TOKYO asked and you answered: Exchange studies

Alongside everything else TOKYOs board made couple of questionnaires during the year of 2014. The answers are revealed right about now. As you may guess from the title, this text discusses the responses of TOKYOs exchange studies survey from spring 2014. The results of the degree reform -questionnaire can be found here. The outcome of the campus-questionnaire is here.

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In the end of spring 2014 TOKYOs board made a questionnaire about ARTS students’ experiences on exchange studies. The board members had heard about some students experiencing some difficulties while heading abroads, so the idea of the questionnaire was to get a general view of the issue. The answers were complied by the chair person of 2014, Lurppa Haggren of hearts.

The amount of answers was not enormous, but we want to thank the 18 persons who spent some time to answer the questionnaire from the bottom of our hearts! The students who answered the questionnaire were from four departments: Film, Television and Scenography, Media, Design and Art.

Most of the students who answered had had some negative experiences in the process while applying for exchange studies. The answers were used as a starting point for our discussion with the staff of ARTS International Affairs.

The reason for most of the problems that appeared in the answers of the questionnaire seemed to be the applying program program that is used in Aalto. The program was put to use as an incomplete version – and still, at times, it does not work exactly as it should. The system, that requires quite an amount of manual work, has also stopped working completely for couple of times. The students’ experiences on using the system didn’t seem to be too positive either. The  good news is, that the system is constantly being developed, so let’s not lose hope!

Getting enough information about the studies abroads had been a problem for some students as well, and in some cases the students have received even false information.  This is why the staff members warmly recommend students to contact them immediately if anything feels unclear: it’s a whole lot easier to discuss face to face than to get confused alone in the Into wonderland. Also, we recommend you to tell the staff members if face any problems you in general – in the end their goal is to help the students as much as possible, and with feedback it’s always easier to make things better!

The feedback given in TOKYOs questionnaire was also taken into account in the service development process that happened last year. As a result of the process, all the names and teams in the school’s services have been renewed, and information about who to contact and in which situation should be given to students in the beginning of February. SO STAY TUNED.

PS: In case you are interested in studying abroad, the first steps to right direction can be found from Into.
If you have comments related to exchange studies you can contact the International Affairs responsibles of TOKYOs current board, Lauri and Jani, or the ARTS International Affairs staff members.