Guest lectures bring a nice change to AMK studies. As a result of the partnership agreement between Kemijoki Oy and Lapland AMK, they have started to be organised as part of engineering education.

On a Thursday in October, Timo Torvinen, who works as a development manager at Kemijoki Oy, lectured to electrical and automation engineering students on hydropower, electricity markets and engineering tasks in a hydropower company.

The guest lecture was included in the Basics of Electric Power Engineering course, but its recording has also interested students of construction and surveying. The lecture naturally also interested the teaching staff. Electrical engineering teacher Aila Petäjäjärvi considers the lively connection to working life to be very important.

– Students benefit from getting the most up-to-date information from the field. Teachers also get the same kind of real-time information on operations.

The guest lecture elicited enthusiastic feedback from students:

“Listening to the lecture was a very interesting and rewarding experience. I learned a lot of new information and learned a lot about topics that I didn’t know much about before. The lecture opened up new perspectives and deepened my understanding of electricity production, electricity markets and hydropower engineering. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this lecture and look forward to the opportunity to learn more about similar topics in the future.”

The part of the lecture that dealt with various engineering tasks related to hydropower made an obvious impression on the students. An excerpt from the feedback:

“It was interesting to see how big the whole thing is. On the other hand, how the operation of the plant is affected by a specific event at a certain point in time. Also, what kind of ancillary activities there are in this field of technology? It didn’t come to mind right away that electricity production needs, for example, biologists.”

Kuvakaappaus verkkoluennosta.

Timo Torvinen’s early evening Zoom lecture reached students from their places of residence and sparked nice questions and discussion.

The visits will continue, as more expert lectures from Kemijoki Oy are planned for students of mechanical engineering, construction and urban engineering, and electrical and automation engineering. Lectures are planned, for example, on generators and control technology, as well as on earthworks. Aila Petäjäjärvi says that the lectures will be made into a continuum, where students in the initial phase will get basic information on hydropower and students going deeper will get tough professional stuff.

– Kemijoki Oy arouses students’ interest in hydropower, and thus gets motivated experts and professionals for its engineering tasks in the future, Aila Petäjäjärvi anticipates.