Ulla Alanko of the International Relations office at the University coordinates a program that connects local families and foreign students in order to give students a connection to ‘real Finnish life.’ The students do not need a place to live, just someone to spend some free time with and introduce them to the Finnish way of life and culture.  

The kummiperhe program started at the University in 1995, based on locals volunteering their free time. Kummiperheet come in many shapes and sizes – singles, single parents, and families with or without children. The only requirements for volunteers are that at least one of the volunteers is no longer a student (the idea is to show life outside university), they are a minimum of 30 years of age and have some knowledge of a foreign language. English is fine. Most students are usually happy just to be included in a normal family life.

Some families go to their mökki, cook together, have a sauna and maybe go skiing. Alanko invites new families to join the program in the hope that more applicants would be able to benefit from it. There are unfortunately always students who miss out on this opportunity, says Alanko. Last autumn about 140 students applied for a kummiperhe in Oulu but about 30 were left without.  

The number of exchange students to Oulu increases year by year. Last year 442 foreign students studied at the University whereas the number was 345 in 2004. Encouraged by the positive experiences at the University, the Oulu University of Applied Sciences is also interested in utilising this program for their exchange students. Marjo Pääskylä of the University of Applied Sciences tells that initial contact has been made with the University of Oulu to pave the way for future cooperation.

Pääskylä says that their roughly 200 foreign exchange students currently benefit from support from two tutors, one staff member and one student.The experience of having a local family as an appointed contact has been found to be an excellent way to deepen immersion into Finnish culture and the program also gives local families international experiences. You can find more information and an application form for the program (in Finnish) on the University of Oulu website: www.oulu.fi/intl/kummiperheet/index.html.

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