The Project Ace – Working Life Skills for Students
The second round of the Project Ace project ended and student teams, including a few international teams, presented their work at the University of Turku. Now, the students head towards new challenges with teamwork and time management skills as well as practical know-how in their pockets.
Elisa Bertieri and Ryo Katakabe were pleased with the project and their team work.
The Project Ace (Projektiässät in Finnish) is a development project aimed at students in higher education. It strengthens the students' project and teamwork skills and helps them to connect with working life. During the project, student groups solve assignments offered by local employers.
The first two seasons of the Project Ace are now behind. Project Manager Ari Koski is content with the results accomplished during this season.
– It wasn't altogether without difficulties, but all assignments were finished and we got good results. The students tell they have learned to identify skills they weren't previously aware they even had. It really does pay off to step outside one's comfort zone and try new things, Koski encourages.
"It was really rewarding"
For Elisa Bertieri and Ryo Katakabe, Project Ace was a chance to put themselves out there and take up on something new. Both feel they learned a great deal working with the small Finnish company Mum's and its "mum" Outi Puro. The assignment aimed at improving the company's marketing and sales. A third group member, Sami Hokuni, programmed a new web shop for Mum's.
– We put a lot of work into this but in the end it was really rewarding to see the results. The employer was happy with our work and it was nice to work for her, she was always motivating and friendly. She gave us freedom and valued our opinions. We got a chance to put the theory we already knew into practice and gain concrete things to put into our CVs, the students tell.
For Katakabe, this was the first real working life assignment.
– What I learned the most of – besides the concrete practical skills like video editing – were teamwork, communication and time management, he says.
– I think we worked well as a team, Bertieri adds.
– We always discussed things together before really concentrating on our own tasks.
A Colourful and Perfect Team
Kangkang Wang, Olga Daschevici, Ghimire Ramesh, Natalia Pakharukova and Elizaveta Shabanoba collected information about the Russian biotech market and how to introduce Finnish products to Russia. The students come from different backgrounds, which according to Daschevici made the team perfect.
– We had a really colourful team, a perfect team. We come from market research, biochemistry, information technology and psychology. We are all interested in what we study, but this gave us a chance to get excited about something totally different as well – to apply the knowledge from one field to another, Daschevici says.
For Pakharukova, like for Katakabe, it was the group work and time planning skills she feels improved the most.
– Working in a team requires responsibility as someone else relies on you and you all have deadlines to meet. I think we all got better at this and also at dividing the work between us, according to each of our knowledge.
The students emphasize the importance of a real case and its benefits for the employer.
– It's nice to know that the results we got will be useful for the company, the team smiles.
The project results were presented on Thursday the 11th of April 2013 at the Educarium building of the University of Turku.
>> More information
Projektiässät website
Projektiässät in Facebook
Janita Jalonen