CBU is discovering the opportunities

This summer I was lucky enough to explore a bit of India as a CBU student there. The course was held by Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources (CEENR) of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India in collaboration with the Nordic Centre - Sweden in India (NCI). The course is equivalent to 7.5 ECTS and open for graduate students from the Nordic countries. This multi-disciplinary course introduces students to recent theories and methods in the study of contemporary environmental issues in India. The group of 10 students were representing 5 different countries by origin: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Poland, however by place of studies student were representing 3 Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden and Denmark. My personal expectations before the course were mainly regarding gaining practical knowledge about current environmental issues in India (including forestry) and its relation to social aspects, in terms of public's reflection towards the problems they are facing.

We were warmly welcomed by the director of the institute, coordinators and honoured professors.

The schedule of the course was divided into blocks on week basis. First week of the course was aimed on overview of the ecological history of India, and the Indian environment from different perspectives and sectors such as environment policy, forests, land and water resources, urbanization, culture, religion and environment etcThe second week of the course was emphasized on introduction participants to theories, methods and applications in environmental/ecological economics. Case studies with Indian examples of biodiversity, wetlands, watersheds, farm forestry, groundwater, common property resources, urban solid waste management, health etc.

The third week of the course was aimed to present a few more case studies on the Indian environment as well introduce the participants to political ecology, environmental politics and environmental management as well present case studies on participatory forest and irrigation/water management with Indian case studies.

Fourth and final week of the course was devoted to field trip report, article review, seminar presentations and written final report by the course participants on assigned or selected topics in the broad area of Indian environment.

Besides that according to the programme we had three field visits.

1) Visit to E-Parisaraa Pvt. Ltd. This company is working on the market of electronic waste management.

2) Visit to Biome company. On the picture is roof of so called "green building" aimed for harvesting of rain water with supplementary installed solar panels.

3) Tree planting event in rural forestry school

I really enjoyed the Indian course and thanks CBU for partial financial support.

My study curriculum

Hey there. I just had a look in WebOodi before starting the blog, so it seems that I can relax with the courses and concentrate on Applied period report and Master Thesis writing. Even though this semester was full of interesting courses I had to skip most of the them due to various reasons. Currently I have 75 credits which I basically have accumulated enough credit within one studying year. The successful accomplishment of applied period report and Master Thesis seminar and Thesis will add 55 more ECTS and it allows me to claim the Master d. For clarification for those who does not know in Forestry Science you have to obtain 120 ECTS in order to get the Master level. However it was not that easy at the beginning, and it is always hard to start from level zero. I felt myself very disappointing when obtaining first course grade in the list of completed courses. On another hand if the chosen field of studies is interesting and enjoyable the time goes pretty fast. Likely on Forestry faculty the courses I would say "on every taste and choice" covering various topics within forestry and environmental sciences. Besides that if you are individual and you would like to concentrate on chosen narrow topic it is also possible to do it, and at the end of your individual work you could be awarded with sufficient number of credits. Basically the School of Forestry in University of Eastern Finland is covering following expertise: climate change, forest ecology and biodiversity, forest planning, wood science, wood procurement, forest resource inventory and GIS, forest economics and forest energy and procurement. All the available courses are published on the Faculty webpage and could be found there. Besides that Forestry Faculty in University of Eastern Finland has rich network with other Universities in different countries and the courses possibly could be taken even there. And don't forget about CBU specially organized courses which carried out throughout the year.

Accomodation in Joensuu

Last week at Faculty of Science and Forestry we had promotion event related to international studies, and CBU presented its studying opportunities as well. I have kept the spark in my mind which and I thought would be interesting to reveal for those student who will be interesting to apply for CBU studies in coming year(s) and this practical aspect is related not only to potential forestry CBU students, but for all the students who would be interesting to apply for our Study Programmes.
Accommodation, especially in Joensuu is a hot topic due to the fact that potential applicant have to think about their "own corner" in advance and each year number of student is increasing. Previous experience showed that the rule of "the first bird gets the worm" is working in this case very well. Recently I have decided to change the accommodation myself in Joensuu and then I realized that it not even the matter of 1 month time. Basically in Joensuu there is only one company which offers the flats to students - Joensuun Elli. However the observation of the whole "real estate" sector in Joensuu will show you couple of private companies and municipal company, but the price and queuing is even worse than in Joensuun Elli. So at first, I would advise you to apply in Joensuun Elli.
If you are potential applicant for CBU, please take care of accommodation yourself or contact your home university for assistance. Basically Joensuun Elli provides 3 optional accommodation types: shared flat, single flat and family flat. The cheapest option is to rent shared flat, the prising varies from 150-300 €/month depending on flat area and location. Normally most of the students choosing to rent the shared flat at least in the beginning. Student arriving with wife/husband and/or children can apply for family flat. Students, who would like to have more privacy can apply for single flat. Be prepared also to pay 200 € deposit for shared flat, and 300€ for single and family flat. Besides that in most Elli flat it is also possible to have an internet connection (prise about 20€/month), however depending on the location you would need to connect via cable or via WIFI network. So, ask Elli on internet connection in advance in order to avoid any inconvenience, e.g. if your laptop does not have WIFI function.
In case you are arriving to Joensuu for rather short period of time (e.g. conference, birthday etc.), there is a possibility to rent a guest room. If you are interested in more details about this topics, please write a your" question or comment and will try to answer.

CBU organized courses I attended previously - Part 2

The second CBU organized course I attended was held in Russia. That was a great experience for all of us, especially for foreign students which have heard and they were told a lot about Russia, but unfortunately had a lucky chance to visit the neighboring country, but that was the exciting opportunity we could not missed. St-Petersburg Forestry Technical Academy was hosting the CBU intensive course "Forestry and forest industry in Russia". Besides diverse study programme we had spare time to hang out in the center even though the weather was cold enough (about -15C), but the city center was already nicely decorated for New Year and Christmas celebrations. We had saved some spare time to visit pubs along Nevsky Prospect and to taste delicious beer brewed in Saint Petersburg.

But lets come back to studies ))) We had a well planned combination of outdoor and indoor sessions. The rage of lecture themes have varied a lot and include: biodiversity conversation, road construction and forestry planning, forest inventory in Russia and forestry law. Besides that we had students' presentations part and I did not stayed aside, I did present the results on a study "Heterobasidion spp. infections allocation and its causes in Russian Karelia".

Apart from lecture and presentation we had an opportunity to visit entomological and hunting museum of Academy as well as incredible botanical garden with huge collection of flora from different climatic zones. Additionally we had excursion to the production unit of non-wood forestry product enterprise specializing on berry processing and packaging, however due to bad climatic conditions the travel there and back was twice longer than it was planned, but otherwise the hosting institution providing good meal and interesting excursion there.

The housing was organized for us in dormitory, however in some respect I could feel the Soviet echo in there (common showers and toilets in the main corridor) and for the foreigners who are not aware of past Russian history were slightly shocked.

Nevertheless we had great experience in Saint Petersburg and I'm looking forward to visit this wonderful city and Forestry Academy again.

Leisure time activities in Joensuu

This week I decided to shift the focus away from studies towards leisure time activities in Joensuu. The weather outside as you have noticed is rather depressing and my mission is to bring you back to life and to show a light in the end of the tunnel. There is something to do in Joensuu!!! Among the sport activities I did myself for most of my life sport orienteering mainly (both ski and running), however at the moment conditions neither for running nor ski orienteering are good enough. So I would advise you to shift mainly to indoor activities, moreover the possibilities to do that available in every district of Joensuu. Among the active sports I would underline several items just to give you a direction to choose your own track. Thus, if you interested to play football, volleyball, basketball, salibandy (Finns call it sähly) are available in Areena or in case of basketball and volleyball also in Joensuun urheilutalo, ice hockey and skating (hockey matches of Finnish league have started already in Jäähalli (next to Areena), good ice also will be available during winter around Areena building as well as in every district in Joensuu), besides that skating on the lakes is very popular in Finland, but unfortunately available only in winter months. For those who do swimming at least there are couple of swimming halls are available (Vesikko next to University campuses or Rantakylän uimahalli, perfect location for those who live in Rantakylä). In case of climbing I think Areena once again the place where you could do it. The gym and fitness clubs should not be difficult to find, available in every district of Joensuu.

If you decided to roll around Joensuu with your friends they are possibilities to play bowling or billiards and you don’t need to keep umbrella above your head, besides that within walking distance from Market square you will find plenty of pubs, bars and night clubs.

In case if you are interested to use spare time to study Finnish language and local culture I would advise to check ongoing courses as well as other activities in Kansalaisopisto (Adult Educational Centre) and Red Cross. Additionally library facilities in Joensuu have a lot of language study material for self-education. In case if you are not up to studies anymore in the evenings and you don’t have TV in your room library can be also a solution, because plenty of DVD movies are available to borrow.

If the mentioned names in the text are confusing for you, just copy it to Google and the situation will be more or less clear.

If some of the tips on leisure time activities are useful I will continue quite soon with winter sports possibilities around Joensuu, just before I will get the information that snow is coming to Joensuu!!!

CBU organized courses I attended previously - Part 1

Based on my previous studying experience in CBU I would like to share with you the information which might be interesting and useful in terms of diverse academic experience. CBU provides opportunities for students to attend the courses with special emphasis on cross-border partnership in different locations, besides the list of general courses which you can choose at your faculty.
Thus, at the time I have started my studies in CBU we had intensive course organized at Mekrijärvi research Station (about 70 km from Joensuu) during the first week, the place and timing of the course was chosen in my opinion very properly taken into account the fact that some of the participants had come to Finland to study forestry issues for a very first time and the knowledge of English language for some of us was the biggest challenge to overcome at that time. The course was held under the title "Forestry and bioenergy in NE Europe with special reference to sustainability" providing the understanding and concept of forestry operations between the Nordic countries and Russia, as an example of Eastern Europe country. We were fortunate that course organizers were able to invite lecturers from different institutions (University of Joensuu, Helsinki University, Saint-Petersburg Forestry Technical Academy, European Forestry Institute, Petrozavodsk State University) with different backgrounds and perspectives to the topics we were studying. To summarise the first week it was aimed to build the understanding of the forestry concept and bioenergy development in Finland and Russia. For second week of introductory course we moved to Forestry Faculty of University of Joensuu, currently named as University of Eastern Finland. During second week we had opportunity to perform our own presentations on chosen theme with discussion in groups including teachers and students. Many of us had first experience with writing SWOT-analysis. In case some of you are doubting with SWOT term please ask and I will try to explain the meaning of that. Besides that we had a lot of opportunities to visit different companies working in forestry field and particularly in bioenergy know-how. Among the institutions and companies we visited were Tulikivi, John Deere, Eno municipality, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, WENET, Science Park and others.
Many of us agreed that importance of introductory course was tremendous both in terms of understanding of studied issues in from different perspectives as well as social component of the course.

How I came up with CBU

My name is Maxim Trishkin. I have started to study in CBU in 2009 and being a Master’s student in CBU FEE is my second time to study in Joensuu. The first time was during the last year of my studies in 2005 when I was a bilateral exchange student from Petrozavodsk State University to the University of Joensuu (currently the University of Eastern Finland).
Before starting studies in CBU FEE I have graduated as an engineer with major in silviculture from Petrozavodsk State University and as a Master from Euroforester MSc program in Swedish University of Agriculture SLU. After completing my studies in Russia and Sweden, I worked as an environmental analyst to an international forestry company in Finland, and to a forestry consulting company in Russia.
I first got information on CBU Forestry and Environmental Engineering Program through my own network. The detailed information on the program I found on the CBU official website. and the main motive to the studies once again was a knowledge gap that I had in modern forestry issues. Besides that I found studying as a good option as the opportunities for work were also low in forestry sector at that time.

Besides that being a student at CBU provides good atmosphere with various opportunities to develop your own skills and abilities for future employment in academic or industrial working environment.