Employment Opportunities of International Students: Case (LAMK)

More than 21,000 international students are currently studying in Finnish Universities however, the number of unemployed international students has also exceeded 11,000. This research is focussed primarily on unemployment among the international students at Lahti University of Applied Sciences (LAMK). This research study is commissioned by LAMK and Salpaus and the project name is OSSI 2. The aim of this study is to identify and investigate the reasons for unemployment among international students of LAMK and offer recommendations on how to reduce the unemployment. All stakeholders including the university, partner companies, international students and employment service providers face challenges and the researcher has presented a model of activities for each stakeholder that can help to improve the unemployment situation. This is a qualitative research where semi-structured interview were conducted from all stakeholders. Total 15 interviews have been conducted during this research from all concerned personnel including students, Finnish employers and employment service providers. The benchmarking approach is also utilized to map out the best practices of the organizations who have helped to reduce unemployment for immigrants in Finland. The researcher concluded that each stakeholder needs to take certain steps in order to address the unemployment problem. Finland is an excellent country and with the combined efforts of all stakeholders, the international students can be employed into the Finnish job market