Working in the concrete laboratory is smooth regardless of language
Halima Eldarrat, Senior lecturer in Construction and Civil Engineering, utilised her international expertise to perfect study methods in the concrete laboratory
Senior Lecturer Halima Eldarrat completed her civil engineering degree at the University of Benghazi, specialising in concrete construction. After her studies she worked as an assistant researcher at the same university and completed a master’s degree at the University of Benghazi, where she later also worked as a lecturer. In the summer of 2025 she was tasked with developing the procedures in the concrete laboratory.
In concrete laboratory work there was room for improvement in bilingual working and in documentation.
– Many of the technical details and standards were only available in Finnish. This meant more time and effort was required. On the positive side, my Finnish language skills improved significantly during the process, says Halima.
An additional challenge was the layout of the laboratory equipment. It was necessary to assess whether the existing laboratory facilities could meet the students’ needs and be suitable for all the planned experiments.
New improvements were developed with Halima Elderrat by student assistants Edit Paasikivi (Finnish-speaking student) and Hassan El Ammari (non-Finnish-speaking student).
The result gave a framework for working
In the future the concrete laboratory will operate under these new procedures:
- At the beginning of their work, each student will receive a comprehensive plan for working in the concrete laboratory in Finnish and English, including the tests chosen for the laboratory’s initial commissioning phase.
- Each test package contains:
- Clear, step-by-step work instructions consistent with the applicable Eurocode regulations.
- High-resolution illustrative images that support precise execution of the instructions.
- Instructional videos in Finnish and English providing detailed explanations and demonstrations for each test.
- A calculation sheet (by Excel or Mathcad) for teachers containing calculations for most of the tests according to the standards, so that all teaching in the laboratory is consistent regardless of the teacher.
- A separate data sheet has been prepared for each test, which students use during laboratory sessions to record the required information, measurements and observations.
The form ensures that the data collected is standardised and that reporting complies with Finnish Eurocode guidelines.
The images below show Finnish-speaking and international construction and municipal engineering students testing the new practices.
