Teaching "Biologics" in Finnish

By jeltsch on Fri, 11/01/2024 - 12:54
Slide from the antibody lecture (FARM-310)

In 2022, the steering group of the International Master's Programme in Pharmaceutical Research, Development and Safety (MPHARM) collectively received the Innoopeli prize 2022 for developing the teaching at the Faculty of Pharmacy. As a member of the steering group, I was a bit surprised as none of our students had graduated yet. However, the preliminary laureals received approval earlier this year, when the first batch of the students graduated. 

This year, the Innoopeli 2024 award went to Patrick Laurén, the director of the (Finnish language) BSc Programme in Pharmacy ("Farmaseutin koulutusohjelma"). I received an "honorable mention" for my teaching activities. I was most surprised by the appreciation of my attempts at teaching in Finnish. I have been taking Finnish classes specifically with the goal of teaching in Finnish, and I even tried out my skills on a few occasions. Dear FARM-310 (Biologiset lääkevalmisteet, peruskurssi) students, please forgive me because I did not know what I was doing!
 

Teaching in Finnish has been challenging. However, it requires more preparation time than an ordinary lecture. Here, I also want to give a big shoutout to my Finnish teachers, Emmi, Yrjö, and Taija — thank you so much, specifically for your encouragement despite my slow progress! I have video evidence of my weak first attempt, but I am improving.
 

We want foreigners to learn Finnish, but we don't even teach in Finnish to our Finnish students
After receiving complaints (e.g., this one), some Finnish universities readjusted their practice of teaching obligatory undergraduate courses in English. As a consequence, some of my foreign colleagues stopped more or less of their teaching. In 2023, Vice-Rector Han­na Snell­man assured me that the University of Helsinki has no plans to ban English as a teaching language at the undergraduate level.
 

It remains a fact that knowing Finnish is a requirement for most pharmacy or medicine students' future workplaces. However, the same could be said for English since the number of citizens with a foreign background in the capital already exceeds 20% and continues to rise. English might dethrone Finnish as the most commonly spoken language in Finland late in this century. In any case, learning Finnish goes a long way toward integrating into Finnish society by avoiding some of the major problems that Finland has with its foreign workforce. According to a this new PhD thesis, language skills make or brake foreigners' careers in Finland.
 

Here are the links to the Finnish and English lecture slides (they should be quite ok after three years of incremental improvements, but feel free to contact me if you find language or factual errors):