Innovative Internship Opportunities for Students

Vaasa University of Applied Sciences offers creative internship opportunities for engineering students through an internship project in collaboration with Vaasa Cat Shelter. During the summer, students complete a study-related internship by carrying out a project consisting of four smaller parts aimed at developing the cat shelter’s operations. Local companies support the initiative, which combines theoretical and practical learning.

Throughout Finland, students at universities of applied sciences face challenges in finding internship placements. Because internships are a mandatory part of a UAS degree, the shortage of placements can affect students’ ability to graduate. There are differences in the availability of internship positions between fields, but international students in particular face significant challenges.

At Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, the challenges of finding internship placements in the Faculty of Technology have been addressed through concrete collaboration projects with companies. A group of Finnish and international students in Energy Technology, Information Technology and Electrical Engineering are working throughout the summer on an internship project for Vaasa Cat Shelter. The project runs until mid-August and involves implementing various services for the association’s new cat shelter.

Many local stakeholders such as Wapice, Vaasa Society of Technology (Vaasan Teknillinen Seura), Hitachi, Rittal and Rent & Save (RS vuoraus) are involved in supporting the project.

”There has been strong competition for summer jobs again this spring, and some students have been left without work and, consequently, without the opportunity to complete their required internship. Our innovative teachers came up with a proposal allowing students to complete their technical training during the summer. The proposal was excellent, so the decision to pilot it was easy to make. Since the work is carried out within the local community, it also involves community-based learning. I consider this kind of collaborative approach both valuable and impactful,” says Mira Grönvall, Director, School of Technology.

“This is a great opportunity for us to gain visibility, and hopefully we can be a pioneer and a model for other animal shelters. We are able to offer students the chance to come and work on site. They have been given a free hand to carry out the project, and they eagerly got involved right from the start,” comments Tom Ruth, Chair of Friends of Homeless Cats in Vaasa.

Four practical projects

During the summer internship, 22 students are working on four different practical projects: a cat shelter enclosure, Cat IoT (Internet of Things), Cat Live TV, and a customer relationship management (CRM) system. In addition, the internship for international students includes Finnish language studies.

“In the cat enclosure project, students design and build an outdoor enclosure for cats at the Vaasa Cat House. Some of the materials used in the enclosure are recycled, allowing students to become familiar with the principles of the circular economy through practical experience. Building the enclosure supports the development of hands-on skills alongside more theoretical design competencies,” tells Shekhar Satpute, Senior Lecturer supervising the project.

“In the Cat IoT project, a prototype is being developed for the non-invasive monitoring of cats and their environment. In this project, students get hands-on experience of how IoT sensors can be used to collect real data on both the cat’s behaviour and its surroundings, and how to identify interesting changes in the data,” explains Thomas Vikström, Senior Lecturer responsible for the IoT project.

“In Cat Live TV, students are developing a system that makes it possible to follow the daily lives of the cats at the cat house. The system combines footage from multiple cameras into a single engaging video stream, depending on the cats’ activity. The goal is to increase visibility for the cat house,” says Tommi Rintala, Senior Lecturer overseeing the Cat Live TV project.

“The goal of the customer relationship management system project, Cat CRM, is to simplify everyday operations at the Cat House and to reduce the amount of manual work for staff. It’s great that students have the opportunity to develop a solution that provides concrete benefits for the staff in their daily work,” rejoices Anna-Kaisa Saari, Senior Lecturer supervising the CRM project.

Students Develop Their Skills

The summer internship project combines different pedagogical models in, such as challenge-based, problem-based, and project-based learning. During the internship project, students work both in the laboratory and on site at the Vaasa Cat House.

“The summer project is supervised by Kjell Klemets, who has extensive industrial experience. He guides the students using a coaching-oriented approach,” says Project Manager and Principal Lecturer Lotta Saarikoski.

The students involved are pleased with the opportunity they have received and view the pilot as a positive initiative.

“This is a great opportunity to develop our skills while also enjoying a wonderful summer,” says Jussi, an IT student working on the CRM project.

“This is a great opportunity to test our own skills and gain experience in working life and teamwork,” tells Dmytro, an IT student who is part of the IoT team.

“Our work has started smoothly and I’m proud of our team. I’ll gain valuable experience in managing a project,” says Information Technology student Stanislav, who leads the cat live cam team.