My girlfriend and I are studying here at the University of Helsinki as Erasmus-exchange students since autumn 2007 and we are probably going to stay here until May 2008. Our home university is the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. I study history and linguistics and my girlfriend German Philology and also linguistics.
We got the first impression of our host university, which is described as one of the world’s best universities, trough the website of the University of Helsinki. We realized that the internet site of this university is very complicated and it is often difficult to find the information we need. The complicated website is only one part of the organizational problems which we had with the University of Helsinki.
The worst experience so far was moving into our HOAS apartment in Pihlajamäki on a Friday at the end of August. Our flat was not just dirty, as it often is, when you move in a new flat, it was “over dirty”. The floor and shelves were dirty everywhere, we found old food and other ugly things. Some areas of the shelves looked like they haven’t been cleaned for years. The furniture looked and still looks as if it was taken from bulk rubbish. Since it was Friday afternoon and the HOAS office was already closed, we could not call them to send cleaning personnel. We also did not want to wait for Monday in a dirty apartment, so we started to clean. It took us two days to clean up our apartment, the total amount of work was about 20 hours. We had the luck that we got support and cleaning tools like a vacuum cleaner from friends and relatives who live in Helsinki. The vacuum cleaner was gold worth.
Additionally to these problems, there were and partially still is broken equipment in our flat. The windows are broken and cannot be closed completely, the flushing cistern of the toilet is dripping water and we got no furniture list. We informed HOAS immediately about these problems, but they answered after three weeks and said, that we should inform the maintenance company and not them. Well, after we informed the maintenance company, finally someone came. But the first time someone came, they did not repair anything, but they took away a spare bed we used as sofa. The broken things were not in their interest. Some days later somebody came to fix the broken stuff, but he only fixed the broken washbasin, but the other problems are still not solved.
In Germany most people would pay less or no money for an apartment in such condition. We are paying 650€ per month for this crappy apartment, while Finnish students are obviously getting better apartments for less money. So we naturally feel abused, as if HOAS classifies international students as people of lower worth. The high rent forces us to work more and study less. We are very disappointed of this aspect of our student exchange and we are going to warn other possibly future exchange students of living in a HOAS apartment. This problem with the apartment is not only a single case! We talked with other international students and found out, that most of them had/have similar problems. The dirty flat is an experience, which almost everyone had. Others additionally have non working radiators or ants in their apartment, and HOAS does not do anything about it. If the University of Helsinki claims to be one of the world’s best and really wants to participate in international student exchange, it should really improve the housing conditions of her (international) students. A good feeling in an acceptable home is as important as good teaching! Concerning the housing conditions of international students the University of Helsinki is among world’s worst. At our home university in Mainz the international students get the same flats as German students, they pay the same price for it and they are not left alone, when moving in. Every time a student moves in, he/she is accompanied by a caretaker who checks the condition of the apartment.
Karl Schultheis
Helsingin keskustaopiskelijoiden jäsen, vaihto-opiskelija
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