Metropolia University Common Problems Resolved

[elcastor21]

For the Lurkers that cannot download files:

First, I wasn't able to enroll to Metropolia's Nonstop courses at first using the XAMK HAKA login. I didn't know at first why that was the case, so I went and enrolled to the first course that I would complete called Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and confirmed my identity with Metropolia through secure email.
 
I was given the login credentials and reset my password according to the instructions. After I finished my first course and received my "H" grade (basically a "Pass" or "Credit" grade in the US), I found out that I couldn't use the HAKA with my Metropolia account to login and enroll for more Nonstop courses because it gave me a system error just like the XAMK HAKA login.
 
That's when I contacted Metropolia's help desk and they told me this: "I'm sorry, but you can't use HAKA-login cause you don't have  saved Finnish Personal ID number in studentregistry.
 
You probably don't have Finnish online banking credentials, to use suomi.fi, so better use the weak authentication. Please send a message to avoinamk@metropolia.fi after enrolment and ask to have your new enrolment merged with your old student id when they transfer your new enrolment. Atherwise you get a new ID and email in to the systems.
 
I will send message to system maintainer, that they have to put there better announsment HAKA, when this situation will came."
 
That's when I realized that I probably wasn't able to use the XAMK HAKA login as well because I didn't have a Finnish Personal ID number saved in the student registry. Also, the program coordinator as of right now, Virve Prami, ended up helping me do these account changes for changing over my Nonstop courses that I enrolled to to my old account, not avoinamk@metropolia.fi.
 
So, the basic idea is that it can get a little convoluted to enroll for the initial Nonstop course(s) at Metropolia and then also when enrolling for more, but there's an easier way to enroll for more courses while also getting your final grade at the same time.
 
Basically, instead of enrolling and having a new account made to you and then requesting to then transfer the courses to your original account and then finally having the new account closed, you can do the following:
 
For courses that are on this list (https://users.metropolia.fi/~salja/nonst...op_ENG.pdf) or on the Viope platform (not all of the ones on Viope are on the list for some reason), you just follow the instructions to pass the course (some courses want either an 80% or 100% completion and some even a learning diary; please check the notifications of the course you enrolled to for any additional requirements and go to https://www.metropolia.fi/en/academics/open-university-courses/nonstop-virtual-studies-information-and-communication-technology and select the course you want to enroll to to see more information about passing it) and then send an email to viopesupport@metropolia.fi to have the course graded (include your name and Metropolia student number as well as a screenshot proving that you finished the course and a learning diary, if required). The person or people behind that support email will manually add the course to your account along with the grade (either an "H" or a 0-5 grade depending on the course) if everything looks good.
 
For courses other than the ones listed on the list, you will need to either contact the Viope support email for more information or follow the instructions for these 2 courses that I completed:
 
For the course "Data Structures and Algorithms", please sign up to the platform or add the course using this link (https://codio.co.uk/p/signup?courseToken=ambient-opinion), complete everything it lets you do and then write a 3–5-page learning diary of what you learned from the entire course.
 
For the course "Introduction to Operating Systems", please sign up to the platform or add the course using this link (https://codio.co.uk/p/signup?courseToken=ozone-cobra), complete everything and then write a 3-5 page learning diary of what you learned from the entire course.
 
Once again, once you finish the desired course (please only send one email per finished course), contact viopesupport@metropolia.fi with an attachment/screenshot that proves that you finished the course, attach your learning diary (if needed) and then write your name and Metropolia student number and if everything looks good, they'll give you a grade.
 
Some of the courses that I did or am doing that are on the Viope platform that have a learning diary are Artificial Intelligence with Python, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Software Testing Automation using Robot Framework (the 3 ECTS courses tend to have a 2-page learning diary requirement while the 5 ECTS courses tend to have a 3–5-page learning diary requirement).
 
Also, please don't contact Viope support if you're not a student or don't have your student credentials yet as I don't think they can help you out yet.
 
Oh yeah, I think I'll write my experiences of the courses I've taken so far sometime later, but for now, you can try out and do the courses that I've both linked to and listed above.
 
 
Next, for the payments to Metropolia, I've got a bit of a story as well.
 
If you're a foreigner, you will need to select the option to pay later with an invoice when enrolling for the first Nonstop course(s) and they will send you the invoice to your personal email later.
 
I paid it using a wire transfer with my bank since there aren’t that many other ways to pay it, although you will probably end up paying at least a little more than the fee you owe due to currency conversions and any fees that apply like for sending money internationally.
 
I sent several emails to Metropolia to see if they received payment for the first course I enrolled for, but never heard back. I even used a Google Voice phone number to call them and they said that they would escalate the issue or something along those lines, but nothing else came of it.
 
I subsequently enrolled for 2 more courses (Data Structures and Algorithms and Introduction to Operating Systems) and even had Viope support manually add and put the grade for several other courses and they haven’t contacted me to arrange payments or give me an invoice or anything. They also haven’t terminated my right to study neither, so I can at least take more courses as needed. Weird, but I can’t do much else about it.
 
 
Finally, for sending official transcript of records to an evaluation service in the US (I haven’t tried it yet as I haven’t completed all the courses that I want yet), I contacted Metropolia to see if they could send the official transcript of records to an evaluation service in the US or any third party with my permission and they gave me a pleasant surprise:
 
“Hello,
 
 
 
Thank you for your message. If we receive the email address from you, we can send the document via email. We do not send documents via mail.”
 
This basically confirms that they do indeed send official transcripts to third parties and this opens up the door to many more evaluation agencies in the US (I think even WES)!
 
I haven’t tried it yet, but if someone wants to try it before me and report back, please be my guest.