and equally important in finding those perspectives that truly spark passion within us.

In addition to developing yourself through studies, practical training and eventually working on your thesis, you will gain valuable experience from studying in a truly international class! Also volunteering activities such as peer tutoring or student union activities are a possibility that I strongly suggest. I am currently one of the peer tutors for the class of 2021 and based on my experience I can recommend this to anyone thinks that peer tutoring could be interesting for them!

I would conclude that seeing yourself taking steps towards your own interests and finding likeminded peers is a very fulfilling experience and I find that Karelia has an environment that embraces this to the fullest! Be curious and give your opportunities a chance!