Forthcoming events

To be advised.
 

News

Career Development CV available

A free CD about Career Development can be obtained from ULPU office upon request. The CD is produced by EUFASA and includes presentations held at the EUFASA Conference in Prague in 2009.

EUFASA Working Group Reports can be read here. Password can be obtained from UPLU office.

.................

Intercultural relationships demand constant negotiation

Intercultural relationships improve communication skills, according to new research. Continuous compromise is required on decisions about where to live, how to bring up children, religious beliefs, traditions, gender roles, holidays and friends.

Carine Cools defended her doctoral thesis ”Relational Dialectics in Intercultural Couples‘ Relationships” at Jyväskylä University on Monday. Cools, a senior research associate at the university, emphasised that nothing can be taken for granted in intercultural relationships. Even basic issues are subject to ongoing negotiation.

”Couples end up repeatedly discussing fundamental and basic questions like where to live, where to work, where to go on holiday, which parents to see, how to bring up children and so on,” says Cools. Intercultural couples mainly see negotiation as a natural part of their lives, but it can also be tough. ”Sometimes compromising can be a burden,” says Cools. ”It can be stressful to know that we have to discuss this again and we have to make a decision again.”

Often three languages in a relationship

The Familia club association for intercultural families estimates that in 2009 there were 58,500 Finnish families in which one partner has a mother tongue other than Finnish or Swedish.
”The language question is difficult for couples, because one partner is always at a disadvantage in conversation,” says Cools. ”Often pairs talk to each other in two or even three languages. That leads to misunderstandings.”

In the background of the negotiations there are often also communities and relatives that can strongly criticise a couple’s decisions. ”It affects the couple’s friends, families and other social contacts,” says Cools. ”They end up going through the same discussions there.”

Discussions can also be a couple’s strength

”Discussions are important, because they lead to greater understanding and improve satisfaction within the relationship,” says Cools. ”Continuous negotiations produce a feeling that we have again succeeded in sorting things out, and everything is fine.”

The research could help improve guidance and counselling offered to intercultural couples.
”If multicultural couples know that negotiation is a natural and normal part of life, they can find things easier,” says Cools. ”Many people see it as a problem, but they don’t realise that everyone is in the same situation.”

Cools researched heterosexual couples in which at least one partner has a background in another culture. (YLE 2012.2011)

Past events

Welcome to Finland – Challenges in settling down to Finland

The Family Officer arranges an evening for all foreign born spouses and partners
of all civil servants of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, 9th of November 2011.

This informative event will be held from 5 pm to 7.30 pm in the lobby of the Department for Communications and Culture, address; Kanavakatu 3 C, Katajanokka.

Please send your registration to the e-mail address perhe(at)formin.fi by Friday, 4th of November 2011. You can download the program here.

.............................. 

The traditional Smolna Tea Party December 5, 2011

This traditional event will take place on Monday December 5th at the Government Banquet Hall Smolna (Eteläesplanadi 6) from 3 p.m. on. Further information will be available soon.

..............................

Christmas Party December 12, 2011

The party will take place at the Engel Hall at the Merikasarmi (Laivastokatu 22, Katajanokka) on Monday December 12th starting at 6 p.m. Come and enjoy good food and company accompanied by a balalaika orchestra!

..............................

ULPU men's get together at Restaurant Zinnkeller 14.12.

 Visit to the Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace                
on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 5.30 p.m. (Salomonkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki)

Guided tour in English to the following exhibitions:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela – European Master
This exhibition presents the artist’s aesthetically most brilliant peak, a selection of masterworks.

The Power of Color - Works from the Collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery
In the exhibition you can see works from the masters like Vasili Kandinski, Marc Chagall ja Kasimir Malevitš from 1900–1930.

Entrance fee 8 €/person. The guide is paid by ULPU. Please sign up by e-mail to the address tiedotus(at)ulpu.fi latest by Jan 2. Maximum number of participants is 30 persons.

Tennis Palace web page