Germany vs. Finland

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? I hope that everybody who is reading this is doing fine. Today I would like to talk about Germany and Finland. I was born and raised in Germany and living in Finland for some few months gives me a great opportunity to compare these two countries. I would like to compare Germany and Finland in aspects of education, living standard, culture and the citizens.

At the beginning I would like to talk about Germany in aspects of education. In Germany the education follows mainly 3 steps: The first step is primary school from class 1 – 4. The second step is secondary school from class 5 – 10. Thereby, one needs to consider that in Germany the secondary school is divided in 4 levels: Gymnasium, Realschule, Gesamtschule and Hauptschule. The third step is highschool or an apprenticeship. The Highschool is visited for 3 years in order to get the qualification to enter University. An apprenticeship is also done for 3 years and after the 3 years one has a qualified profession.

In Finland the education is slightly different. All kids visit primary school from class 1 – 6. This is equivalent to the German „Gesamtschule“. All kids go to the same school and are divided into different parts after that. After the primary school the pupils visit class 7 – 9, which can be compared to highschool in Germany. After class 9 the kids can decide whether to visit University or do an apprenticeship which is equivalent to „Ausbildung“ in Germany.

Comparing the German University of applied sciences and the Finnish University of Applied Sciences, I will take my Home University „Hochschule Düsseldorf“ and my Partner University „Seinäjoen Ammattikorkeakoulu“ into consideration. I will briefly try and summarise the main differences I have realised and if there are any questions I am always there to answer them. One of the biggest difference is GROUPWORK! Over here in Finland groupwork plays a major role. In Germany I have never had so many presentations. In relation to that, in Finland the studies are more practical than in Germany. In Germany we go to university 4 to 5 months and write our exams at the end of the semester. In Finland exams are written during the semester and sometimes there are no written exams. At SeAMK the students are more involved in the university. For example every student has an electronic key to enter the university at any time from Monday to Sunday. In Germany we don’t have electronic keys. The food offered in the cantine at SeAMK is also really affordable for students. Paying €2,10 you get free water, salad, bread and one main meal. In Germany we pay at least € 3 to get one main meal but don’t get water, salad and bread besides. The last point I would like to mention is the lecturers. At SeAMK the lecturers are more sensitive to student related issues and they have a good relationship with their students. At HSD I haven’t experienced this kindness and common student-lecturer relationship.

Honestly speaking the first second I came to SeAMK I totally fell in love with this place and the university SeAMK. Over the time my experience with this University strenghtend in positivity. It is already hard for me thinking about the fact that I need to go back to my University in Germany. In my next blog I will talk about the finnish & german culture, citizens and the living standards.

M-M. Aboagye

#seamk #seamkstudents #seinäjoki