Nasrin Jinnia: Schedule of the Visit

As the first agenda, Nasrin Jinnia from TUAS explained to all participants about the schedule during visitation (1st exchange-period of the project), from April 16th – 23th, 2024.

Hanna Cederberg & Raija Sipila: Welcome to Turku & Finland

Both described Finland, both Turku and Helsinki as the city destination during this project. Some facts about Finland as described:

● Metal music in Finland: the fact that the DNA of Finnish people is very diverse from one end of the region to the other makes for a good musical composition. Symphony of Extreme is one of Finnish metal music.
● Finland is part of the Nordic country and has polar night and midnight sun. Also Finland has the largest lake district in Europe.
● Free education for all children, from elementary till university. Public healthcare is free for under 18 years old.
● Helsinki is the biggest city in Finland and over 50% of the people in Finland live in Helsinki.
● Some places recommended to visit in Helsinki: Kruununhaka area and Kaivopuisto area.
● Turku is the oldest city in Finland. This city has the oldest national park in Finland. Ruissalo is one of the parts of the national park and also oldest forests in Turku and Finland.
● Turku people: over 200,000 residents
● There is a Student Village in Turku that can be used by International Students and Finnish Students as long as they study in Turku.

Anu Raunio: Turku UAS International Services

Anu from TUAS said that there are over 10,000 students at TUAS and distributed to some departments, these are: Technology Department, Health and Social Services Department, Business Department, and Culture Department. For Health and Well-Being has around 3,000 students. The Business Department has the most students in TUAS.

Some grants for student avail in TUAS, such as: erasmus+, Nordic Ministres, and Finland Government. TUAS has some collaboration with global organizations, european organizations, and locals, also with other universities. Some students in TUAS joint exchange program during their studies with over 40 countries destinations (around 400 students already participated).

Budi Hartono: Getting to Know Each Other
Budi Hartono from UI led the introduction session. All the participants had to introduce themselves by holding a ball that was already named with foods from their places. First hand will give the ball to other people till all people introduce themselves. The name of the game is “Break the Stereotype”. Total participants at that time were 22 people, 9 from UI, 10 from TUAS, and 3 others were guests, two teachers from Sweden and others from Bangladesh.

Welcoming Ceremony

After coffee break session, that all participants were enjoyed Finnish food, then TUAS welcomed officially to the participants, and opened by Choir of TUAS with two national songs. The Choir consisted of various students and faculty members.

Tuuli Lahti: Short Introduction of The Project

Tuuli as the Project Leader introduced to all participants about the TEACH program (Transformative Education for Advancing Competencies in Planetary Health). This project is a cooperation project between TUAS and UI. The aim of the project is to incorporate planetary health into master’s level education of the faculties of health and well-being, something that has so far been limited in both Finland and Indonesia. With the collaboration, it might have an impact on planetary health in the future.

The faculty members participating in the project will carry the main responsibilities of the planned activities, however, students will be actively involved through the joint development of the study modules and the mobility periods. To foster the development of critical thinking skills and other competencies essential in planetary health and its applications, such as ethical awareness and community empowerment, a transformative education approach will be utilized throughout the project and in the produced modules. In addition, the project will provide students and faculty members experiences of working both online and in interdisciplinary and cultural settings, to practice and develop their English skills as well as to increase their cultural competencies. Source of funding for this project is Finnish National Agency of Education, Team Finland Knowledge. Duration for the project starts from August 2023 till December 2025.

Indri Susilowati: Indonesian Perspectives & Introduction of The Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia

Indri introduced and described UI and Faculty of Public Health to the participants. Some details information are:

● Universitas Indonesia is enrolled by government of Indonesia, located at Depok, West Java and Jakarta.
● Some faculties at UI: Medicine, Public Health, Nurse, Law, Economic and Business, Computer Sciences, Culture, Social and Politics, etc.
● The Faculty of Public Health, UI has some program studies, from bachelor program, master, and doctoral.
● Departments at Faculty of Public Health: Health Policy Administration, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Biostatistic & Population Studies, Public Health Nutrition, Occupational Health & Safety, and Health Education & Behavioral Science.
● Master programs: public health, epidemiology, hospital administration, and occupational health & safety. For public health and epidemiology, both have several major interests or concentrations.
● Actually Indonesia specifically has no curriculum about planetary health, but UI has Environmental and Global Health for master and Global Health for bachelor.
● Thus faculty has some journals and research center.
● Collaboration with some global partnership, both organizations and universities, national partnership (government, non government, universities), and others such as companies and hospitals.

Katja Heikkinen & Eeva Timonen-Kallio: Education, Research & Development in Turku UAS

Both described about some services at TUAS, as informed:

● There are some applied sciences campuses/universities in Finland, but TUAS is the biggest.
● Technology Department, Health and Social Services Department, Business Department, and Culture Department with over 10,000 students.
● TUAS has some projects in this year, 2024, TEACH is one of the listed projects.
● Another projects: VAASI (residential youth and children competencies), eFAMI (digitalisation of family and social services), GeoICT (developing challenge based learning in Tanzania), LR Project (modeling career project)
● TUAS also has a project: Development of Child and Family Services and Management with the aim is preventive and early support for families. Also increase the capacities of multi-sectoral professionals.

Welcoming Dinner at Restaurant E.Ekblom
After the activities at TUAS Campus, they invited participants from Indonesia to E.Ekblom Restaurant for a Welcoming Dinner. The restaurant served us with Finnish food, from the appetizer, main course, and dessert. The place is good and the food as well.

Key Messages
The Project of Planetary Health is something new for both campuses, but it is not impossible to do or even become a culture. Good commitment and collaboration will be a strong foundation for the sustainability of this program, both for TUAS, UI, Finland, Indonesia, and even globally. Next is how the two parties maintain a good relationship to achieve the goals of this project.