SIMHE path - From Recognizing and Supplementing Competences to Employment

Project

The aim of the project is to bring visible the competences of the highly educated immigrants, and to develop an educational model promoting employment and supplementing competences from regional needs (the Northern Finland, the Eastern Finland and the capital region), which can also be adapted to other higher education institutions.

The target is the fluent transition of the highly educated immigrants into the working life. The skills deficit in the technology and business fields will simultaneously be filled, and the bottlenecks hindering the professional qualification and/or employment will be recognized and removed through agile and modular updating training.

The educational model developed in the project is a part of the services promoting the employment of the highly educated immigrants. In the SIMHE path project, simultaneously, opportunities are being built to employ highly educated immigrants, and the competence needs of the companies recruiting are being mapped. Based on the needs of the companies, highly educated immigrants with a suitable educational and work experience are scouted to the project. With additional studies, the highly educated immigrants’ access to the job markets is being increased.

The educational model includes individual guidance, on-the-job training, and additional studies. The education is offered by the universities of applied sciences involved in the project. The company networks and the needs of the companies form the basis of the updating training model, which is developed as a permanent service for the highly educated immigrants.

Background

During the preparation of the project, the idea was to utilize the already existing SIMHE network and to develop it further. The universities of applied sciences involved in the project offer the SIMHE (Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education in Finland) services, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Education, to guide highly educated immigrants and immigrants interested in higher education, and to recognize their competences.

The project utilizes the existing models for recognition of competences developed at SIMHE. The project aims at developing a model, SIMHEpath, that supports supplementing the existing competences through training and studies to enhance employment. In the regions involved in this project exists a need especially for experts in ICT and business fields; and it is exactly the needs of these fields that are answered through the educational pilots built in the project.

In the capital region and Oulu the technology field is traditionally very strong, but during the latest years also in Joensuu the automation, ICT and game field has grown significantly and new companies, which target into international markets and are in need of talented staff, arise. Additionally, in all three regions, the already existing companies grow and strengthen their market share.

SIMHE path- project is a part of the Kotona Suomessa -action.

Aims of the Project

The aims of the project are to

• create an agile and a modular supplementary education path as a part of the recognition and supplemention of competences concept
• to utilize the regional company cooperation networks and to educate suitable work force
• in cooperation with the companies, to recognize the necessary supplementary educational needs of the highly educated immigrants, and to design and implementate supplementary education suitable for the needs

Target Group

Immigrants with a higher education degree or higher education studies in business and ICT completed abroad

Results

As a result of the project, an agile educational path, and also a guided and a flexible path to employment for the highly educated immigrants arise. The highly educated immigrant receives an understanding of his/her own competences, develops his/her professional skills to better match the Finnish working life, receives work experience and also a route to the working life. The companies receive from the project additional boost to recruitment.

The SIMHE path - from recognizing and supplementing competences into employment - concept:

1. promotes the employment of the highly educated immigrants
2. promotes the development of the competences of the highly educated immigrants and integration into the society
3. is a model to bring together employers and highly educated immigrants.

Partners

In the SIMHE path project Metropolia University of Applied Sciences partners with Karelia University of Applied Sciences and Oulu University of Applied Sciences.

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences

Metropolia is the coordinator of the project and is responsible for the development and the piloting of the educational model in the capital region.

Karelia University of Applied Sciences

Karelia University of Applied Sciences develops and pilots supplementary education in the Eastern Finland region and also builds up networks supporting the employment of the immigrants.

Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Oulu University of Applied Sciences develops and implements the guided employment path in the Northern Finland region, and also builds networks supporting the employment of the immigrants.

Contact Information

Outi Lemettinen
Project Manager
tel. +358 (0)50 370 8120
outi.lemettinen [at] metropolia.fi (outi[dot]lemettinen[at]metropolia[dot]fi)

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SIMHE path Get-Together 30 October 2020

This online networking event brought together companies and international talents with a higher education degree in ICT or business. In the Career Speed Dating session of the event, companies had the opportunity to run 5-minute interviews with our international talents, completely free of charge. In addition, the attending companies could host a virtual stand to boost their visibility.

Event programme:

12.00—12.10 Welcoming words, Outi Lemettinen, Metropolia UAS
12.10—12.55 Key note, Katja Toropainen, Inklusiiv
12.55—13.00 Break
13.00—13.20 Training model: Supplementary ICT studies for international talents, Emilia Deseille and Ville Jääskeläinen, Metropolia UAS
13.20—14.00 Student experiences & Company pitches
14.00—14.10 Break
14.10—14.55 Career Speed Dating: 5-minute interviews between recruiters and international talents
14.55—15.00 Next steps, Outi Lemettinen, Metropolia UAS

Registration to the event has ended. In case you are interested in participating in similar events or finding out more about our international talents, contact us!

Questions? Please contact:
Emilia Deseille, SIMHE-Metropolia
emilia.deseille [at] metropolia.fi (emilia[dot]deseille[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
+358(0) 40 671 3888