Joensuu and the UEF

Joensuu is located in the Eastern Finland and it is the regional centre and capital of North Karelia (City of Joensuu 2016a). According to the statistics of the 1^st of January 2016, the town’s population has reached 75,514 (City of Joensuu 2016b). Approximately one third of the population consists of students, and up to 20% of students are foreigners (City of Joensuu 2016c). The close proximity of the eastern border to Russia has been a major factor in the town’s history. According to the statistics, in 2014 there were 1,973 foreigners living in the Joensuu region, which equals to approximately 2.61% of the town’s population (Joensuu taskukoossa 2015). There are approximately 50 different nationalities in Joensuu, and the biggest minority group is formed by the immigrants of Russian descent (Joensuu taskukoossa 2015).

International students in Joensuu may study at the UEF, the Karelia University of Applied Sciences, as well as colleges and technical colleges. For the purposes of this research, I limit

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the study to concern only doctoral degree students at the Joensuu campus of the UEF, because I am familiar with the UEF as a student and I am based at the Joensuu campus myself.

Furthermore, I assume that many doctoral degree students have spent more time at the UEF compared to exchange students or master’s degree students, and have thus more experiences to share.

According to a leaflet provided in the website of UEF (2014: 4), the university was founded on the 1^st of January 2010 as the University of Joensuu (which had campuses in Joensuu and Savonlinna) and the University of Kuopio merged into one large entity. “The University has 15,000 degree students and four faculties: the Philosophical Faculty, the Faculty of Science and Forestry, the Faculty of Health Science, and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies” (Savonlahti and Vuorre 2014: 4). The UEF has approximately 1,400 international students every year (ibid.). In order to promote the international exchanges of scholars and students, the UEF is doing cooperation with approximately 130 universities across the globe (Savonlahti and Vuorre 2014: 5). The UEF practices international education cooperation also by encouraging its researchers to visit the university’s partner institutions abroad more often (University of Eastern Finland 2012b: 7). Although most of the study programmes are held in Finnish, there is a variety of international study programmes available in English for students in Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral level (Savonlahti and Vuorre 2014: 6).

Students can study in several different degree programmes. In Joensuu, international students can study in non-degree programmes (which are aimed at exchange students at both Bachelor’s and Master’s level), Bachelor’s degree programmes, Master’s degree programmes and Doctoral degree programmes (Savonlahti and Vuorre 2014: 7–22). There are 13 discipline-specific or thematic doctoral programmes arranged at the UEF starting from the academic year of 2015–

2016 (UEF – Doctoral School, 2015). In the autumn of 2015, the structure of the doctoral degree programmes was renewed (as did the outlook and design of the entire UEF website, which is further discussed in the Section 3.2.1). The changes included merging some of the previous programmes into broader thematic programmes. For instance, in the Philosophical Faculty, programmes of Doctoral Programme in Language Studies, Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters, Doctoral Programme in Theology, Life Course in Context Doctoral Programme and Doctoral Programme in Russian and Border Studies were merged into Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters, which is now arranged together with

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the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. The different degree programmes that can be enrolled in Joensuu are presented in the following table.

Table 2. International studies arranged at the UEF. Based on UEF Website, 2015

Non-degree programmes Master’s degree programmes Doctoral degree programmes (Joensuu, Kuopio) Finnish Culture Study Programme MDP in Linguistic Sciences Doctoral Programme in

Educational Studies

Linguistics and Language Technology MDP in English Language and Culture Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters

International Study Programme in Education

MDP in Clinical Linguistics Doctoral Programme of Clinical Research

Professional Intercultural Competence MDP in Educational Sciences Doctoral Programme in Molecular Medicine

MDP in Forestry (CBU) Doctoral Programme in Science, Technology and Computing Psychology Courses for International

Exchange Students

MDP in European Forestry Doctoral Programme in Environmental Physics, Health and Biology

Approaches to Theology Transatlantic Forestry Master (TransFor-M)

MDP for Research Chemists Doctoral Programme in Business Information Technology and Computer

Science

MDP in Photonics Doctoral Programme in Law Business and Management MDP in Wood Materials Science Doctoral Programme in Social and

Cultural Encounters Karelia, Russia and the Baltic Area MDP in Color in Informatics and

Media Technology (CIMET) Border Crossings: Global and Local

Societies in Transition

MDP in Colour in Science and Industry (COSI)

Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change

MDP in Environmental Policy and Law Social Sciences MDP in Border Crossings: Global and

Local Societies in Transition MDP in Service Management

International Economic and Resources Law: MDP in Law

Additional courses available for exchange students (Joensuu) Environmental Biology

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At UEF, teaching involving language and communication skills is mainly offered by the Philosophical Faculty (to some extent in the School of Theology, but more importantly in the School of Humanities where studies include English language and culture, Russian language and culture, Japanese language and Karelian language) and the Language Centre (University of Eastern Finland 2011b: 9). In addition, the Faculty of Science and Forestry, the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies may arrange training involving language and communication, albeit to a lesser extent (ibid.).

The unit responsible for planning, implementing, coordinating, developing and monitoring the internal and external communications of the UEF is the Communications and Media Relations, or CMR for short (University of Eastern Finland 2016a). The CMR functions in many areas:

e.g. consulting the different units of the UEF in their communications and marketing, maintaining the website of the UEF and publishing magazines, brochures and bulletins (University of Eastern Finland 2011: 6).

The UEF provides different electronic services for all students. To access these services, one needs to be enrolled as ‘present’ at the UEF. First of all, there is University’s Intranet, or UEF Intra for short, which is a database for information, news and announcements aimed at the student and staff of the university (University of Eastern Finland 2015b: 27). Another vital tool for students is WebOodi, which is a student information system – an internet-based work space – where students can enrol at the university, keep their contact information up-to-date, view the record of their completed studies, make their personal study plans and register for different courses and exams (University of Eastern Finland 2015b: 26). In WebOodi, students can also browse through all the UEF’s study curriculums as they plan and schedule their studies. On some of the courses offered at UEF, an electronic service of Moodle is used. Moodle is an online learning environment that works as a link between a lecturer and the students of a course (University of Eastern Finland 2015b: 27). Students can also log into the services provided by the UEF library, which provides different databases for information, for example UEF Finna, which is “the search service of library’s printed and electronic resources” (University of Eastern Finland 2016d).

25 2.4.2 Policies related to language at the UEF

In order to gain an extensive image of the language policy of the UEF, I examined some of the brochures that seemed relevant and worked as background material before doing the actual discourse analysis of the website. These brochures include:

- Language Policy of the University of Eastern Finland for 2011–2015, - Communication Policy for 2011-2015,

- Internationalisation Policy of the University of Eastern Finland 2012–2015,

- Interdisciplinary Solutions - Strategy of the University of Eastern Finland for 2015–2020 and - University of Eastern Finland – International Study Programmes.

It is important to note that within a few years after the universities of Kuopio and Joensuu were merged into the UEF, the administrative bodies of the new university formed various policies to be followed by the entire institution. Up until the academic year of 2015, the UEF had an official Language Policy (published in 2011), Communication Policy (published in 2011) and Internationalisation policy (published in 2012). Although in April 2014 the UEF published a new strategy for the years of 2015–2020, by the time this thesis is published, there are no policies for languages, communication or internationality in effect.

According to the most recent Language Policy (University of Eastern Finland 2011b: 11), the UEF strives to enhance the language awareness of its staff members, which is why the language and communications skills of new applicants are considered in the recruitment processes.

Although it is mentioned in the Language Policy (ibid.) that “[r]esearchers are encouraged to publish their research findings in English”, the language of the publications is selected according to the field and purpose of the research. Even though the use of English is clearly encouraged especially regarding doctoral dissertations, it is recommended that the Deans of the faculties make all necessary decisions case-specifically (University of Eastern Finland 2011b:

12). Importantly, the Language Policy (University of Eastern Finland 2011b: 13) states that with the exception of international Master’s degree programmes and studies in foreign languages, the language of instruction and examination is Finnish, but also that all of the course descriptions are provided in English as well. Notably, the reasons behind such a decision have not been specified. Furthermore, all faculties are expected to produce at least one English-language study programme which could cover studies all the way from Bachelor’s degree to the doctoral degree (University of Eastern Finland 2011b: 13).

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Based on the most recent Internationalisation Policy of the UEF, it is apparent that the university has ambitious goals for enhancing the role of UEF as an international university. The UEF takes interest in enhancing the regional development of Eastern Finland and focuses on its current areas of expertise, but strives towards active international research cooperation (University of Eastern Finland 2012b: 5–6). First, the university invests in the quantity of study programmes taught in English, which is not only thought to make the UEF a desired option for international teaching and international student exchange, but also meant to promote internationalisation of Finnish students and prepare them for studying abroad (University of Eastern Finland 2012b:

8). Secondly, the university does international cooperation worldwide. The strategic areas of cooperation in research and education include Europe, North America, North-West Russia, China, India and Southern Africa (University of Eastern Finland 2012b: 10–11). Thirdly, The UEF enhances its international competitiveness by maintaining an impeccable reputation and public image. Measures to maintaining a high standard of research and research-based education include:

- active marketing of the university to international partners, students, researchers, sponsors and representatives of the media,

- encouraging the university’s faculties, schools and departments to organize international conferences and seminars,

- encouraging members of the scientific community to establish international networks and to be available for international positions of trust and evaluation assignments,

- encouraging members of the university’s academic community to actively participate in international conferences.

- initiating international alumni activities.

(University of Eastern Finland 2012b: 14)

Lastly, the university develops the idea of education as an export, as the university’s range of tuition-charging educational products consists of the university’s degree programmes, tailor-made training programmes and continuing education courses.

In its former Communication Policy, the UEF has separate plans for internal and external communications. Internal communications, carried out in Finnish and English, are realized by providing current and relevant information for the staff and students of the UEF (University of Eastern Finland 2011a: 9–10). External communications are aimed at partners, interest groups and larger audiences outside of the UEF (University of Eastern Finland 2011a: 10–11). In addition, the UEF aims to reach international interest groups through International communications. International interest groups are mainly reached by marketing the university

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via its English-language website (University of Eastern Finland 2011a: 11). The Communications programme also includes plans for international alumni operations, which aim to make UEF known internationally, to enhance the international cooperation and to recruit international students and employees (University of Eastern Finland 2011a: 12.). It is mentioned in the programme that UEF should emphasize its strengths, the doctoral degree programmes, the English-language programmes and English-language study units (ibid.). The UEF is promoted regularly in brochures, PowerPoint presentations and other marketing material provided in Finnish and English.

In the UEF’s Strategy and Economic Plans for 2013–2016 and Budget for the year 2014, it is revealed that the funding received by the UEF is affected by the number of higher degrees by foreign students, the volume of international student exchange, the number of doctoral degrees by foreign students as well as the number of foreign staff members in education and research (University of Eastern Finland 2014a: 7). The aim of increasing the number of international degree students and the goal of developing the English-taught Bachelor’s level studies to appeal to both foreign and domestic applicants is also mentioned in the Strategic Implementation Programme 2015–2020 of the UEF (University of Eastern Finland 2015a: 4). However, it is also mentioned that the international Master’s degree programmes are to be assessed and their number decreased (ibid.). Moreover, the Budget for the year 2015 did not include references for the proportions of international students (University of Eastern Finland 2016b). This may be the result of the proposition published by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture in 2015, in which the contribution of both the foreign Master’s degree students as well as foreign doctorate level students is diminished. Currently, the universities in Finland receive approximately two thirds of their funding directly from the Finnish government. The proposal supposedly has a similar structure as the current funding model, but it has several amendments that surely affect universities’ future strategies, which would take effect as of the year 2017 (Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2015b). One of the most notable aspects is that the number of foreign students who complete a Master’s degree would have no extra influence on the university’s funding, and instead the focus would be on graduates who have found employment (ibid.). Furthermore, it is also proposed that “the contribution of doctoral degrees completed by foreigners also be removed, and that the contribution of the sector-specific financial contribution in the funding model be raised by the corresponding amount” (Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2015a: 7).

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I was curious to discover concrete examples as to how the policies of the UEF are related to the EU’s instructions. As I described in Section 2.2, the development of the European HE collaboration has produced different policies and guidelines for all European HE institutions.

Although the UEF does not have the ECTS Label, in 2013 it was awarded the Diploma Supplement Label¹ (European Commission 2015: 3), which in my opinion demonstrates the university’s willingness for increasing international reputation. I would imagine that the UEF would have applied for the ECTS Label as well, but I have not come across any information that would confirm this assumption. For some reason, the ECTS Labels have not been granted after the year 2013.

1 The Diploma Supplement is a document given to HE graduates together with their diploma (European Commission 2015: 3). It is written in a widely spoken language and it includes a standardized description of the studies that its holder has completed (ibid.). The Diploma Supplement Label indicates that an institution is implementing the Diploma Supplement correctly (European Commission 2015: 3).

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3. Method and Material

In this section, I discuss the research methods applied in my study and present the gathered material. The research methodology is presented in Section 3.1 The relevant material of the study is described in Section 3.2.

3.1 Research method

My research on the language policy of UEF in the Joensuu campus is primarily qualitative research in which I gather information about the doctoral degree programmes of the UEF, the role that internationality has in them and, finally, the realization of the language policy in the UEF. In order to receive a language political idea of the doctoral degree programmes, I carried out discourse analysis on the international website of the UEF and other relevant material I came across during the process. Discourse analysis is explained in Section 3.1.1. I also interviewed international doctoral degree students to find out whether the alleged language policy is realized in practice. For this, I apply two types of interviews, the focus group and the thematic interview, which are described more thoroughly in Section 3.1.2.

3.1.1 Discourse analysis on the UEF website

As a starting point of my research, I examined the UEF’s international website. The collected data was analysed by the method of discourse analysis. Fairclough (2012: 9) characterizes discourse as (a) an element of the social process that creates meaning, (b) a language that is regularly associated with certain social fields or practices (e.g. ‘academic discourse’) and (c) a way in which different aspects of the world are associated with certain social perspectives.

According to Kress (2012: 35), discourse analysis has been shadowed by the vagueness around the homonym ‘discourse’, and in my opinion, it is why there are numerous different approaches to conducting this form of analysis. Hyland (2012: 412–423) combines discourse analysis with EAP, and highlights that by doing so, researchers can emphasize concrete texts rather than institutional social practices. Researching EAP usually means analysing specific academic

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genres (e.g. the research article, the conference presentation or the student essay) (Hyland 2012:

141).

When examining the UEF’s international website, I kept in mind the method carried out by Jenkins in her research on various other universities’ websites: searching for any written material that refers to language policy matters. I made notions whenever there seemed to be a clear omission of content in English whilst the information is otherwise provided in the Finnish version of the website. However, since I did not intend to make a thorough comparison of the two language versions, I was more interested to hear whether the international students have come across instances where there is less information provided in the English version of the website.

Jenkins (2013: 81) assumes that most of the content (especially if it relates to policies found in mission statements etc.) on the universities’ webpages would be under the control of senior management and faculty, but does recognize the marketing/branding forces behind the institutions’ website. Nevertheless, she also presumes that all findings about English language policies do reflect the ways in which English language issues at universities are regarded (Jenkins 2013: 81). Jenkins (2013: 84) and her research partner Panero explored the international universities’ websites, their programme documents, entry forms, videos of classes etc. To be more exact, they searched for information of the following kind:

- the institution’s stated/implied conceptualization of ‘international’ HE - the institution’s stated/implied approach to ‘EMI’

- range of courses/subjects/levels offered in EMI

- language requirements (entrance/exit examinations, mandatory language courses, differentiation between groups in terms of requirements)

- type of EAP support offered, if any

- teaching staff on EMI courses (local/non-local, NES/NNES) - resources used on EMI courses (based on Anglophone or own)

- visuals (videos, photos, logos, images, graphs, hyperlinks, typography, etc.) - testimonials, discussion boards, interactive features

- other (anything of interest and relevance not covered by the above).

Jenkins also refers to Pauwels (2012: 252), who has developed a model to help researchers analyse websites as social and cultural data sources. His model includes six phases that advance from looking at the more apparent features and collecting data to more in-depth interpretations of all elements and their complex relations. All of the phases are displayed in Appendix 1. Some of the elements in Pauwel’s framework are outside the scope of my Master’s level study, which

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is why I considered all the phases of Pauwel’s model before concluding to utilize only a few of them. Since I have already become accustomed to using the UEF website, albeit in Finnish, it was impossible for me to conduct the first phase of the framework: Preservation of First Impressions and Reactions. The first phase has to precede the actual analysis and record the affective reactions of the user, which is why I was not able to include it in my analysis.

is why I considered all the phases of Pauwel’s model before concluding to utilize only a few of them. Since I have already become accustomed to using the UEF website, albeit in Finnish, it was impossible for me to conduct the first phase of the framework: Preservation of First Impressions and Reactions. The first phase has to precede the actual analysis and record the affective reactions of the user, which is why I was not able to include it in my analysis.

In document English language and internationalisation at the University of Eastern Finland : a study on international students' experiences in doctoral degree programmes on the Joensuu campus (sivua 25-0)