Browsing by Author "Forssell, Lotta"

The purpose of this thesis was to study high school student counsellors’ perceptions of university-level forest science studies and perceptions of forest sector in general. Student counsellors act as an information source when choosing a career and further studies after high school. Furthermore, this study explored the communication and student marketing implemented by the department of Forest Sciences and the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki. The theoretical background of this study was based on the theories of organizational communication and image forming. The aim was to clarify how the image of forest studies and forest sector is formed. The data were collected with personal theme-interviews. In addition to counsellors, personnel from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry were also interviewed. The data were analyzed by using thematizing. The forest sector was seen as a field of business that has been important to Finnish economy and society in the past. However, counsellors understanding of forest science studies were quite defective. Still, the employment possibilities were seen extensive, although some images of traditional positions related to the paper industry and wood trading emerged. The Internet is the main source of information to the counsellors and to the prospective students. Because of this, web-pages that are clear and up-to-date are important in student marketing. The experiences about the communication and student marketing implemented by the Faculty were few and more actions were wished. The image is that the whole Faculty offers several study possibilities. However, both counsellors, and most likely, the prospective students have very unsound conceptions of the possibilities. Both counsellors and the personnel from the Faculty described the name of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry challenging. The name does not define clearly what fields of study are included. Forest sector aims to improve the conspicuousness and the attractiveness of the sector among the young people. Based on this thesis, it is possible to say that the challenges with the communication and student marketing are related to the structured components of the communication, such as actions and messages. The impressiveness is low and there is a lack of resources. Even though the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, the Department of Forest Sciences and other members of the forest sector are investing in the communication, student counsellors are unfamiliar with the possibilities that forest sector offers as an education and as a profession. The collaboration between the university and other members of the forest sector can give the possibility to improve the communication and to accelerate student marketing.