Tag: international student
Five Effective Ways to Learn Finnish
Have you recently moved to Finland or are you currently trying to learn Finnish? Good, then you are at the right place! Language courses and classes are unquestionably the best ways to learn a new language, but there are also many other ways to enhance your learning along the way and implement the new language into your life. And to be fair, learning Finnish can be a bit intimidating at times, so here are five ways to boost your learning journey! Try to Speak Finnish with Finns First, let’s state the obvious. Even Finns themselves think that Finnish is a bit of a complicated language to learn and speak, so don’t worry. You don’t have to speak it perfectly to be understood. Speaking a foreign language for the first time can be daunting! However, you’ll learn the language faster when you use it on a daily basis (1). So, when you are at the grocery store, for example, bravely say “kiitos” and “hyvää päivänjatkoa!” to the cashier. In general, we Finns are really friendly and kind, contrary to all stereotypes, so don’t be afraid and just go for it! If you can use Finnish every day, even in these little moments, you’ll become more confident using it, and in the long run, you’ll end up learning it faster. It’s also worth mentioning that in Finland, everyone speaks English quite well, so sometimes when we want to be friendly, we switch the language to English quite easily. But if you want to talk in Finnish, just do it! Watch Finnish TV Shows and Movies This may seem obvious, but I still want to mention it. To learn a new language, you need to read it, write it, speak it, and hear it (2). That being said, it is a great idea to watch TV shows and movies in the language you want to acquire. It doesn’t matter if you have the subtitles on; you just need to hear Finnish. Even though you don’t understand everything they say in the shows and movies, you’ll still hear the language, and it will help you learn. Another way to do this is to watch a movie or a show you have already seen, dubbed in Finnish. This way you already know the plot and it’s much easier to follow along! Listen to Finnish Podcasts This is also an excellent way to hear Finnish and learn to comprehend it little by little. The same goes for podcasts as with TV shows and movies; you don’t have to understand everything, you just have to listen! There are plenty of good options when it comes to podcasts. If you want to listen to a learning podcast, then there are, for example, Opi Suomea -podcast and Random Finnish Lesson -podcast, which can help you learn Finnish faster. In these podcasts, the language used is simple and easy to understand. Then, of course, there are multiple other Finnish podcasts on different topics. You can find them on Yle Areena or Spotify. If you are interested in history or true crime, you can listen to a Finnish podcast about these topics and learn a lot. Watch Finnish Children’s TV Shows This may seem really silly at first, but it is actually a helpful way to boost your language learning. The reason is that the language in children’s TV shows is way simpler and easier to understand. Therefore, it’s a great way to improve your language learning, plus it’s really fun! For example, the Moomins (Muumit in Finnish) are a great option for this. The Moomin characters speak very simple and basic Finnish, making it easy to follow along. You can watch The Moomin series on Yle Areena for free, so check it out! In addition, you get to know the Finnish culture since the Moomins are a big part of the Finnish cultural identity. Use Post-it notes to Learn the Finnish Vocabulary When you need to learn Finnish vocabulary, post-it notes can useful. For example, write the Finnish words for different furniture items and stick them to the furniture. You can start with five words for instance and then change the post-it notes when you already know them. You can also try saying the words out loud to practice the pronunciation of the words. You can apply this method to other things, too. If you want to learn food vocabulary, stick post-it notes to the items in your fridge. This can really speed up your learning as you see the Finnish words every day in your home! Let’s Get to Learning Finnish There are many ways to learn a new language, and different things work for different people. You can use one of the ways mentioned in this blog post to boost your Finnish, or you can even try them all if you’d like. The key to learning Finnish is to immerse yourself in it! And in no time, you’ll notice yourself getting better and better in Finnish and soon enough you’ll be a fluent speaker. And in case you are looking for Finnish language courses, please take a look at Metropolia’s Finnish language courses for immigrants. We’d love to have you here in Metropolia! Author Jenni Savolainen is a communications intern at the Learning Networks and Services team at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and a master’s student at the University of Turku majoring in the Finnish language. Sources: Tandem 2017. Want to Learn a Language Quickly? Get Speaking! Web page. Viewed on 18th of October 2023. UNC Learning Center 2015. Learning Languages. Web page. Viewed on 25th of October 2023.
Why Finnish is Easier to Learn than You Think
When talking about languages, Finnish always comes up as being a hard language to learn. There are 15 grammatical cases and other grammatical things that can make you feel horrified. Sure, Finnish may be a bit hard language to grasp but it is not as hard as Japanese, Korean or Arabic, according to the US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, FSI (1). Does this make you feel any better? Good! There are actually a few different reasons why I think Finnish is easier to learn than you think. Let’s get into it! Gender-neutrality, Loanwords and Suffixes Firstly, Finnish is a somewhat gender-neutral language since there is no grammatical gender (2). We only have one pronoun hän, which includes every gender. So, you only need to know one pronoun. On top of that, Finns also like to use pronoun se (which translates to it) to refer to a person. Therefore, when speaking Finnish, you will be fine just using the pronoun hän and/or se. Nouns are neutral in Finnish too. If you speak for example Italian or Spanish, you are probably used to nouns being either feminine or masculine. In Finnish, there are no feminine or masculine nouns. Also, the vocabulary is something worth mentioning. There are many loanwords from different languages in Finnish (3). English being the lingua franca, the English loanwords ease learning Finnish for a lot of people because the words are already familiar. For example, a banana is simply banaani, a paper is paperi, a hotel is hotelli and a camera is kamera. In addition, there are no articles in the Finnish grammar. You don’t have to worry about whether a, an or the is necessary. In Finnish, there are other ways to define and clarify things and situations. The aforesaid 15 grammatical cases come in handy with this one. Finnish is also, like all the Uralic languages, an agglutinative language which means affixes are attached to the word stems to form a word (4). I will give you an example of how this works. If you want to say my dog, in Finnish you say koirani. So, to break it down, the word for a dog is koira, and the possessive suffix is -ni which means my. In short, this is how conjugation works in Finnish: you add affixes to the end of the word. Finnish is a Phonetic Language If you have ever tried to learn, for example, French, you probably know that in some languages the words are written in one way but the pronunciation sounds like a completely different word. Well, luckily Finnish isn’t like this! Finnish is a phonetic language which basically means words are pronounced exactly as they are written (5). If you can master ääkköset (meaning the letters ä, ö and å), you’ll be on your way to being a fluent Finnish speaker! Also, there is something called vowel harmony which can make the pronunciation of Finnish words a bit easier. Vowel harmony means that front (ä, ö, y) and back (a, o, u) vowels can’t exist in the same word. Then there are two neutral vowels (i, e) that can exist with both front and back vowels. So, if you are wondering how to conjugate a certain word, this knowledge will come in handy. Plain Language Helps You Learn the Language To finish this off, I have an extra tip for you that you can use when you are on your journey to learn Finnish and already understand the language a bit. In Finland there’s plain language (selkokieli) versions available on many things (6). For example, we have plain language news on the television, and most government’s institutions have web pages written in plain language as well. These are useful for someone learning the language, because the sentences and grammar in general are simpler and easier to understand. If you are feeling down about learning Finnish, I hope this blog post can bring you some comfort. Finnish is definitely a unique language, but it is very possible to learn and be good at it. It just takes some practice. Author Jenni Savolainen is a communications intern at the Learning Networks and Services team at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and a master's student at the University of Turku majoring in the Finnish language. Sources: Yle News 2013. Finnish among most difficult languages for English speakers. News article. Viewed on 21st of March 2023. Pirie, J. 2017. Finnish Grammar. Web site. Viewed on 23rd of March 2023. Tamminen-Parre, S. 2009. Collocations, attitudes, and English loan words in Finnish. Language Variation - European Perspectives III (2011), pages 215-225. Karlsson, F. 2006. Finnish as an agglunative language. Academic article. Viewed on 17th of March 2023. A taste of Finnish 2014. Finnish language. Course material. Viewed on 21st of March 2023. fi 2021. Plain language is easy to use. Web page. Viewed on 21st of March 2023.
Find your way to become a Finnish speaker
According to the interesting Expat Insider 2021 survey (3), Finland is in the top 5 for quality of life, but even 50 % of expats are pessimistic about the local career opportunities. Surprising? Despite possibilities to communicate in English (75% of respondents agree that you can get by without speaking the local language), it is considered hard to get used to the local culture and make local friends. Also, even 71% struggle with learning the local language (vs. 42% globally). Good reasons to invest in language learning? Finnish workplaces are getting more and more international, but knowledge of the local language is still required in most organisations, for both finding employment and advancing in a career (2). Even if the working language is English, Finnish is often used in various communication situations (4). Requirements related to language skills naturally vary depending on the job description and the industry. According to a survey by the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce (2), already the beginners’ level A1 is of advantage to get at least an internship. The intermediate level B1 enhances remarkably the chances to get at least an internship (enough for 65% of the companies). Most of the companies (about 65%) require at least the independent level B2 in skilled worker positions and the advanced level C1-C2 in expert and management positions. On the whole, knowledge of the local language provides many benefits. Already presenting yourself, having simple small talk and understanding main points in everyday conversations make you feel more connected to the language community. By using the local language you show your interest and commitment in an efficient and convincing way. Language skills widen your career opportunities to the public sector, smaller local companies and entrepreneurship. At the same time, language skills increase your sense of control and well-being by enabling you to follow the information flow in your everyday living environment (4,6). Identify the motivating language learning strategies Are you one of those struggling with learning Finnish? If yes, you are not the only one! The structure and vocabulary do differ a lot from at least the Indo-European languages. Nevertheless, to learn any new language, you have to be exposed to it (a lot), and work on it (a lot). What you really need is to find and keep up your motivation. According to theories of functional language learning (1,7) the best way to learn the language is to integrate it into your everyday life in the ways that you like. There are lots of good language courses, books and online materials available, but the key is to recognise the opportunities to use the language and apply your skills in your environment. The super-talented language learner Brasilian Gustavo (Brassinyymi) has learned Finnish with the help of Finnish metal music, Fred Karlssons Grammar book and Uusi kielemme website. He listens to Yle news in Easy Finnish and chats in Omegle. Of course not everybody has to be able to do the same, but there are methods for everyone to make language learning easier, faster and funnier. First, focus on what is relevant to you. Second, keep your eyes, ears and mouth open. You need to listen a lot, make observations - and imitate. Start using the language straight from the beginning. There is no need to be fluent before starting! Also, don’t give up if the answer is in English (Finns are still very stubborn to switch into English instead of supporting Finnish language learning)! If you feel shy, you can speak first to your flowers or cats. After that, there is no limit for imagination. You can search for other language learners and set up a language club, find a language mate in Lango or join a language cafe. You can join a Facebook or a hobby group that are of your interest, watch films e.g. in Yle Kielikoulu or listen to music, sing along and write the missing words (lyrics training). In the learning process, instead of thinking about everything you cannot do, it is important to enjoy learning and feel good about all the situations you can already manage. After all... Language skills requirements seem to be sometimes even unnecessarily high, but there are also some positive signals in sight. Employers seem to be more and more willing to support the language learning process at work (8). This indeed is highly recommendable: professional language skills related to specific work can only be acquired in real-life work environments (5). Finland and Finnish organisations must open themselves more to Finnish speakers who are not fluent. From another perspective, learning a new language is not connected only to concrete usefulness related to employment or career opportunities. Have you had the experience of really diving into the new language, starting to think directly through it? Have you felt the joy of becoming a member of a language speakers’ group? Learning a new language not only opens doors to work opportunities, society and culture. It is an inspiring possibility to find new ways to be you and what you could be. We support you! Metropolia supports your Finnish language learning in many ways. Degree students in Metropolia: Find a Finnish course for your needs offered by your degree programme or in Elective language studies. Ask also your degree programme and/or Finnish teacher about other possibilities to further your language learning during your studies: could you integrate Finnish into your studies or focus more on your language skills during the work placement? (Read about Ahmet’s experiences: Courage to use Finnish – growing into a professional). Find tips and materials to learn the language in the Job Teaser resources. Other language learners: Check the selection of Finnish courses available in Metropolia Open UAS in 2021 and find a course for your needs. If you are searching for a job and you already know the basics of the language, find my Youtube videos Kerro itsestäsi työnantajalle 1-3 minuutissa and Tervetuloa työhaastatteluun. Writer: Eevamaija Iso-Heiniemi works as a S2-teacher (Finnish as a second language) in Metropolia and SIMHE Continuation project. Sources: Aalto, Eija, Mustonen, Sanna & Tukia, Kaisa 2009. Funktionaalisuus toisen kielen opetuksen lähtökohtana. Virittäjä 3. 402–423. Viewed on 31 May 2021. Helsingin seudun kauppakamari, 2018. Yritysten kokemukset ulkomaisesta työvoimasta työmarkkinoilla. Katsaus koulutettujen maahanmuuttajien sijoittumiseen Helsingin seudun työmarkkinoille (pdf). Viewed on 11 June 2021. Internations 2021. Expat Insider 2021 survey report. Viewed on 15 June 2021. Jäppinen, Tuula 2010. Suomi (S2) korkeakoulutettujen työssä – Millainen kielitaito riittää? Soveltavan kielitieteen tutkimuksia AfinLA-e. Published on 14 January 2011. Viewed on 15 June 2021. Komppa, Johanna 2015. Työnantajan odotukset, työntekijän vastuu ja työyhteisön tuki. Näkökulmia korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien ammatillisen suomen oppimiseen. Soveltavan kielitieteen tutkimuksia AFinLA-e. Published on 13 January 2016. Viewed on 27 May 2021. Lehtimaja, Inkeri 2017. Korkeakoulutetun maahanmuuttajan oikeus oppia Suomea (pdf). Kieliverkoston verkkolehti Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta. Viewed on 31 May 2021. Mitchell, Rosamund & Myles, Florence 1998: Second language learning theories. London. Arnold. Taloustutkimus Oy. 2020. Kotona Suomessa – Selvitys maahanmuuttajien rekrytoimisesta: Tutkimusraportti (pdf). Kotona Suomessa -hanke, Elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus. Published on 15 May 2020. Viewed on 2 June 2021. Yle News: Brasilialaismies tahtoo Suomeen niin kovasti, että alkoi tubettaa suomeksi. Published on 13 May 2021. Viewed on 15 June 2021.
Mentoring in the time of corona: networks, insights and improved employability for international talents
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin Expertise today and in the future is all about continuously learning, sharing and interacting with others (3). This applies to all professional stages - from juniors to seniors. Mentoring programs, currently popular and numerous, are founded on the same idea of enabling networks and developing competences in interaction. This is particularly invaluable for international graduates. In our case, this spring with the COVID-19 pandemic gave us a unique chance to experience a virtual learning journey together, as a mentor and a mentee. Daniel’s perspective: networks, insight and improved competences for the mentee For international graduates in Finland, besides Finnish language skills, networks and knowledge of the local professional practices are immensely important for finding a job (4, 5). I joined the EntryPoint programme as a mentee because I have an extensive education from this country in the fields of business and education, yet no expert level experience so far. I therefore felt I needed some guidance from an experienced professional and decided to take action to improve my employability. The discussions with my mentor Marika helped me better understand the local job market, my options for a career path and ways to develop my self-preparedness. Marika connected me to a whole new range of networks and services and helped me identify my utmost competences and skills. I discovered the connections between my skill sets and how to integrate them in my career path. The experience was eye-opening. Marika’s perspective: diversified professional perspectives and new views for the mentor Mentoring is a learning experience also for the mentor (2). My day job at Metropolia focuses on international talents’ employability, yet also on the personal level the topic motivates me and I am always interested in learning new. I therefore wanted to volunteer as a career mentor and share my professional experiences and insights as a private person as well. The experience opened new views for me not just to myself, but also to employability, the education sector, Finland, professionalism and human interaction. The mentoring discussions made me think about organisational learning as well, so crucial for any organisation today (see e.g. 2). I realised that we can all do mini-scale mentoring in any encounter in an expert organisation. Moreover, for internationalising organisations, cross-cultural mentoring could definitely be used as a tool to develop staff competences for both mentors and mentees. Leap to digital: surprisingly effortless and efficient Our five-month mentoring program started in January 2020 and took an unexpected turn in March with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to adjust to virtual meetings. Luckily, we had met face-to-face once before, immediately establishing a rapport based on a combination of friendship and professional support. Shared professional and personal interests, such as helping others and teaching, made it natural for us. As first-timers in career mentoring, going suddenly digital meant stepping out of our comfort zone. Mentoring is based on openness, trust and confidentiality, which in a virtual environment requires a different type of a focus on the process and the choice of tools. The communication needs to be structured and goals clear particularly when using social media. (1.) We ended up using WhatsApp messages and video calls and also shared material in LinkedIn. Using such common social media made the communication surprisingly effortless and quickly more informal than perhaps in a face-to-face setting. The uniqueness of the crisis situation also brought us closer together on a personal level. However, we did have a structure of working together as well: we set goals and topics for each video call, whereas messages were used for updates, follow-up and building a rapport. The organiser of the program, Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, also arranged joint Zoom meetings for mentees and mentors for sharing experiences. These were not only fun but also supported the process and gave us new perspectives to what we were doing. Mentors also met in virtual peer sessions which helped us mentors face the new normal and brought in even more professional networks for us. We both learned new ways of communicating and the experience actually also motivated Daniel to write a PhD research proposal on remote working. Mentoring as a tool for international students’ career development 80% of Finnish employers say that they are open to multiculturality (5), yet the employment rates of international graduates from Finnish higher education institutions are significantly lower than those of locals (6). Employers need to start opening doors to international talents. Moreover, higher education institutions and Finnish society at large need to rethink their support for employability to get more talents to work in Finland. (4.) Mentoring provides an excellent and natural way to tackle the employment challenges. For instance, it provides networks and field-specific tacit information, develops professional competences and at the same time empowers the mentee through positive feedback (2). These are important for any junior expert, yet even more so for international graduates who struggle with the lack of local working life connections as well as with sometimes rather discouraging job search experiences. Activeness and action needed to build a successful career Just like in any competitive career building, the success of a mentoring process is dependent on the international student’s activeness – it is their career after all. The mentee needs to be open about their goals and needs, as the process is always unique to each mentoring relationship (2). The most important step is the first one: to grasp the chances available. In the Helsinki region plenty of opportunities are available for different needs, for example: EntryPoint mentoring by Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce (in English) FIKA mentoring program and networking program Dörren by Luckan Integration (in English) Womento mentoring for educated women by the Family Federation of Finland (in English) Suomen Mentorit mentoring by the association Suomen Mentorit ry (in Finnish) Yrittäjien Mentorisi.fi mentoring for entrepreneurs by the Finnish federation of entrepreneurs Suomen Yrittäjät (page in Fnnish but the search and mentoring are available in English) NewCo Helsinki mentoring services for start-ups by NewCo Helsinki (in English) Several higher education institutions also have their own mentoring programs for students and alumni Mentee – take your first step towards goal-oriented career building! Mentor – why not use your professional expertise for helping somebody get started in their career? Organisations – encourage your employees to share and develop their expertise and build networks with talented graduates! The EntryPoint mentoring program is part of the AIKO Talent Boost project activities of the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, funded through the Council of Tampere Region. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is one of the project partners. The program for autumn semester is open for applications until 31 August 2020. Writers: Daniel Boateng is a qualified teacher and holds an MSc in Business and Health. He lives in Finland. Marika Antikainen is a project manager working in SIMHE-Metropolia. Sources: 1. Ala-Tommola, Sirpa (toim.) 2017. Jokainen opiskelija ansaitsee eMentorin! eMentoroinnin kehittäminen ammattikorkeakouluopintojen ja työelämän rajapinnassa. Kajaanin ammattikorkeakoulun julkaisusarja B 78 / 2017. Viewed on 3 June 2020. 2. Karjalainen, Merja 2010. Ammattilaisten käsityksiä mentoroinnista työpaikalla. Jyväskylä Studies on Education, Psychology and Social Research 388. Jyväskylän yliopisto. Viewed on 2 June 2020. 3. OECD 2019. OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030: Conceptual learning framework - Skills for 2030. Viewed on 1 June 2020. 4. OKM 2019. Kansainvälisten korkeakouluopiskelijoiden maahantulo ja integroituminen sujuvaksi yhteistyöllä. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2019:31. Published on 16 September 2019. Viewed on 2 June 2020. 5. Taloustutkimus Oy. 2020. Kotona Suomessa - Selvitys maahanmuuttajien rekrytoimisesta: Tutkimusraportti (pdf). Kotona Suomessa -hanke, Elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus. Published on 15 May 2020. Viewed on 2 June 2020. 6. Vipunen 2020. Education Statistics Finland: Placement after Graduation. Viewed on 2 June 2020.
Boost your Talent with Finland – Towards a Career Path for International Degree Students
Finland and Helsinki rank in the top 10 in several studies measuring the quality of life and people’s satisfaction in their lives (e.g. Helliwell & al. 2019, Eurostat 2019, Kisi 2019). What was your reason to get interested in Finland? Would you like to build your life into the happiest country in the world? This is what Finland and the Helsinki region are aiming at now. The message from the Finnish government and the cities is clearer than ever: we want you, international talents, and we want you to find an interesting job here, enjoying the good work-life balance with us. To make this happen, we in higher education institutions must help our international degree students to get better connected with Finnish business and industry and our culture already during the studies. This means support for career development, cultural adjustment and learning Finnish in an integral manner, starting from day one of the studies. Finland for life - why not? The darkest days of December might not be the most encouraging time to discuss settling into Finland on a permanent basis. However, the fact is that Finland has a great deal to offer for international experts. Not only the happiest country in the world (Helliwell & al. 2019), Finland is good for business too: it ranks in the top 3 in several key indicators for successful business life and professional development, including e.g. the best business environment in the world and the best skills of the workforce (Business Finland 2019a). Also expatriates place Finland high in several categories for a successful stay, particularly for family life and health and well-being (#1) as well as quality of life (#8) (Expat Insider 2019). The Helsinki region does not fall far behind in the rankings either. It is valued for e.g. its start-up scene, intelligent communities, sustainability and investment environment (Helsinki Smart Region 2019). If Finland starts sounding tempting, the first step after graduating is to get a job here. And that is where the challenge lies. Improvements needed for better employability The hard reality is that international graduates do face challenges in finding a job in Finland. The key barriers for employment tend to be the lack of professional networks and insufficient Finnish language skills. Also, there is a mismatch of communication channels: employers do not find international graduates, and international graduates do not find the vacancies. (Ministry of Education and Culture 2019.) Employment rates one year after graduation indeed indicate that students of international backgrounds face more challenges in getting employed. In universities of applied sciences, 40% of graduates whose nationality is other than Finland are fully employed, whereas for graduates of Finnish nationality the same percentage stands at 80%. In the case of master’s degrees from universities, the respective percentages are 45% and 85%. (Vipunen 2019.) Finland needs international talents For Finland the hard reality is that our population is one of the fastest ageing in the world. We already now face a lack of competent workforce in several sectors. Finland and the Helsinki region need to attract more international students and experts and also help them build a career here (Ministry of Education and Culture 2019, Laakso 2019). However, the support provided by Finnish authorities, services and higher education institutions is still far from ideal. We need to improve the processes as a whole, in collaboration - starting from the point of application to studies. The Finnish government and ministries have introduced several measures to improve the situation in the past few years. For example, the Talent Boost programme provides networks, information and financial support for companies (Business Finland 2019b). In addition, the current Government Programme (2019) sets numerous targets aiming at improving international degree students’ employment. Also, the Ministry of Education and Culture (2019) has compiled a report listing practical recommendations to different stakeholders. We have identified the challenging points; now we urgently need to start taking the concrete steps to develop the pathway to the Finnish job market. Joint efforts for finding the solutions Metropolia has started to develop the needed support models in two projects. The Talent Boost AIKO funded project International Talents Accelerating Growth gathers several key stakeholders in the capital region together to work on solutions: the cities of Espoo, Helsinki and Vantaa, Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, Helsinki Marketing and Helsinki Business Hub. Also six institutions are part of the project: University of Helsinki, Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics and Haaga-Helia, Laurea and Metropolia universities of applied sciences. The city of Helsinki coordinates the project. The project aims at developing the attraction and settling in of international talents in the Helsinki region and improving their employability. Specific measures are targeted at international degree students, e.g. matching and recruitment events and a mentoring program. A joint web portal and systematic business and industry collaboration models will also be developed for getting the talents and employers of the region better connected. In another project, Metropolia develops a support model for international degree students’ career development and Finnish language learning. The goal is to build an integral career path, ultimately aiming at international students’ employment to Finland. The project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the results will be shared with Finnish higher education institutions. Set the targets for your professional development All in all, a great deal of improvements still needs to be made by all parties involved, but the systematic work has started at different levels of Finnish society. What you, international talents, can do in the meanwhile, is to take a look at your language learning and network building already now. Developing your professional competence requires a goal-oriented and active approach from you as well. Are you where you want to be with your professional competence? How can you build networks and what can your institution help you with? And stay tuned for the upcoming events and developments. If we succeed together, it will be a win-win situation for everybody. An inspiring career development path for you is something that also inspires us in higher education. As the end result, we hope to hear: “Finland for life? Absolutely!” Writer: Marika Antikainen, Project Manager at SIMHE services of Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (marika.antikainen@metropolia.fi). Sources: Business Finland 2019a. Finland’s rankings. https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/do-business-with-finland/invest-in-finland/why-invest-in-finland/finland-rankings/. Read on 28 November. Business Finland 2019b. Talent Boost Finland. https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/services/programs/talent-boost-finland/ Read on 28 November. Eurostat 2019. How satisfied are people with their lives? https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-press-releases/-/3-07112019-AP European Commission. Published on 7 November 2019. Expat Insider 2019. Expat Insider 2019: The Year of the Hidden Champions. https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/ Internations. Read on 28 November 2019. Government Programme 2019. Inclusive and competent Finland – a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable society. https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/rinne/government-programme Publications of the Finnish Government 2019:25. Published on 6 June 2019. Helliwell, J., Layard, R. & Sachs, J. 2019. World Happiness Report. https://worldhappiness.report/ New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Helsinki Smart Region 2019. Why Finland and Why the Helsinki Region? https://helsinkismart.fi/about/top-rankings/ Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council. Read on 28 November 2019. Kisi 2019. Cities for the Best Work-Life Balance 2019. https://www.getkisi.com/work-life-balance Read on 28 November 2019. Laakso, Seppo 2019. Ennakointikamari: Osaavan työvoiman kysyntä ja tarjonta Uudellamaalla. 9/2019. https://ennakointikamari.fi/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Osaavan-ty%C3%B6voiman-kysynt%C3%A4-ja-tarjonta-Uudellamaalla-2019.pdf. Read on 28 November. Ministry of Education and Culture 2019. Kansainvälisten korkeakouluopiskelijoiden maahantulo ja integroituminen sujuvaksi yhteistyöllä. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2019:31. https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/161788. Published on 16 September 2019. Vipunen 2019. Vipunen - Education Statistics Finland. https://vipunen.fi/en-gb/. Ministry of Education and Culture and Finnish National Agency for Education. Read on 28 November 2019.
Blog introduces information, tips and insights that help international talents with a higher education background to integrate and find their study and career paths in Finland. The blog is part of Metropolia’s #talentboost actions.
Outi Lemettinen (head editor)
Riikka Wallin
Anu Luoma
Email addresses: firstname.surname@metropolia.fi
Editorial Board handles all the publications of Various Variables blog before publishing.
Belongingness Career Career Boost careercoaching careers Connecting employability employment entrepreneur entrepreneurship Finnish as a second language Finnish Job Market Finnish work culture Finnish working life Finnish workplace norms Guidance higher education higher education institutions highly educated immigrants Immigrants Inclusion Integration International jobseekers in Finland international student international talent job search job searching skills language learning mapping of competences mentoring Networking networks online learning recognition of competences Self-employment SIMHE SIMHE-Metropolia Skills Society strengths Studying in Finland Support talent boost Work in Finland Working in Finland