On the fifth anniversary of FuTuRe programme, alumni received warm welcome from the School of Information Science and Technology (SIST), Fudan University, and the Department of Future Technology, University of Turku (UTU).

FuTuRe, with the meaning of Fudan-Turku-Rethinking-Education, is a double master’s degree programme in ICT jointly set up by Fudan and UTU in 2013. Starting from 16 Chinese students in the first recruitment, FuTuRe now is home for 152 alumni in 6 generations from 7 countries.

The Vice Dean of SIST Ran Liu and Student Ambassador of FuTuRe Yingchun Nie from cohort 2013, as the hosts, welcomed all the distinguished guests and alumni on 25^th of November in Guanghua Tower in the main campus of Fudan University.

Lirong Zheng, Dean of SIST offered a welcome speech to honored guests and alumni. He said that it is encouraging to see many students here, renewed and relaxed. He hopes that all alumni are doing very well in their specified fields and making FuTuRe to shine even brighter. He added that alumni are the real asset, and the School wants them to visit more often and have open discussions on challenges they are facing. School is always here to facilitate. Using parental tone, he said, “It is my responsibility to work as a bridge between my students and industry. Do give me often visits and have loud communication.” He thanked alumni for taking the time to come back and to share their experiences.

Consul General of Finland Jan Wahlberg was invited to give a warm speech. He recalled his own study experience abroad, and addressed alumni and students the importance of having international experience during their studies to open possibilities in their career. He also mentioned that Shanghai accommodates a big number of Fins about 1000. That is the reason he was much concerned about the collaborations like FuTuRe always and arranged the first alumni event in 2013 at his residency.

Lukia YANG, Programme Officer at Finnish National Agency for Education started the talk with her story. She is also a Fudan alumna, who graduated about ten years ago. She discussed the Finnish education system and shared plenty of useful information including how to join in alumni events organized by her agency.

Tomi Westerlund, Director of FuTuRe programme at UTU, shared his feelings with alumni. He said that it is really nice to see people from different backgrounds in a family. To build strong relations people need to do frequent discussions. “We need to share our ideas, upcoming challenges and opportunities aloud”, said Westerlund, “the only thing we need to do is communication that is why I want to listen to your stories”.

Jussi Hiltunen, Design Manager at KONE, China & Asia Technology was specially invited to share a few words of advice from industry perspective with alumni. FuTuRe and KONE have been long-term friends since 2013 when the first cohort paid a visit and had an onsite seminar. He admired the strategy and the value of visiting KONE and other industries.

Chen Wang, CEO of Slush China, gave a presentation about entrepreneurship. She was glad after reading the slogan of the event “Welcome Home”. She said, “I am not a graduate from Fudan still I truly feel home here.” She quoted that “Just Be Crazy”, people need to be crazy to achieve something great.

In the end of the first session, Yingchun Nie, the Student Ambassador shared a few words of experience and love. To keep FuTuRe family gathering, she and her classmates have put great efforts like, creating a WeChat public group, where alumni can follow all the upcoming events.

In the following sessions, alumni looked back on their campus life with many unforgettable moments, and shared their professional life experiences and the current job roles. In the invited talks, Xuerui Yang from cohort 2015 shared his experience from campus to career life, Chendi Zhang from cohort 2016 talked about enterprising spirit he got during his stay in Finland, and Antti Hintsanen, a Finnish student from cohort 2015 shared his travelling experience in China. The event ended in laughter and loud applause.

Alumni are key to the programme, the school, and the university’s growth. This gathering has set up a network of former graduates, and linked the ongoing cohorts. “We will keep in touch, and gather here every year”, said Nie.