What could be more inspiring than smart, curious young students? For the second year in a row, the fuksikursio was organized at the end of October when a group of 55 process engineering students from the University of Oulu recently visited Alholmens Industrial Park (AIP) and the forest industry companies UPM, Billerud, and Walki.
What is a fuksikursio?
A fuksikursio is a tradition among many technical student associations in Finland. It is a one-day trip organized for first-year students (“fuksit”) to give them insight into working life and the industry within their field of study. The goal is to build networks, inspire future career choices, and show how theory from studies is applied in practice. For Prosessikilta at the University of Oulu, this means visiting process industry companies and getting to know the sector right from the start.
Experience from summer jobs at AIP
Three of the senior students already had a connection to AIP. They participated in last year’s fuksikursio and worked during the summer at UPM and Billerud. They rented a shared apartment in downtown Jakobstad, cycled to work, and really enjoyed their time.
As Alina Joensuu, the freshman coordinator, put it:
“We were on the same trip to AIP last autumn, which was a great success. You had arranged a comprehensive and interesting presentation of the area, and we also got to visit UPM, Billerud, and Walki.
That day resulted in many summer job applications for you, and some of us – including myself – got summer jobs at the factories in the area.”
This is exactly what makes the fuksikursio so valuable: it gives students a concrete picture of future opportunities and gives companies a chance to meet the next generation of engineers.
And for anyone considering working in Jakobstad, the message is clear: you can easily get by with Finnish, and it’s simple to live, work, and settle here.
The fuksikursio was made possible with funding from the ACEP project.
