Immigration in Finland

Maija-Leena KemppiSalpaus Further Education

Adult Education and Working Life Services

Immigration to FinlandO Today, people’s main motives for moving to

Finland are study, work and family. Despite the fact that immigration to Finland on it’s current scale is a relatively recent phenomen, foreigners make up a significant proportion of the population in some parts of Finland – for instance in the Greater Helsinki Area.

O Immigration to Finland started to decline on 2009 and the trend continued in 2010. (2008 immigration 29114) A total of 25650 people moved to Finland in 2010.

Foreigners in Finland O The largest number of foreigners moving

to Finland are Russians. Finnish citizenship is most often applied for by the people from outside the EU, but among the ten largest groups of applicants there is one EU-country – Estonia.

O The number of asylum seekers continued to decline globally. In 2010, a total of 4018 people sought asylum in Finland, (drop of 33 %).

Some facts O Foreign nationals account for 3 % of

the population. Most of the people who were born abroad were born in Europe (65 %). Foreing-language speakers make up 4 % of the population.

O At the end of 2010 with dual nationality 54,912.

Source: Statistics Finland

TOTAL POPULATION IN 2009 /2010 5,351,427

CITIZENSHIPFinnish citizens 5,195,722Foreign nationals 155,705 /2011 = 183,055

LARGEST GROUPS BY CITIZENSHIPRussian 28,210/28,425Estonian 25,510/29,080Swedish 8,506/8,510Somali 5,570/6,593Chinese 5,180/Thai 4,497/5,021Iraqi 3,978/5,024Turk 3,809/3,973German 3,628UK 3,333Indian 3,168/3,468China /5,559

Iranian 2,495/US 2,378/

NATIVE LANGUAGEFinnish 4,852,209Swedish 290,392Sámi 1,789

LARGEST GROUPS BY FOREIGN LANGUAGERussian 51,683Estonian 25,096English 12,063Somali 11,681Arabic 9,682

Kurdish 7,135Chinese 7,078Albanian 6,736Other languages 207,037

Population By Citizenship, Native Language And Country Of Birth

A new trend in migration – mobility

O New trend wordlwide – mobilityO Nowadays many people want to

move to a second or third country, some go back and forth between certain countries while others move to their parents’ country of origin.

O Researchers call these modern-day emigrants transnationals. Some of them apply for citizenship of another country because it makes travelling easier.

General principles guiding immigration policy of the Ministry of Education

Fostering good relation between different ethnic groups- two-way integration, measures targeted towards the original population

Taking into account the needs of immigrants within the functioning of regular services and systems

- special targeted measures (special treatment, allocations) only as secondary options

Promoting the right of immigrants to their own language and culture

Equal treatment of immigrants regardless of the reasons for immigration

Efficient coordination of measures Taking into account experiences of other countries

Guidelines in the field of education and research

Sufficient availability of Finnish/Swedish language teaching in all levels of education

Studies concerning multicultural issues for all teachers. More study places for teachers with immigrant background

Further development of recognition of knowledge (ECVET 2014)

-> VALIDATION OF PRIOR LEARNING Efficient guidance and counselling services immediate

availability, focus on periods of transition (from one education level to the next)

Strengthening of education on internationalism and tolerance

Promotion of mobility (students, teachers, researchers)

Adult education Vocational basic or supplementary education Upper secondary education Liberal education (folk high schools, summer universities) General language examination system a prerequisite for

citizenship (64 providers of which 23 are folk high schools)

Education of illiterate adults cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy

Training of teachers: an ESF-funded common model shared by 5 universities and 2 polytechnics

Adult education – targets (1)

To strengthen language teaching of immigrants

To develop the language examination system

To integrate language teaching into vocational, higher adult education and on-the-job training

To strengthen guidance and counselling services, and increase targeted services for immigrants having a higher education background

Adult education – targets (2)

To increase training for teachers with immigrant background or teachers working with immigrants

Transfers of administrative resources from the Min. of Employment and the Economy to the Min. of Education which concern teaching of illiterate adults

More resources for upper secondary education institutes

Changes in the legislation and funding of liberal adult education

More about immigration in Finland

O http://docreader.readspeaker.com/docreader/?cid=brzou&lang=en_uk&url=www.migri.fi%2fdownload%2f16939_maahanmuuton_vuosikatsaus_eng_netti_1_.pdf