Waiting at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences was finally over when students, staff members, and master alumni met each other on the Pasila campus on Thu April 28th.
Haaga-Helia's Master events are held twice a year, but due to the corona pandemic that plagued Finland, the events of recent years have been organized virtually.
The theme of the event was Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and its speakers consisted of Haaga-Helia alumni as well as business partners.
The Public Relations Manager in charge of alumni activities, Eva Loippo-Sännälä, says that she was pleased with the general atmosphere of the event and, of course, with the fact that Haaga-Helia is finally moving back to live encounters.
- During the evening, we got several alumni excited about lecturing and mentoring in Haaga-Helia in the coming academic year. In addition, they brought new and fresh ideas for alumni activities to the table. It is nice to grasp these wishes as part of my development work, says she.
THE FIRST SPEAKER of the evening was Ulkar Aghayeva, who graduated from the Management Assistants and Language Degree Program (ASSI) in 2018 and later completed her master's degree at Åbo Akademi University.
In her presentation, Aghayeva, an educator at the Peace Education Institution, discussed various ways to dismantle harmful social structures in order to increase diversity, equality, and inclusion.
After that, Laura Smith, a graduate of the Master's Degree (MSc) in Communication Management (COMMA) program in 2020, took the floor to talk about developing good intentions into actions.
Smith works as a consultant through her company VALIDEI, which aims to ensure that DEI development is responsible, relevant, and influential within organizations.
Of the Haaga-Helia partners, Jenni Närvä, Development Manager of the staffing company Barona, took part in the event, leading the audience to workability management.
Her theme was sustainable leadership and happier working life, which she addressed through the formation of workability. According to Närvä, soft skills and values are actually the hardest core of work communities.
The argument made many people excited about the idea and they wanted to discuss it more at the Pasila Tapahtumatori, where the participants were able to network with each other.
