For the third year in a row, our students excelled in the Global Undergraduate Awards programme. The bachelor's theses selected as the European winners in their disciplines, are strongly linked to future aspirations.
The Global Undergraduate Awards is an international programme, dedicated to recognizing top work by bachelor's students in different fields.
This year was record-breaking for the University of Helsinki: the bachelor's thesis by Nikolai Argatoff, who has moved forward to undertake his master's studies at another institution, was selected as the global winner in the category of mathematics and physics. The bachelor's theses by Elina Kivari, Sanna Antinluoma and Martina Stankoska, who remain with the University of Helsinki for their master's studies, were selected as the regional winners of Europe in their respective categories (linguistics, education, and literature).
Encouraged by the success of previous participants and family support
Messages from the University, praise from supervisors and news of previously successful participants all encouraged the winners to take part in GUA. Antinluoma's husband also played a decisive role in her decision to submit her entry.
"When I received the University's message about the programme, my first thought was 'no way!' But my husband practically forced me to submit my entry," remarks Antinluoma laughingly.
Her husband's encouragement was motivated by the opportunities that might open through the programme.
"He participated in a competition as a student and had the opportunity to visit Microsoft and meet Bill Gates in person."
The first opportunity for exciting encounters will be in November, when Kivari, Antinluoma and Stankoska are travelling to Dublin for the GUA Global Summit.
"It will be nice to meet the other winners, build new networks and gain new experiences," Stankoska anticipates.
"And such an event lasting several days will be an interesting step forward in our careers, being the first of its kind for us. As a student of English, I'm also eagerly awaiting exposure to the Irish accent," Kivari continues.
Personal interests as a career compass
All three are opting for careers in the academia after their master's studies. Currently Kivari is writing her master's thesis in linguistics for CSC - IT Center for Science and dreaming of a career in research. Antinluoma and Stankoska hope to work as teachers.
Stankoska worked in daycare centres and schools alongside her studies. The topic of her award-winning bachelor's thesis is based on her experiences from professional life.
"After graduation, I would like specialise in working with children with autism spectrum disorder," she notes.
She is particularly interested in the use of the picture exchange communication system (PECS) to support learning.
"When working on my thesis, I noticed that research on PECS focuses on learners who do not produce speech. However, PECS could be more widely used to support learning even in children who are able to speak," Stankoska argues.
Antinluoma, who currently works in HR, was also motivated by a prospective career built on her personal interests:
"I'm hoping my next career will mean working with the English language. Even if the focus of my bachelor's and master's studies has been on literature, I can see myself in the role of a teacher sometime in the future."
Work and hobbies alongside studies
The daily schedules of Stankoska, Antinluoma and Kivari are marked not only by studies, but work too. They also find that hobbies balance the daily toil.
Kivari, who studies voice recognition tools and language models, writes in her free time, among other activities:
"I write poems, short stories and the like. I also like to read."
Antinluoma spends her free time boating and playing tennis.
"Were someone to ask the younger me about these hobbies, they would not have even crossed my mind," she says with amusement.
Your own expertise can take you by surprise
All three recommend participating in the GUA programme.
"It might be difficult to recognise your own expertise, but what have you got to lose? It is well worth a try to submit an entry," notes Kivari encouragingly.
Start preparing well in advance: Finnish bachelor's theses are long by international standards. The GUA programme has set strict criteria for both the length and language of the entries. Kivari, Stankoska and Antinluoma had to shorten their theses by about a third.
"But it was also enlightening to see how much the text could be condensed while still retaining the main idea," Antinluoma concludes.
Heartfelt congratulations to all the winners on behalf of the whole University community!
