Ajelehtien kulttuurien välisessä tilassa?
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Keywords:
international degree students, integration experiences, employment expectations, higher educationAbstract
Refereed article
In this article, international degree students’ integration experiences into Finnish society and higher education are being examined and what kind of views they have as generalist students for their employment in the Finnish labor market after graduation. Objectives for the internationalization of higher education often mean increasing the number of international students. However, the highly educated immigrants are in front of a great challenge since the labor market in Finland has traditionally been very closed. The higher education diploma does not necessarily guarantee better opportunities for a career engagement. The main result of a research utilizing two different types of data (survey, interviews), is the observation that it is necessary to understand the international degree student’s integration experiences comprehensively and at the same time paying attention to the different aspects of integration experiences: cultural, academic, social and career integration. As the major barriers of employment, they evaluate in particular the Finnish language skills and lack of relevant work experience, as well as, restrictions in necessary social networks. If one wanted to better support international degree students in the cultural, academic and social integration in higher education and beyond, this would undoubtedly improve their chances of career integration and employment to the Finnish labor market.
