International student! Would you like to meet more Finnish people and get in touch with the Finnish way of life during your stay in Turku?
Citizen of the Turku area! Would you like to meet international people, improve your language skills and learn from other cultures without leaving Finland? If your answer is yes, participate in the Friendship Programme!
The Friendship Programme
The Friendship Programme connects international students with locals in the Turku area and offers a chance for mutual cultural exchange and new experiences. The Programme offers a great opportunity to get to know Finnish culture and everyday life and deepen the study period in Finland. More than 1100 international students have already participated in the Friendship Programme and the majority of the participants have been very happy with the programme!
Shared activities with a local friend could mean cooking together, going for a walk or to the gym, or e.g. taking a trip to a museum to enjoy some art.
Who can participate?
All international exchange, degree and doctoral students in the Turku region’s higher education institutions are warmly welcome to apply for the Programme. The participants have to be physically in the Turku region and able to commit to at least monthly meetings with the new friend. We’ll organise some common events during the autumn period, but it is mostly up to the participants themselves how much, when and where they’d like to meet.
Locals can be almost anyone: families, students, pensioners… anyone living in the Turku area and interested in making international friends.
Application and more information
The Programme period lasts from October to December. The period begins with an opening event in which friends will meet each other for the first time. We’ll organise two events on 2 & 3 October 2024 and only one of the events should be attended.
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that everyone can be matched with a friend nor that you can get exactly the kind of friend you wish, but we will do our best!
Read more and enroll here by 5.9.2024!
The Friendship Programme is organised by the city of Turku and the higher education institutions in Turku under the Study in Turku -network.
Contact:
Programme coordinators Amanda Viitanen & Sanna Suoranta
friendshipprogramme@utu.fi
tel. +358 294503142
At Åbo Akademi University you can also contact the International Office
exchange@abo.fi