Congratulations, you're in the right place! From the right sidebar you can find some useful information about living in Finland and studying IEM in Prodeko - please start from the "Welcome to Prodeko" -page. Here, and from the "Survival Guide" you can find the most important information!

Right now the most important thing to do is to join to the Telegram group for Fuksis (aka freshmen) of 2025! If you don't have Telegram yet, now is the time to download it :) The Telegram group for IEM Autumn Exchangers '25 can be found here and the Telegram group for IEM Masters' Freshmen '25 can be found here. Make sure to join to get to know your fellow exchangers/masters' freshmen and to stay updated on all the fun events we have planned for you!

You can get the first taste of student life before the orientation week on Friday the 22nd of August 2025 at the Head Start! At the Head start you'll get to know your fellow freshmen, your BIGs (= tutors) and other students of Prodeko! The studies and the student life really gets going during the Orientation Week. The Orientation Week for the Autumn 2025 is from 25th to 29th of August. The week includes an orientation to being a student and getting to know the secters of Otaniemi. Pro tip! Make sure you book the whole orientation week free, as there is a programme from morning till night!

*The programme for the orientation week will be posted here later during the summer*

If you have any questions or worries, just contact the Captain of Master and International Students! The Captain of Master and International Students is for 2025 is Leo Ala-Laurila. The quickest way to contact Leo is on Telegram @mkvcaptain. You can also send an email or call. His email address is maisterikvkapteeni@prodeko.org and phone number is +358 451969663.

A short reminder about our information channels, all of which you can find from the top bar: Guild > Information channels. The most relevant information channel is email, so read it carefully. You will receive all guild-related information after you have been approved as a guild member in a meeting of the Prodeko board. More information about joining Prodeko can be found from Guild > Joining the guild. After joining, once a week, the Minister of Media and Information Technology will send you a weekly bulletin, where you can find all the upcoming events.

As earlier mentioned, another important channel is Telegram. It's similar to Whatsapp, but more commonly used within Aalto University. Just load it and check which other channels to join from here. On Telegram we have many relevant groups for you! Telegram is used for almost all Prodeko and student-to-student communication.

What is Prodeko?

Prodeko is the Guild for Industrial Engineering and Management. It will be like a family for you during your studies. The aim of Prodeko is to unite IEM students and ensure that they have the best student life in the world. The possibilities are limitless!

The guild has a lot to offer for international students. To begin with, the guildroom is a perfect place to get in contact with other internationals or Finnish students of Prodeko. Whether you just want to grab a coffee between lectures or hang out with some friends, it’s always a good idea to visit the guild room as there are couches, a pool table and consoles, among other things. Some people can even be seen at the guild room on Sundays playing PS5 or pool.

Moreover, Prodeko organizes events such as sitsit, sauna parties and a farewell party at the end of the semester. Participating in these events is not only a good opportunity to spend some time with other students, but also to get to know the student culture in Finland and it’s traditions! Some of the events, such as sitsit, are held in Finnish, but the guild is working on improving this and there is always at least one sitsit per semester held in English, to introduce you easily to it’s rules and songs. Even if you find yourself at a Finnish event, people near you will be more than happy to speak English and you will have a blast!

Those of you staying at Aalto for their whole master degree can also benefit from Prodeko’s network. The guild’s alumni and company network offers the possibility for easier contact with companies when searching e.g. for an internship. The network is very valuable and one of the best things Prodeko can offer your career.

Furthermore, Prodeko organizes company excursions, often also in English! For degree students, Prodeko gives the opportunity to participate in cultural exchanges or educational seminars all over Europe as part of ESTIEM - the European Students of Industrial Engineering. Such events are even financially supported by the guild.

Finland is a country of 5.5 million people located in northern Europe. The 340 000 square kilometers area of Finland consist of beautiful lake areas, large forests and the empty wilderness in Lapland. In the south of Finland there is the Baltic Sea but in all other directions Finland is bordered by land. Our neighbors are Sweden, Norway and Russia. Of these three countries Finland has formerly been part of first Sweden and then Russia. Finland became independent in 1917. Today Finland is a democratic republic and our president is Alexander Stubb.

Finland’s culture has many different and extreme elements. A great thing in Finland is the variance in the weather during the year. The snowy cold winter in Finland is quite exceptional and people from all over the world come to visit Finland during the winter time to experience it. The temperatures can go down as low as - 40 degrees! The snow and ice enable various winter sports. The most common ones are crosscountry skiing and ice hockey. Downhill skiing centers in Lapland also attract lots of tourists to Finland, and skiing isn’t the only thing you can do there. You can for example go skating, ice hole swimming or on a snowmobile safari.

In the summer time the weather is warm and sunny at its best. Then people spend time at their summer cottages at a lake and in the nature. The amount of summer cottages is one of the highest in the world as also the amount of lakes. During the summer there are also lots of music festivals where people like to listen to great music and get a little drunk in good company.

When talking about the culture of Finland you just can’t forget to mention sauna. There is a sauna available for use for nearly every one living in Finland and finish people go to sauna more often than in any other country in the world. For students, drinking beer and singing is very common in the sauna. You will have a chance to go to the sauna almost every day during orientation week. There are many extreme some might say crazy world championship contests held in Finland every year. Just to mention few there are competitions in sitting in an ants’ nest, swamp soccer, throwing a boot and wife carrying.

Of course there are also normal sports in Finland. The most popular sports here are ice hockey and football. Internationally the national team of Finland does quite well in ice hockey but in football Finland isn’t that good at all. In Finland we have also created a version of our own of baseball, which is played all through out the country. As well as doing sports, Finnish people like to watch different sports and cheer their own favorite teams.

As a developed country and a member of the European Union Finnish culture is starting to become similar to the culture of other European countries. The traditional foods such as karelian pie and mämmi are still eaten but there are also kebab-pizzerias and McDonald’s restaurants in every town. But even though the cultures are becoming alike in the world, we have some really nice specialties here in Finland!

Prodeko for international students