The fifth meeting of the English Bachelor’s Programme Committee on November 12 was a quick and easy one. This committee is honestly probably my favorite due to its small size and the way in which the programme director and planning officer clearly care about the programme and its students, since it’s still new and developing. The discussion feels less official and, as a student, it’s easier to participate in it as well.
Anyway, we first talked about remote studies and how the students, especially first-years, have felt about them. According to some statistics we were shown, roughly two thirds to three quarters of students feel comfortable studying remotely and also feel they get enough support for their studies. The numbers were promising, and at least on the Quantum Technology side it’s probably partly because of the active community of the quantum students. I did, however, bring up some negative feedback about excessive workload especially during the first study period as well as the pressure to get the best grades when you’re paying for your education. This is something that still needs to be worked on.
Then, we talked about a possible get-together for teachers and first-year students of the programme. Based on good experiences from the physics and IEM programmes, we decided to hold a Zoom dinner sometime in December. I suggested that all participants should be given Wolt gift cards so they can actually order some food for themselves for the dinner. This would also give more incentive for the students to attend yet another Zoom call. The programme director thought it’s a good idea, and it will be taken into consideration. There are still some students abroad and Wolt gift cards obviously don’t work everywhere, but, according to the director, the cards can be given to them anyway so that they are encouraged to come to Finland faster. “:D”
Lastly, we discussed the bachelor’s seminar and admissions briefly. A small trial of the seminar is now ongoing, and it seems to be going well. We decided that contact persons for each major should be appointed so that the process, once it really starts, goes more smoothly. And about admissions, the intakes for 2021 have been decided (for QT it’s 35). The application process is still being complicated by the pandemic since many SAT tests, for example, are being cancelled.
Also, the programme now has its first-ever graduate! They graduated from Data Science last August and will continue their studies in the MSc Programme in CCIS. Congrats!