Interview of the chair of the board: SAMK can compete with quality of teaching

“SAMK is absolutely involved in a competition and not just any competition but in a really tough one”, Anttivesa Knuuttila, the chair of SAMK’s board, states. He does not like antagonism and continues: “We compete side by side with other universities of applied sciences and science universities and not against them. And this is not all. We also have to compete with international universities. There are all kinds of MOOCs and other web-based solutions which tempt both the young and more and more even the old to study online. Presence is not that relevant any more”, he concludes.

However, SAMK can compete with high quality teaching. It will bring students to us. Knuuttila is delighted about the fact that SAMK takes one of the top places in quality of teaching. This is shown in the results of an inquiry which the graduating students answered to last year.

The processes have to be in order but that is not enough. We need people who carry out them. It is also important to consider the actual physical environment, which plays a great role, when students choose a place of study.

 

New campuses and cooperation

The new campus plans have heated the discussions on the Internet and in the meetings in municipalities. In these plans SAMK concentrates all its functions on one campus in both Pori and Rauma. According to Knuuttila the campuses are a central issue for both cities.

“The cooperation with Turku has now started properly, since Turku University of Applies Sciences is now a limited company with a board. The consortium of the universities of applied sciences is called CoastAl and within it we can have equal discussions. I’m positive that in the future the cooperation will become even closer and this will bring us many opportunities”

 

“Although people know more about SAMK than before, there are still many things which people do not know about. There has been no real hype locally about the variety of things which are carried out at SAMK. However, SAMK has now gained more visibility. Even I know only a fracture about all that is going on at SAMK and sometimes I get surprised when I read about all the things SAMK has been involved with and in how many things SAMK has succeeded “, Knuuttila says.

 

Who?

Chair of the board at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences Ltd

Administrator and finance director of Pori Theatre. CEO of Pori Theatre House Ltd

 

Photos by Veera Korhonen. Knuuttila was photographed at Pori Theatre.

SAMK STUDENTS TO NIBS BUSINESS CASE COMPETITION IN LONDON

A group of SAMK business students will participate in the Worldwide Case Competition, which is organised by the Network of International Business Schools in March in London. This is the first time that the students at SAMK Kanali Campus have taken part in the competition. The qualifying round was arranged in the autumn, and SAMK team was among the 15 teams that were selected to the finals. The teams come from all over the world, e.g. from US, China and Belgium.

The students prepared for the competition by practising with cases from previous years. ‘This is an interesting and motivating way to learn and to test the skills gained during studies’, says Senior Lecturer Anssi Pajala, who has been coaching the group.

The team members represent different business programmes, i.e. International Business and Marketing Logistics, International Business and Business Administration.  All the students say  the competition is a great opportunity to see how they manage in a worldwide competition. They are also very much looking forward to meeting the other participants and getting new friends.

By Marina Wikman

Photo by Maija Männistö /Länsi-Suomi, from the left: Senior Lecturer Anssi Pajala and team members Olli Sipilä, Jarno Hillo, Juuso Halmeenmäki and Anna-Maria Laihonen.