Why there is a need to Retain Talent in Turku Region in Finland?
- Afnan Khan
- Jun 11, 2020
- 3 min read
On a sunny afternoon at the start of summer at the University of Turku, one of the largest universities in Finland, excited students were getting flowers and certificates of their graduation. Some of the students have their families and friends were also there to attend the graduation ceremony while clicking the photos of their loved ones. These students are comprised of a good set of native Finns and foreign background people. In just a few weeks, many of them will move hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from Turku to search for work and a better future. Some might come back at some point in their life and many might never come back to Turku.
In 1960s many Finns used to go abroad to find work because of a lack of resources and education opportunities. Today's situation is very different as Finland is continuously topping all the rankings of the best education system and happiest country in the world. But the shortage of talent and decline in population is becoming a hot topic in Finland. Highly skilled individuals both from Finnish and foreign origins mostly quickly complete degrees and leave Finland due to many reasons. The most important reason is tough employability environment for newly graduated students. The situation is tougher for the highly skilled immigrants due to a lack of social skills and know-how of the job market in Finland.
The OPH (Opetushallitus) report published in 2018 about highly skilled workers showed that around 5036 students were studying in Business administration, 3542 students were in the ICT sector, 4008 students in Engineering fields and 1883 students in health science. This specific data is about students in degree studies were from foreign origin who came to Finland to study. The close observation of news and statistics Finland also tells us that Finland has a huge shortage of workers at least in ICT, Engineering and Health Science. These students after completion of their degree leave Finland and increase the gap of talent shortage in many sectors.
Many public and private sector bodies are trying their best to attract talent from abroad in Finland and also in the Turku region (Salo/Rauma/Uusikaupunki). These organizations are Talent boost Turku, Turku business region, Chamber of commerce and many international companies (Mayer, Lundbeck, Wartsilä, NCC, Valmet, Orion, Bayer, Eckes-Granini etc.). There are bodies like SparkUp and SHIFT, that are also trying to promote startup culture in the Turku region. All these efforts are not started very long ago but there are efforts missing to retain the already available talent in Turku. Turku has two main Universities Åbo Akademi and the University of Turku along with many Applied sciences University campuses and vocational schools. So, it is one of the important Student towns which has a good number of international and national level students coming every year. Regardless of the fact companies in Turku regions feeling the shortage of talent and population decline. It is important to make some concrete policies not only to attract talented individuals from abroad but also efforts should be done to make a solid strategy to retain the existing talents.
The starting point of such talent retention can be more internship programs during the studies in Turku region companies should compulsory for completion of the degree. Talent hunt events should be organized more often and facilitate companies to recruit immigrant background students and help students to learn the Finnish work environment. Startup ideas should be appreciated which can help to grow business in Turku. All the mentioned ideas and similar strategies can help to retain the talent in the Turku region and later help to boost the economy of the region.
About Author
As Business Coordinator and Researcher, Afnan contributes to Business Innovation possibilities, and the Research-based analysis in Public and Private sector projects In Finland. He also works as a University Researcher in the area of sustainable and innovative production.
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