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Autumn term 2022 was the first time, when the School of Electrical Engineering and the School of Science incoming exchange students had the opportunity to participate in series of World Peace Exchange (WPX) workshops designed especially for them.

The idea that stands behind the WPX project is to provide time and space for exchange students who are willing to learn more not only about academic topics, but also via listening to each other, discussing topics based on the Aalto values and EDI principles. The diverse backgrounds of exchange students give a natural environment for this kind of a learning experience. Financed by the School of Electrical Engineering’s Diversity and Inclusivity fund, the project aims to nothing less than to build peace and understanding worldwide.

WPX consists of five 90-min workshops:

1. How to make the most of your exchange?
2. Community
3. Sustainability
4. Values
5. Happiness

Each workshop has the same structure, where students discuss in small groups and share their learnings with each other. Combined with icebreaker games, this hands-on part lasts 60 min. Four workshop topics are presented by an expert from the Aalto community and the Happiness workshop is in a form of guided tour in the Helsinki city centre. At the end of each session the organisers gather concrete feedback also including tips, how the students can spread these ideas back in their home countries, universities, and to their communities.

The academic year 2022/23 is a pilot year for this form of workshops for the School of Electrical Engineering and the School of Science incoming exchange students. In the future the organisers would like to offer this opportunity for all Aalto incoming exchange students.

Each student who attended the workshop found the topic interesting at the end and interactive discussions were ranked as the most interesting.