In the Future Dialogue of construction industry organizations and universities, the employment challenges of international university students in the field were discussed in Finland. For example, the teaching of the Finnish language, increasing cooperation between companies and schools, and companies' readiness to recruit skilled workers emerged as key development targets. In the dialogue, concrete ways were found to tackle the challenges together.
In the spring of 2024, the construction industry organizations and universities launched the Future Dialogue, where together with the students, solutions were discussed on how to ensure the employment of vocational students in the field in Finland after graduation.
"Despite the difficult economic situation, we can already see a shortage problem in the construction industry in the near future: the population is aging and new skills are needed in the field due to digitalization and the green transition. With the current development of the demographic structure, there are not enough skilled workers for white-collar positions in the field. It is very important that after international university students graduate, their skills are not lost to other countries," says RT's education policy expert Saku Lehtinen.
In the future dialogues, the most important challenges were the high language skills requirements, finding internship and thesis jobs, and companies' readiness to recruit and train skilled workers.
Concrete paths to promote employment
Based on the challenges, paths that promote employment were built together in the dialogues from the perspectives of work communities, universities and students themselves.
Employment in companies can be promoted, for example, by setting concrete goals for the recruitment of skilled workers and increasing the required level of knowledge of the Finnish language in career paths.
"Companies can support the integration of international interns into the working community through, for example, their own internship or mentoring programs. Well-planned internships develop the entire work community and make it easier to recruit skilled workers," sums up the CEO of Rakennusinsinsourit i -arkittehdit RIA ry Kirsi Mettälä.
Higher education institutions could, for example, increase basic teaching of the Finnish language, help students more closely in building study and career paths, and increase more diverse student groups.
"We already have a significant group of competent international students who want to find employment in Finland. The construction industry needs more experts to meet the challenges of the future. Succeeding here requires close cooperation with companies and universities", sums up the competence manager of Tampere AMK Hannu Kauranen.
The work on the integration of international students into the Finnish labor market will continue in cooperation in the future as well. The future dialogue was organized by Rakennusteollisuus RT, white-collar organizations in the construction industry, universities in the field and the TYÖ2030 program (Töterveyslaitos).
Katso tallenne päätöswebinaarista
Read more
- Future dialogue: Development of recruitment of international degree students (pdf)
- See also the recording of the kick-off event
More information
Saku Lehtinen, education policy expert, Construction Industry RT, tel. 040 041 2057 or first name. surname(s) rt.fi
