Oradea is the city in Romania with the largest community of Finnish residents, announced the ambassador of Finland in Bucharest, Leena Liukkonen, during a visit she made on Thursday to the University of Oradea, together with the honorary consul of the Scandinavian country in Cluj , Mircea Hoțoleanu.
The two guests were received by the rector Constantin Bungău, together with the vice-deans of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Anamaria Pallag and Gabriela Ciavoi, the University announced.
“You have the largest community of Finnish residents in Romania. There are even more than in Bucharest. Oradea is becoming a hub for Finland”, stated Leena Liukkonen.
Over 100 Finns
The diplomatic representative reported that, at the beginning of this year, while organizing the polling stations for the presidential elections in her country, she was amazed to discover that more than a hundred Finnish citizens live in Oradea.
Most of them are students, but some are also employees of tire manufacturer Nokian Tires, which is building a new factory on the outskirts of the municipality.
The Finnish ambassador in Bucharest was curious to find out how the University of Oradea attracted her compatriots, future doctors. Gabriela Ciavoi, vice-dean of FMF, explained that study programs in English are what brought foreign students to Romania. “Finnish students started coming to Oradea ten years ago and I’m glad to be able to tell you that there are more and more,” added Ciavoi.
Speaking about the higher education institution that he leads, Constantin Bungău stated that “being a politically independent university and using all the opportunities that the European Union offers us, we are working for the University of Oradea to become that university of the future that her students and employees want”.
Voting station for Finns
Several Finnish students studying Medicine in Oradea were also present at the meeting, with whom the ambassador had a dialogue.
“There was talk of Oradea, especially in the Helsinki city area,” said student Eemeli Lamsa. “I like it here,” said Juhani Jutila, also a doctor, adding that he rarely goes home, because he feels very well in Oradea.
For his part, the honorary consul Mircea Hoțoleanu asked the Finnish students if it was difficult for them to adapt to such a different cultural environment as Romania. “I come from the north of Finland, from a culture that is really very different, and that’s why I think it took me a year to settle down. But now, the longer I stay here, the easier it is for me,” explained Sara Pekkala, a fifth-year student at FMF.
“The people are very welcoming, I adapted immediately,” added Faisal Mohamed Warsame, a “freshman” of Medicine from Oradea.
Meeting with Birta and Bolojan
Asked by his distinguished guest what are the challenges facing Romanian university education, rector Constantin Bungău pointed out two of them: the decrease in demographic indicators, implicitly, the number of young people in Romania, and university dropout.
Despite this reality, the rector of the University of Oradea declared himself optimistic. “Thanks to the academic alliances of which our university is also a part, as a member of the EU GREEN consortium, in four or five years, Romanian higher education will generate European diplomas. A student of a university that is part of this alliance will be able to be considered a student of any of the other universities”, detailed Bungău, referring to academic degrees recognized in the EU.
At the end of the meeting, the ambassador told her young compatriots that she would organize a polling station in Oradea, so that Finnish students would have the opportunity to choose their future representatives in the European Parliament.
After a short visit through the central campus of the University of Oradea, the diplomatic representative signed the honor book of the institution that hosted him.
On Thursday, Leena Liukkonen also met with the mayor of Oradea, Florin Birta, and the president of the Bihor County Council, Ilie Bolojan. The ambassador expressed her “confidence in the continuation and expansion” of Finnish investments in the city, along the lines of the Nokian Tires company.
