Orientation and Tutoring

Thursday 11.1.2024

• 10.00-11.30, Winter Orientation Event for new and returning Degree Students. (Exactum B121)
• Fill out this form if you are going to take part.

New Exchange Students, Winter 2024

(Remember to choose your programme from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. ^)

Welcome, new student! As a student at the Faculty of Science, you are part of the largest community of scientific learning in the Nordic countries. Congratulations on a great choice! Please see the orientation schedule below.

This programme might be modified later. There is also going to be more events outside this programme with your tutors, so we recommend you keep your schedule as free as possible during the week

Attention: This is only the programme organized by the Faculty. For the University's common orientation week events, check the paragraph "Orientation Week (January 2024) down below!

 

Wednesday 10.1.

Kumpula Exchange Student info in Physicum E204, 10.15-12.00  

• Information about the Faculty and the International Services
• SISU Tutorial
• Meeting of the Tutor Groups and activities afterwards

Thursday 11.1.

• Check-In 10:30-12:00 at the Language Centre on Central Campus (Fabianinkatu 26).​

Friday 12.1.

• Housing Info on Zoom 10:00-11:00​

• Computer Science, Data Science & ​Bachelor's Programme of Science (CS Study Track) students Info 12.00-14.00, Exactum CK111​

Each autumn and spring, before the classes begin, there is an orientation week. Orientation week is a week full of activities for all new international students. It is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to get to know the campuses and the university and to get all the official matters out of the way.

Please note that if you miss the orientation week, the start of your studies will be more time-consuming and challenging as you have to take care of everything independently.

Degree students might receive some credits for the orientation. Please ask more information from your degree programme.

Autumn 2024

• Orientation Week: 27 – 30 August 2024
  • Tuesday 27 August: Orientation begins in your own faculty. Please check your programme specific schedule by choosing your degree programme from the drop-down above.
  • Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 August: Check-In Event at the Language Centre, Fabianinkatu 26 (attendance in tutor groups during faculty-specific time slots). Please note that DVV will be present at the event.
  • Friday 30 August: Joint orientation session on guidance and well-being 
• Exchange students: 
  • If you wish to join the Student Union, please pay the Student Union fee before your arrival. For payment information please see the instructions for annual registration. Remember to bring the receipt with you, if you did not send it already to studentinfo@helsinki.fi!
  • Print a certificate of arrival (if your home university requires one to be signed)
• Please also see the instructions for registering with the Finnish authorities.

Joint events and presentations

Recording of the joint orientation session on guidance and well-being (autumn 2023)

You can enlarge the video by double-clicking it.

The programme of the event

• Rector Sari Lindblom’s speech 03:22
• Student Support and Studying at the University 12:02
• Study psychologists 36:46
• The Centre for University Teaching and Learning – HYPE 44:29
• Nyyti ry 59:14
• UniSport + Unisport’s break exercise 1:12:00
• FSHS 1:29:28
• University chaplains 1:45:50
• HYY – The Student Union 1:48:53
• Language Centre 1:58:13
• Adapting to Finnish Culture 2:12:42
• Student Communications 02:27:43

The slides of the event

• Student Support and Studying at the University
• Study psychologists
• The Centre for University Teaching and Learning – HYPE 
• Nyyti ry
• UniSport
• FSHS - The Finnish Student Health Service
• HYY – The Student Union
• Language Centre
• Adapting to Finnish Culture 
• Student Communications

What is tutoring?

Tutoring is a support arrangement for the new students at the University of Helsinki. It introduces you to the Finnish university life and makes it easier for you to settle into the new environment.

You will be assigned a tutor (or a peer counsellor) and a tutoring group. Students are divided into groups on the basis of the faculty or the degree programme in which they begin their studies at the University of Helsinki. The groups are led by student tutors of the same faculty.

What does a student tutor do?

The student tutors assist you with the most important things you need to do during the first couple of days.

For example, your tutor can point out

• where to register as a resident
• where to get your travel card
• where your faculty is 
• who to contact there
• where the most important services on the campuses and around the city are

Tutoring is successful when the members of the tutoring group cooperate. When the group and the tutor work together, each student will get the most out of the tutoring sessions.

You can get to know some of our tutors already in spring.

Watch also the Welcome to the University video on Unitube.

Get to know different services in Guidance Compass.

• Watch the video on how to register for teaching and exams in Sisu. You can turn the subtitles off and on under "CC".
• If you are an exchange student please watch this video of how to select and register for courses in Sisu.

The University of Helsinki comprises four campuses. Get to know yours in advance!

• City Centre Campus (Faculties of Arts, Educational Sciences, Law, Theology and Social Sciences, Swedish School of Social Science)
• Kumpula Campus (Faculty of Science)
• Viikki Campus (Faculties of Biological And Environmental Sciences, Agriculture and Forestry, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine)
• Meilahti Campus (Faculty of Medicine)

The campuses also have various learning facilities for independent studying and group work.

Hungry?

All Bachelor’s or Master’s students, including exchange students, who have registered as attending are entitled to an affordable student-priced lunch.

Lunch is served at the UniCafe cafeterias on all campuses and Sodexo restaurants in the University of Helsinki Main Building and in Viikki.

For lunch prices and the contact details of the restaurants, please visit the Student Lunch webpage. For the student-priced lunch you need to present a certificate of student status, which you can print from Sisu. Degree students can also show their student card or Frank app.

• The Ask Me! campaign will run from 15 to 19 September 2024 to welcome new students to the university community and lower the threshold to ask.

Follow the bulletins on Studies Service's frontpage!

2024 TUTOR RESPONSIBLES

If you are not able to attend the first orientation session you can find out your tutor group by contacting student association's tutor responsible.

Email addresses are the form firstname.lastname@helsinki.fi (replace the ä- and ö- with a and o), unless stated otherwise.

• Matlu: Bachelors: Zina Lippo & Anna Satokari. Masters: Olli Salmela. International: Hany Moussa.
• Bachelor's Programme in Science (Integralis ry): Miki Tiilikainen & Rodrigo Morales Martinez
• Computer Sciecne & Data Science (TKO-äly): Emma Piittala, Max Abstreiter & Onni Tuomela (fuksivastaava(at)tko-aly.fi)
• Geology (Vasara): Lauri Suomalainen
• Physical Sciences (Resonanssi): Aino Luttinen ja Veeti Haaja
• Chemistry (HYK): Reetta Teitto & Roosa Örså
• Geography (MaO): Tuuli Vallinoja
• Ma-Fy-Ke -teacher programme (Limes):  Eeva Kupari, Eevi Kirsilä & Tia-Maria Tiihonen (tuutorivastaava(at)limes.fi)
• Mathematics (Matrix): Alexander Oiling, Andre Madaleno & Raul "Momblo" Momblona Rodríquez 
• Spektrum (matematik, fysik, kemi och datavetenskap): Luukas Määttänen
• Urban Studies & Planning: Neea Kylmänen & Robert Vose

Dear Students,

We would like to give you a warm welcome to the University of Helsinki and the Faculty of Science on Kumpula campus. As the dean of the faculty, it is my great honour to congratulate you on your very wise choice. The natural sciences hold a key position to understanding our world – from the tiniest phenomena in the quantum space to those on a huge scale, such as the structure of the universe.

The University of Helsinki ranks among the hundred top universities in the world according to many indicators. Our campus also ranks very well and carries out world-class research.  Kumpula is one of the largest clusters of natural sciences in the Nordic countries and offers a vantage point to the future of teaching and science.

Our teaching is based in this top-notch scientific research from the start of your undergraduate studies. As you advance in your studies, we give you many opportunities to do exercises and theses in connection with our research. We have deep and continuous collaborations with the top universities of the world.

We also have corporate partners participating in our research and we carry out collaborations with leading global actors.  There are loads of opportunities and we hope that this will open up new careers for you!

In Kumpula, we look after the wellbeing of our students, and our sense of community is important to us. Our aim is to organise as much support, counselling, instruction, and other activities as possible dedicated to you on campus. Our faculty pioneered the lending of laptops to undergraduates, for example, and we are actively improving our support and service functions.   If you have any questions or something is puzzling you, please do not hesitate to contact the student counsellors or teachers – we are here for you.

Have a very good academic year!

Congratulations and welcome to the team!

Sasu Tarkoma

Dean