Hanken_Newsletter_4_2015

In Finland, using the cultural know-how and expertise of international students to benefit Finnish companies is as yet a completely untapped resource - despite the obvious advantages. After all, who would know a country’s social behaviour, consumer habits and needs better than an individual coming from this specific culture? Equally, Finland sorely needs a stronger integration of great new talents to boost international competitiveness and business. I contend that universities have a central role to play in this respect. The key to success is our high-quality teaching; it’s internationally recognised but should be more closely integrated with Finnish business. Here, Hanken is at the forefront. We integrate our international students to be part of our innovative and international teaching groups. We create platforms where our students and our partner companies can meet, i.e. within courses and through graduate thesis projects. And we actively encourage our international students to find internships in local companies. Taking it one step further, we feel it’s important that integration is there from the very beginning. Our Finance and Accounting programme is a good example: as their very first master’s level course, students take part in a case competition arranged with PwC. Clearly, if we want attitudes to change, there’s still a lot of work to be done on a national level. We are developing our efforts to have a positive influence nationally. Would you expect anything less of an international business school, now accredited by EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA