2/2009

Working and Studying in Finland and abroad:

-How satisfied international students were with their educational experience in Finland? – Working in Finland?- Foreign students studying Finnish?- Finnish students and Internationalism?

2/2009

International Student Barometer

• The survey is based on an online questionnaire carried out in November-December 2010 with students at all levels of study, including Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral students. Almost 158,000 international students responded to the questionnaire; of these, 6,441 were students at a university or university of applied sciences in Finland.

• 23 Finnish HEIs have taken part in an international survey.• In Europe participating in the survey were institutions of higher education

from Britain, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden (plus Canada, the United States and Hong Kong).

• Country packs similar to that commissioned by CIMO were compiled by at least Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

• The survey was conducted by The International Graduate Insight Group, a British consultancy and benchmarking service.

2/2009

International students in Finland, and their origin

• While the Finnish institutions of higher education have made great strides in internationalisation, Finland continues to have fewer international students than OECD countries on average

– international degree students appr. 5% of the students (17 000)– International exchange students appr. 10 000

• the Finnish HEIs had more than 14,000 international degree students and almost 9,000 exchange students in 2009

• China and Russia are the biggest countries of origin for degree students.

• Germany, France, Spain and Italy send a large portion of exchange students to Finland.

2/2009

Students happy with their study experiences

• Student satisfaction was measured in four main areas: learning, living and accommodation, support services, and services at arrival.• 89 per cent of the international students are generally

happy or very happy• the happiest students come from India, Slovakia,

Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Russia• the most dissatisfaction among Ukrainian, Mexican,

American and Hungarian• 83.9% would recommend their Finnish institution and

Finland as a destination of study (the average European figure of 80.5%, overall average rate of 79.1%.)

2/2009

Material facilities and stable Finnish society score highly

• Students especially happy with the material facilities of the institutions, such as libraries, lecture rooms, laboratories, computer facilities, IT services and support services.

• Finland also identified as a safe and socially stable country.• The Finnish institutions score higher than average for services at

arrival and are duly recommended for these arrangements.• The staff at the international offices as well as the accommodation

services are recognised for their excellent levels of service.

2/2009

Most criticism of careers and recruitment services and living costs

• The results show that many students seek not only a degree or a student exchange in Finland but would also like to find a job here.

• Students are also concerned about finding a job after graduation. • Finland is an expensive country to live in: judging by the

international average, this is the single biggest problem for international students.

2/2009

CIMOs statistics from the years 2007 and 2009 show

• Most of the foreign students, the degree at Finnish HEIs, stay in Finland after their graduation

• most of them find a job

• appr. 66% of the graduates in the year 2007 stayed in Finland• appr. 75% of the graduates in the year 2009 stayed in Finland

• appr. 50% of the foreign students found a job in Finland during the year following their graduation

• Talking about the Finns the number was 86%

Statistics Finland and Programme Manager Irma Garam, CIMO

2/2009

A Study: Studying Finnish abroador in Finland?

• Finnish is available in around 100 universities in 30 countries.

Russia and Germany have the most universities offering Finnish Studies.

• The greatest motivation behind foreign students’ university-level studies of Finnish is heavy metal music.

• Other key incentives are friends and family relations, Finnish rally driving, ice hockey and the Moomins.

• Germans top the list of Erasmus students who wish to learn Finnish. They are followed by higher education students from Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, France, Austria, Estonia and Hungary.

2/2009

A Study ”The Future Experts of Internationalism in Finland”

• What kind of young people are they? ”New type of young person” found in Finland, when speaking about internationalism…

• The Study will officially be published during April 2013

• There will also be an abstract in English

2/2009