Bridging the Gap: Valuing and Integrating Highly Skilled Internationals in Finland
This blog post discusses some of the findings of the HIWE project that highlight the contradiction felt by many highly skilled internationals in Finland between the welcoming political rhetoric and their everyday experiences of being undervalued and unwelcome. Does Finland really value highly skilled internationals? The findings of the HIWE project point to a contradiction […]
An update on HIWE project’s results, autumn 2023
HIWE in brief High-skilled internationals: bottom-up insights into policy innovation for work and entrepreneurship in Finland (HIWE) is a two-year Business Finland funded research project implemented by the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Turku between 2022 and 2024. In the project, we listen to internationals’ experiences of Finland. We look at how […]
Ecosystem maps of local international talent services published
Welcome back to our blog! This autumn (2023), we continue to publish results from our research work. As a brief reminder, one of the key objectives in HIWE is to study how highly skilled internationals experience living, working and being an entrepreneur in Finland. We want to learn about both the positives and the negatives […]
The new Government Programme tightens Finland’s migration policy
The newly appointed government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) is tightening Finland’s migration policy in many ways. The policy shows the strong handprint of the migration-critical Finns Party. This blog discusses the key immigration policies of the new government programme, especially from the perspective of international talent. Finnish migration policy turns more right-wing In […]
Listening to the life stories of international talents – a researcher’s perspective
HIWE has published five intriguing stories about the lives of international talent in Finland. The stories are based on the interview material collected in the project since autumn 2022. This blog is a personal reflection of one researcher on the questions that the stories bring to the fore. From ALL-YOUTH to HIWE – but with […]
”See the person behind the papers” – International talent’s experiences of Finnish working life and how to develop it
We have recently interviewed several dozens of international talents in the HIWE project. In the interviews, we have asked about their lives before coming to Finland, their experiences while in Finland, and their hopes and plans for the future. Our special interest has been in internationals’ experiences of employment, working life and entrepreneurship in Finland. […]
Parliamentary elections 2023 are a tight battle between the largest parties – The election results will affect Finnish immigration policy
Finland is currently preparing for the 2023 parliamentary elections. Work-based immigration has become one of the key themes in the debate. The election results will impact considerably what kind of immigration and integration policy Finland will pursue for the next four years. This post takes a look at what the three parties competing for the […]
Researching stories on migration(s)
The HIWE project takes part in the Annual Conference of the Finnish Political Science Association held in Jyväskylä in May 2023. We coordinate a working group in the conference in which we examine what kinds of stories media, politics and research currently tell and promote about migration and integration. The stories are complex and controversial […]
New perspectives and voices to research on highly skilled internationals’ lives in Finland
Recently, there has been lively public discussion about the effects of the worsening dependency ratio and the deepening of labor shortage on the future of Finnish society and its ability to maintain the accustomed level of well-being in the future. According to many views, Finland needs new workers from outside the country – although there […]
Would you like to share your story?
Would you like to share your story? We at the HIWE-project want to contribute to making Finland an attractive country for highly skilled internationals to work and live in. For this purpose, we want to hear it from the highly skilled internationals themselves how they have experienced working and living Finland. Thus, we are now looking […]