Certainty about the future would convince to stay

Text Terhi Hautamäki Images Anna-Kaisa Jormanainen Translation Marko Saajanaho

”I have no permanent work contract. That is the most important thing that could get me to stay.”

Academic Research Fellow Derek Ruez, who has spent eight years working at the Tampere University, could imagine Finland as a permanent home. Along with employment, the decision is influenced by their ongoing relationship. Their partner lives in Denmark, and at some point, the couple must face the question of where they wish to settle down together.

Ruez, a researcher of urban and political geography, moved from the United States to Finland after earning their doctorate. They applied for employment in many countries, and the first place to offer them a postdoc job was the Tampere University.

”My dissertation advisor and doctoral training program had connections to Finnish researchers, so I already had an idea what is going on here. I was excited to come because I admire the work that is done here.”

The coworkers turned out to be pleasant, and the university supported Ruez with practical arrangements such as applying for a residence permit and opening a bank account.

The functional society is one factor influencing the decision to come to Finland or stay there.

According to Ruez, one aspect making Finland an attractive destination to researchers is being able to manage with English. At the same time, you miss out on plenty without the ability to speak Finnish. Due to the demands of their research work, Ruez’s Finnish studies have not progressed as hoped.

”I would really like to know Finnish. It is just hard to find the time when you have to stay competitive for your next job.”

Uncertainty a source of stress for many

Science is international, and the movement of researchers and students is a natural part of university work. In ten person-years, the share of foreign research and teaching staff in Finland has increased from 17 to 25 percent.

The number of international researchers is still growing moderately despite Finland otherwise becoming less attractive to skilled workers in the last few years. Last year, 42,000 first residence permits were granted – 6,708 fewer than the year before. This number covers non-EU/EEA individuals requiring a residence permit for an employed person. 1,335 first research permits and 1,816 extended permits were granted to researchers.

Ruez knows that not everyone is able to settle in Finland as easily as they did. Ruez serves as the President of Tatte, the Tampere University Association of Researchers and Teachers. When Tatte conducted a study on the experiences of international people at the university, it was discovered some arrivals fail to receive support from their colleagues and remain outsiders due to the language barrier or prejudices.

Ruez considers themself lucky to have had reasonably long fixed-term contracts. Many are stressed by uncertainty with their residence permit tied to their work contract.

”The most important thing Finland could do to attract researchers would be to improve the employment situation by not having academic work so strongly based on short fixed-term contracts.”

”The most important thing Finland could do to attract researchers would be to improve the employment situation by not having academic work so strongly based on short fixed-term contracts.”

Ruez advises those moving to Finland to take a curious approach to everything happening around them. For Ruez, union work has brought contacts and offered insight into the university’s operations.

”It makes me feel I have a place and a role at the university, even outside my research group.”

Fifty percent gone within five years

Highly educated individuals are not only sought by academia, but the rest of society as well. Finland Chamber of Commerce Senior Advisor Suvi Pulkkinen says that despite the current employment situation being rather poor, a large labour shortage can be expected in the longer term.

”We need more working-age people – not just to fill vacancies but also to create new jobs and start businesses.”

Often, foreign highly educated individuals do not stay in Finland. According to Etla, nearly half of them are gone within five years. Staying depends on a number of things: will my work continue, can my family settle, does my spouse find a job?

The Union of Research Professionals Special Advisor Miia Ijäs-Idrobo says higher education institutions should be open about the language situation as early as the recruitment phase, as many workplaces require some level of Finnish or Swedish skill. Doctoral researchers are finding it increasingly difficult to make time for learning the language as their doctorate schedule gets condensed. In addition, applying for work in Finland is heavily network-based.

”A change in work culture would be welcome, so we would be more receptive to hiring people who speak different languages and are not known to us beforehand”, Ijäs-Idrobo states.

Pulkkinen says one method would be multilingual degrees gradually introducing Finnish into the mix. Finding postdoc employment could be facilitated by partially working on the doctorate within a business.

For those coming to Finland, another factor affecting them settling here is the fact their residence permit is tied to their employment, and the income thresholds for family reunification are steep. International researchers’ wages usually exceed the income thresholds. The thresholds may affect those at the start of their careers, although not many international young researchers have families yet.

Pulkkinen states that making people commit to Finland also requires Finland to commit to them. For example, Canada uses a point-based model granting a permanent residence permit for the entire family if enough points are scored under the language, education, employment, spouse’s education and spouse’s employment criteria.

A longing for community

Assistant Professor in Fashion Design Julia Valle Noronha informs us she specifically wished to come to Finland and the Aalto University when she decided to start working on her doctorate in 2014. Valle Noronha, who worked as a fashion designer in Brazil, knew Aalto’s predecessor – the University of Art and Design Helsinki – from her days as an exchange student in Denmark, when the universities worked jointly on projects.

”I had heard lots of good things about the fashion design programme and research. For some of the students, research was the boring part, but I was fascinated by it.”

The move from Brazil to Finland went smoothly. Finland is less bureaucratic than Brazil. Forming social relationships has been the most difficult part.

”Brazilians are so social and hospitable that it is easy for those coming from elsewhere to integrate. Finland is very different. However, I had the university community.”

According to Valle Noronha, there is an active and inspiring international community at Aalto. On the other hand, expatriates end up spending most of their time with each other, so English remains the main language even after several years.

”When I came here, I believed I would speak fluent Finnish in four years. Even though I have taken Finnish classes, I have not been able to commit enough because of my work. Now that I have a young child, I learn a lot with my child, and I am finally starting to make progress.”

According to Valle Noronha, programmes and events are organised for international staff at the university. Recently, Aalto established a group for female international professors. Despite the equality in Finland, advancing one’s career is still considerably more difficult for those coming from abroad, especially if they are women.

Valle Noronha says higher education institutions should provide more support for learning the local language. According to her, Danish and Swedish universities, for example, expect university staff to learn the respective languages and that is understood to be part of the job. Knowing Finnish would be useful especially when working on projects with partners outside the university.

The functional society is one factor influencing the decision to come to Finland or stay there. Valle Noronha has a child with her South Korean spouse. It can be hard when both their families are fae away, but public services are a huge help.

”For us, they are one important reason we want to continue in Finland. Daycare and child healthcare are excellent, and we are very happy about them.”

The city looking for new ways

The employment of highly educated international people is supported through cooperation between different parties. The city of Espoo is doing plenty on its own and with higher education institutions.

At the start of the year, employment services moved from the state to the municipalities. Acting Director of Economic Development Teemu Haapalehto says that during the municipality trial prior to the change, Espoo became aware of the fact two thirds of their highly educated unemployed were non-Finnish speakers.

”Even though their prior merits may be tremendously valuable, many end up in a frustrating loop with no path to a job matching their qualifications.”

Espoo established the Competence Centre for Highly Educated Immigrants, offering client memberships for up to ten months. Annually, 47–52 percent have found work that matches their training well or fairly well. A group-based career development service named Career Club also operates in Espoo.

”Job search skills may be poor despite substance expertise. The game may be played very differently in other countries. When you find nothing but disappointment for a while, you need encouragement to get your chin back up and go to a job interview with better self-esteem.”

In further training, many benefit from language training focusing on the terminology of their field combined with content specific to Finland. For example, 86 percent of the participants of Metropolia’s five-month further training programme in financial management ended up employed as accountants. A relatively small investment is required to create professionals whose primary training was obtained and financed elsewhere.

”It is hard to imagine an educational investment with a better repayment term from society’s standpoint. It is unfortunate for such productive action to depend year after year on project funding scraps”, Haapalehto says.

Language requirement not a law

Language proficiency is a major issue in employment. However, Haapalehto reminds us that the required level is not a law. Views can change depending on labour supply and demand.

Espoo, higher education institutions, and the Omnia educational consortium have deployed S2 teachers to businesses to ascertain the actual level of language proficiency required by certain customer service jobs.

”Last time, OP-Uusimaa embarked on this adventure with us. They created a slightly different job posting, job interviews, and orientation. Their experiences were rather positive, and they plan to continue recruiting with a broader horizon.”

Specialists also frequently have a highly educated spouse. Espoo does not want to simply treat them as ”experts’ spouses” and instead of organising programmes for spouses, it offers the same services to everyone.

”Whether their own potential is realised in Finland or not affects whether the whole family stays, or the spouse who came here directly for work.”

Concern over political climate

The mood towards new arrivals also affects Finland’s attractiveness. People are concerned by the increasingly restrictive immigration policies and hate speech.

The climate is also a cause of concern for international university staff despite the government not proposing changes to researchers’ residence permits. Racism or negative sentiment towards immigrants can hurt the life of the family even if the researcher themselves had a receptive workplace.

”Anti-immigration politics and parlance justifying them make people consider if they want to plan their life in Finland”, Ruez says.

The conditions of a permanent residence permit and citizenship apply to all foreigners. According to Ruez, political actions not directed at academic experts but at “less desirable” immigrants are still taken as a negative message by the experts. People cannot be easily categorised. An asylum seeker can be a highly educated expert or become one. Many researchers or their families come from refugee backgrounds.

”The two-faced approach of being friendly to ’international experts’ while making things worse for others is a moral and political failure.”