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Various Variables
Aiming at recognising competences and guiding educated immigrants

Browsing Tag recognition of competences

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Supporting Highly Educated Immigrants’ Career Paths in Finland

Marianne Autero · 13.2.2018

Since 2016, SIMHE-Metropolia has been actively developing and modelling its services to find out ways to improve highly educated immigrants’ education and employment possibilities in Finland. The number of customers at SIMHE-Metropolia has risen steadily over the past two years totalling in over 550 users for Guidance and Counselling and Recognition of Competences services in 2017.

Creating a sustainable yet flexible method for recognising immigrants’ competences

SIMHE-Metropolia first piloted recognition of competences for highly educated immigrants in the field of technology in spring 2016 with some 30 customers to establish what would be the best method and participant criteria for the process. The current method, Mapping of Competences, has now been carried out in the fields of technology and business thrice since autumn 2016 with some 150 customers. The choice of fields was based on them not being regulated professions in Finland and Metropolia offers Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in both fields.

Mapping of Competences is managed and conducted by SIMHE-Metropolia. The field-related expertise is provided by heads of degree programmes or departments who work in the fields of technology and/or business at Metropolia.

In autumn 2017, the Mapping of Competences service was also offered for suitable customers through Public employment and business services (TE Services) in Uusimaa region with almost 60 customers along with some 25 customers who entered the process through SIMHE-Metropolia’s own registration path. The continuation of the cooperation with TE Services is yet to be realised later in 2018.

Recognition of Prior Learning is also needed for those not currently in higher education

Recognising existing skills and competences is not a new concept in university of applied sciences as Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is strongly supported in study planning for example at Metropolia to create individual learning paths for degree students. SIMHE-Metropolia’s service thus augments and modifies RPL concept to highly educated immigrants who are not able to use such services as they are not registered in higher education institution in Finland.

The official Recognition and Comparability of International Qualifications is conducted by Finnish National Agency for Education whereas SIMHE-Metropolia’s service aims at taking a more practical approach for recognising competences by helping customers to make their foreign qualifications and competences also more familiar to the Finnish employers.

Self-knowledge and understanding of the Finnish context make a difference

Education is highly appreciated in Finland, but being a highly educated immigrant in Finland does not always result in swift access to education or work. Immigrants often lack an inherent knowledge of the Finnish society and culture, they may lack sufficient language skills to enter in their field of expertise, and most importantly, they are not certain how their existing competences match with the Finnish requirements. Even though educated immigrants are needed in the Finnish labour market, we tend to run somewhat homespun and closed labour market in Finland (Kauppalehti 29.1. 2018).

As customers are in a centre in Mapping of Competences, the aim is to offer both individual encounters in addition to group meetings throughout the process by helping customers to

  • understand how their formerly acquired skills and competences match with the Finnish requirements
  • find suitable educational paths, when applicable
  • support employment and obtain information and ideas on various ways for job-search in Finland
  • be able to express their competences better

Now I know, where I am

SIMHE-Metropolia’s customers share common features like high level of education and being of foreign origin, but they are yet a very heterogeneous group of people with varied backgrounds, hopes and dreams how to live their lives in Finland. The best achievement over the past two years we have run the service, is to see how we have been able to empower people and give them tools for building possible career paths.

Now that we have developed the ways to support self-knowledge and growth in more localised professional identity through our services, the next steps are to create even more ways to match the job-searching talents with those in need of skilled workforce. The existing events like Recruitment and Matching Morning by COME project help immigrants to meet up and network with employers-to-be.

The road is still rocky and bendy, yet a lot has been accomplished by far. The most important thing is to include immigrants to the Finnish society by not always emphasising what they may not have, but rather embrace a feeble question raised by one of our customers: What if I am perfect already?

More information:

Maahanmuuton vastuukorkeakoulutoiminta Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2017:38
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/80706

Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja.Työelämä  36/2017 Maahanmuuttajien koulutuspolkujen nopeuttaminen ja joustavat siirtymät -työryhmän loppuraportti ja toimenpide-esitykset
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/80625/TEMjul_36_2017_verkkojulkaisu.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Kauppalehti 29.1. 2018
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/uutinen/HzNP4peF?ref=ampparit:730b&ext=ampparit

Mäki, Kimmo. 5.12. 2017 Osaamme sanoittaa osaamista
http://www.amkverkkovirta.fi/osaammeko-sanoittaa-osaamista

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365 steps later

Marianne Autero · 9.3.2017

Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education in Finland (SIMHE) has now been part of my professional life exactly for a year.  It has most certainly been a year of many new encounters, views, angles, ideas, networks, seminars and happenings. This has been most apparent in terms of guidance and counselling as I have met around 300 educated immigrant-background people through one-to-one personal guidance discussions, Guidance Generalia lectures and in orientating customers to our Recognition of Competences Services.

It was a very good year

How could I describe the past year and its eventful occurrences? We started from an empty desk, only having a grasp of what there is to do, or what we wish to accomplish. Things evolved very fast and the first pilot in recognition of competences services, SIMHE-Metropolia internet pages and guidance and counselling services got a kick-start during April-May 2016. Evidently, once you get going, things tend to grow bigger and bigger, like a snowball effect.

I have come across with people from many walks of life as my counselees have had education in engineering, nursing, law, medicine, business, pharmacology, languages and teaching, just mention a few. Some of them have been in Finland only for months, whereas some have been living here even for years.

Despite their various backgrounds, all SIMHE customers share a need to get information and help in learning how to surf in the Finnish education system and labour market, or getting to know what are the authorities regulating certain professions in Finland. This has also put my skills to the test as I have myself learned so many new things by searching for information from various channels. Likewise, I have also learnt a lot from my customers and their international experience.

It’s all about networks

Many SIMHE customers’ main objective is to get employed in their field of expertise. Job-searching has been a daunting experience for many as there is little or no response from the employers, even after numerous applications and contact-making. It has become as a surprise to some that having the credentials and qualifications is somewhat meaningless, unless you have the networks and connections with the local people.

It is a matter of trust, or sometimes of mere existence. If you have no one to endorse you and your competences, you are non-visible in the labour market. Thus, one of our challenges is to help to create such networks in making people exist in the eyes of the Finnish employers. Again, we aim to support this through our own networks like TE-office, Helsinki Chamber of Commerce and Start-Up Refugees in addition to our Recognition of Competences Services.

The show must go on

SIMHE-Metropolia and SIMHE-Jyväskylä pioneered the concept throughout 2016 with good results and a strong support from Ministry of Education and Culture. Issues revolving around immigration phenomenon have become more and more prevalent in Finland and the implications are apparent on all levels of education. The actions to be taken are described on The educational tracks and integration of immigrants – problematic areas and proposals for actions document that was handed to Minister of Education and Culture, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, at Metropolia in mid-February 2017.

SIMHE is getting even a stronger foothold in 2017 as more educational institutions are joining the concept and the work will continue until the end of 2020, or even beyond. We are very happy to welcome University of Helsinki, University of Turku, Oulu UAS and Karelia UAS to heighten the service concept and bring in fresh views and ideas.

There is most certainly a need to open-up and brush-up the existing policies to create ways for immigrants to have an access to education, also on its highest level. SIMHE-concept could work as a stepping stone for supporting more inclusive education in catering the needs of immigrants and the Finnish society.

 

 

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365 steps later
Marianne Autero
9.3.2017
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Information about blog

Various Variables -blog introduces information, ideas and experiences about  support services in University of Applied Sciences for highly educated immigrants for recognizing their prior learning and competence and their guidance.

Various Variables blog´s Editorial Board

  • Heidi Stenberg, Project Director, tel. +358 40 535 3388
  • Marika Antikainen, Project Coordinator, tel. +358 40 681 1244
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Heidi Stenberg

has a vast experience in various fields as she has worked in promoting health, in sales and marketing, in conceptualizing services and in the field of education in expert and supervisory positions. Heidi has a Master’s Degree in Education and is also a Public Health Nurse. Learning, developing competencies, leadership and promoting health are in the center of her expertise and competence. Heidi devotes her free time for spending time with her family and friends and she is also active in many areas of sports. Heidi’s motto is: “If you start something today, you’ll notice it was worth the effort in a year’s time”.


Elisa Manninen

Elisa Manninen

has gathered various experience in the field of higher education as well as in guiding international applicants and students in different institutions. She has a Master’s Degree in Education and is a Special Education and a Class Teacher. Additionally she studies to become a Guidance Counselor. In her work at SIMHE-Metropolia, she focuses in guiding customers with immigrant background to pursue their studies and career. Elisa has a keen interest towards social issues, stories behind everything and taking it easy. Favorite quote: “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire” by Confucius.


Emilia Deseille

Emilia Deseille

is passionate about career development of international talents in Finland. Having studied and worked abroad on several occasions, she has experience in starting a career abroad, and feels at home in a multilingual and intercultural environment. Before joining the SIMHE Metropolia team as a career coach and employer relations specialist, Emilia was working in the field of labor market integration in Austria. She has a Master of Social Sciences degree in Development and International Cooperation, and studies in Intercultural Communication and Adult Education. In her spare time, Emilia enjoys dancing and doing other sports with friends, and the language geek in her enjoys learning new languages.


Ari Koistinen

Ari Koistinen

teaches mathematics, computer programming, application software, and modelling and simulation in Metropolia UAS. In recent years, his work has been related mainly to international degree programmes. Ari has also a long experience in hydrological modelling and development of software used in water forecasting. In free time he reads books, travels and does a variety of sports such as gym, climbing, ashtanga yoga and mountain biking.


Leena Honkasalo

Leena Honkasalo

works as project planner in Metropolia’s SIMHE services (Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education). She holds a Master of Arts degree in Spanish philology and has professional teacher qualifications. Before joining the SIMHE team, Leena worked in the NGO sector developing global citizenship education. Her special interests include sustainable development, equity and diversity. In her free time, Leena loves spending quality time with family and friends, eating out, visiting art exhibitions and doing yoga.


Marika Antikainen

Marika Antikainen

works as a project coordinator in Metropolia SIMHE services. Her work focuses on increasing employment among international professionals living in Finland. Internationalisation and societal responsibility inspire Marika in her work and life. She has a Master of Arts degree in intercultural communication and a professional teacher’s qualifications. She has also worked several years in international relations in Metropolia and has taught intercultural competence. Travelling and salsa bring an international flavour also to her freetime, balanced with hiking in Finnish forests and other sports.


Niina Tapanainen

Niina Tapanainen

spends most of her working hours with SIMHE personal and group guidance. Niina has a Master’s Degree in Education and is a qualified Guidance Counsellor and Psychology (as a second subject) Teacher. She has worked over a decade in Higher Education Institutions in various posts within the study and student services also with international students and admissions. She volunteers to help youngsters and spends rest of her free time enjoying life: relaxing, dreaming and whatever interesting comes her way.


Oksan Niemi

Oksan Niemi

has experience both in field of education and in agile projects in IT environment. Oksan holds a Master of Social Sciences degree in International Relations. Before joining SIMHE Metropolia as a project manager for two different projects, which concentrate on the employment of higher educated immigrants, she has guided international degree and exchange students and worked with the international partner higher educational institutions. Having graduated from an international degree programme herself and worked in international environment in different business areas, Oksan enjoys working in a global environment surrounded by people with various backgrounds. Oksan devotes her free time to her multilingual family, friends and travelling with them.


vierailija

vierailija


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      • Courage to Use Finnish - Growing into a Professional
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      • Mentoring in the time of corona: networks, insights and improved employability for international talents
    • â–şApril(2)
      • Now everybody’s viral – how we made it to the new decade of online education and work 
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      • Boost your Talent with Finland - Towards a Career Path for International Degree Students
    • â–şJune(1)
      • My Journey in Supporting Immigrant Women in Higher Education
    • â–şMay(1)
      • Finding suitable career paths for the highly educated immigrants
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      • Do you need supplementary education?
  • â–Ľ2018 (2)
    • â–şMay(1)
      • How to succeed in higher education in Finland?
    • â–ĽFebruary(1)
      • Supporting Highly Educated Immigrants' Career Paths in Finland
  • â–ş2017 (5)
    • â–şDecember(1)
      • Highly skilled immigrants aboard to build Finland
    • â–şNovember(1)
      • Healthy Mind, Healthy Life - How to improve the sense of belongingness among highly educated immigrants in Finland?
    • â–şSeptember(1)
      • Is it all about happiness?
    • â–şMarch(1)
      • 365 steps later
    • â–şFebruary(1)
      • Mathematics and various variables
  • â–ş2016 (3)
    • â–şSeptember(1)
      • Can you see it more clearly now?
    • â–şJune(1)
      • To have someone who listens to me...
    • â–şMay(1)
      • Recognising competencies of educated immigrants

SIMHE on Metropolia.fi pages

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has launched Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education SIMHE project to start services for recognizing prior learning and competence of highly educated immigrants and their guidance.

SIMHE Metropolia

Services for Immigrants

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Sisällöt edustavat kunkin kirjoittajan henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiä, Metropolian johtoryhmän Pelinavaajat-blogi ilmaisee Metropolian virallista kantaa.

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