Student commu­ni­ca­tion was reformed in Karelia UAS

Karelia UAS’s student commu­ni­ca­tion was reformed at the turn of the year when the Student Intra Pakki expe­ri­enced a complete trans­for­ma­tion. The redesign aims to take students’ wishes in partic­u­lar into account, and that is why we asked for their opin­ions on the imple­men­ta­tion of student commu­ni­ca­tion in Karelia UAS. 

The aim of the survey was to obtain infor­ma­tion on what the content and func­tions of the new student intranet should be. We also wanted to know what Karelia UAS commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels students use or would like to use. In addi­tion, the students had the oppor­tu­nity to give other devel­op­ment propos­als related to student commu­ni­ca­tion on the survey. Based on the feed­back, we started devel­op­ing a new student intranet, which was intro­duced in Febru­ary 2023. 

The feed­back from the students showed that commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels should be reduced. The major­ity of students also think that they receive too many e-mails. Main student commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels were Student Intra Pakki and Tuudo. Tuudo is a mobile appli­ca­tion that collects the most impor­tant services related to studies on the same app. Tuudo app includes student’s credits, sched­ules, news and events, menus for student restau­rants, public trans­port sched­ules, elec­tronic library card, campus maps, work and train­ing places and the search for Karelia UAS person­nel and services. A student card will also be added to the Tuudo app later. 

The aim was to clarify the new student intranet in such a way that the acces­si­bil­ity crite­ria were also met. The Intra can now be used smoothly on mobile. The reform of student commu­ni­ca­tion was intended to modern­ize and make the commu­ni­ca­tion targeted at students more effec­tive. We also wished to make finding infor­ma­tion about study­ing easier. The redesign of the student intranet was only one part of the reform of student commu­ni­ca­tion and the devel­op­ment work continues. 

Commu­ni­ca­tion has always been a chal­lenge. Some students even find commu­ni­ca­tion distress­ing because there are too many messages. Often the messages also go unno­ticed, although the same infor­ma­tion has been shared in differ­ent chan­nels. The goal is to get students to use the new Student Intra Pakki and read it every day. It is impor­tant that we receive proper feed­back and devel­op­ment propos­als, so that we can build a better quality of commu­ni­ca­tion, which is also accept­able to everyone. 

Feed­back about Pakki and student commu­ni­ca­tion can be sent to [email protected]

 and [email protected]. 

Suvi Pajari­nen, Coor­di­na­tor, Karelia Univer­sity of Applied Sciences