Higher education institutions, cities and employers working together to encourage international talent to commit to Finland
Some time ago, the staff of Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk) realised that the number of international degree students had increased approximately tenfold in the past five years. There were already about six hundred of them studying at Oamk.
"The landscape and situation changed in a flash," says Principal Lecturer and Development Manager Sami Niemelä.
The change was not a surprise as such, as Oamk had been working towards it by increasing its number of degree programmes in English. At the same time, Finnish students, who had previously been the majority in English-language programmes, have started to increasingly apply for Finnish-language programmes.
Oamk had been offering SIMHE (Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education in Finland) services to support highly educated immigrants for a long time, and now that there were more international students, it could expand the familiar programmes and the networks that they had built up. The idea was that good connections to the city of Oulu, business and other educational institutions would encourage international students to stay in the region – or at least in Finland.
"This is a group inclined to migration, and it would be good to get them to put down roots here," says Niemelä.
The methods employed to encourage this include serving entire families, as many international students are accompanied by a spouse and children. Oamk works with the City of Oulu to showcase current and future housing solutions to the families of international students, help them find educational paths for their spouses and provide advice on how to start a business.
In addition to this, Oamk has organised events that allow students to meet employers in the region. The City of Oulu has also opened BusinessAsema, which offers services under one roof for employers and jobseekers. SIMHE services have been part of the BusinessAsema partner network almost from its inception, for five years now.
BusinessAsema is also home to International House Oulu, which brings together services for immigrants, people from abroad planning to move to Oulu and businesses under one roof.
"Cooperation with employers during studies and integration into Finnish society are the ways to get international students to commit to living here, to being part of this society, and to supporting the future growth of companies," says Service Manager Tuija Karppila from Business Oulu.
Language-supported competence paths in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
SIMHE services are available all over Finland, and different regions have slightly different needs. For example, the Helsinki Metropolitan Area has large numbers of highly educated foreign-born people, and, on the other hand, sectors facing labour shortages.
In response to this, higher education institutions in the region have launched a joint EU-funded project to promote language-supported competence paths. At the University of Helsinki, these paths focus on early childhood education, with international talent completing degree studies in early childhood education and Finnish-language studies.
“The early childhood education sector has a major labour shortage and, on the other hand, a need to diversify the workforce to reflect the diversity of city residents,", says Specialist Rebekka Nylund from the University of Helsinki.
Also involved in the project are Aalto University and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. At Aalto, international engineering students learn Finnish as part of their studies, and at Metropolia, learners complete the first year of studies for the Bachelor of Social Services degree in early childhood education. Metropolia also offers education and training in business administration aimed at improving the employability of human resources and marketing professionals, whose unemployment rates are currently high.
The sectors included in the project were identified together with cities.
"Getting into university can be challenging, even if you are eligible for higher education, have completed previous studies or even hold a degree," says Nylund.
Cooperation is essential for skill matching
Rebekka Nylund believes that cooperation between higher education institutions and cities will become increasingly important in the future. According to her, in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area higher education institutions hold meetings with the cities of Espoo, Helsinki and Vantaa four times a year to discuss topics related to the integration of international professionals.
The importance of cooperation is also emphasised by International Recruitment Specialist Jannika Leinonen from Business Oulu.
"Open and proactive discussion between companies, educational institutions and the City is essential."
In Oulu, this kind of discussion is facilitated by e.g. BusinessAsema: its network of partners brings together dozens of organisations on a regular basis, and at the same time allows for low-threshold information sharing.
Oamk has also taken responsibility for a communication campaign to inform employers about what recruiting international talent entails and what it does not.
"For example, a company recruiting its first international professional does not need to immediately switch their working language to English," says Niemelä.
Business Oulu: The employment situation is currently challenging
According to Tuija Karppila, the current labour market situation is challenging.
“Just a few years ago, there was a lot of talk in Finland about there being a shortage of talent, but this is no longer the case at present. There are top experts looking for work, and international professionals are in an even more challenging situation than Finns."
However, the assumption is that once the economic downturn is over, labour shortages may soon become commonplace again.
"Some companies have realised this and are already preparing for it," says Karppila.
She believes that we are now at an interim stage, which is a good time for companies to start preparing for the future.
"Both in Finland and in the Oulu region, the availability of skilled labour will become a barrier to business development unless steps are taken to prepare for it."
Jannika Leinonen suggests that an excellent way for companies to get used to being more international workplaces is to offer traineeships to international students.
National cooperation is also important
According to Sami Niemelä, it is clear that the future talent needs of companies or the public sector cannot be filled by Finnish people alone. Companies that start to internationalise now will have an advantage when, in a few years' time, an increasing share of the workforce is international.
"There are examples from the Nordic countries that making this change in a skilful and considered way creates an opportunity to take the country's wellbeing to the next level," says Niemelä.
The public sector could lead by example.
"I wouldn't mind if we had more people from international backgrounds in our SIMHE steering group, in ministries and in the Finnish National Agency for Education," he says.
Niemelä and Nylund praise the coordination of the SIMHE steering group by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The steering group shares information and clarifies the situational picture.
"We get to hear what is happening in terms of legislation and the Finnish National Agency for Education in this field," says Rebekka Nylund. "At the same time, we get to tell them what higher education institutions think should happen."
One of Nylund's hopes is that, at some point in the future, higher education institutions would assume responsibility for preparatory programmes for higher education studies so that their funding would become more stable. At present, the programmes are based on project funding.
"What is needed is a long-term and systematic approach to these programmes."
Text: Esa Salminen