The Steps Towards a Doctoral Path intensive course, a collaboration between the University of Helsinki and 3AMK, has come to an end, and the cooperation between the universities has progressed as planned. The course was a great success from both the students’ and the teachers’ point of view, and the cooperation has been perceived as fruitful in all aspects.
The aim of the Steps Towards a Doctoral Path intensive course was to enable students to develop the skills needed for research and doctoral studies. All undergraduates were eligible to apply, and there were a good number of participants from the University of Helsinki, 3AMK institutions and staff alike.
"An eye-opening experience"
Feedback from students on the Steps Towards a Doctoral Path course was very positive. Many felt that they had gained new motivation and a clearer direction for furthering their own research. At the start of the course, some students were just thinking about their future in research, while others were already well into their research. Nevertheless, the course had a lot to offer students at different stages of the process, and praise was expressed for wide range of topics that were covered.
In particular, the themes of working together, research team building and communication in research were perceived as useful. The course covered the importance of collaboration and working together in research, and many gained new insights, tools and positive experiences from collaborative research. The course was described as an eye-opening and inspiring experience, and gave many people different perspectives on how to conduct research.
Ethical issues in research were one of the major themes of the course, and the students also found it particularly useful to address them. New practical tools, practices and frameworks, as well as literature recommendations, were also welcomed.
From theory to concrete practice
Students worked in groups to develop their own research plans, which allowed them to practise the skills they had learnt in practice and how to collaborate in research. At the last meeting of the course, the research plans were presented to the whole group. The research plans focused on topical and useful themes and the skilfully executed presentations were a pleasure to watch.
-The participants applied the insights from the workshops remarkably well in the design of their research and everyone learned from the presentations and reflections of the research plans, commented course teacher Salla Sipari from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.
The students came from a wide range of disciplines, and the research designs also differed in their themes. The multidisciplinary groups allowed for effective learning from other group members.
– It was a joy to read the learning diaries and I will use their excellent contribution in my work in the future. I want to thank all the participants for co-learning and making this course exceptional.
The aim is to facilitate further training
The aim of the cooperation between the University of Helsinki and 3AMK is to make research training a visible alternative to universities of applied sciences and to give students more options for their careers and studies. The cooperation has been in preparation since 2021, and the results of the work have been ready to be shared in the spring of 2023. The first event was the Viikki Science Day in January, where the University of Helsinki’s research groups presented their latest research projects and participants were able to learn more about doctoral studies.
The cooperation has been perceived as very effective and there is clearly a great demand for it. 3AMK will continue and further develop its cooperation with the University of Helsinki in the future. The aim would be to organise the Steps Towards a Doctoral Path intensive course again next spring. The team behind the collaboration has been very functional, and we hope that the fall will bring at least as many interesting and innovative opportunities as this spring has!