Skills Mismatch Elimination as a Method to Raise the Level of Finnish Higher Education

Abstract

Finland was a leading country in the aspect of higher education. It shaped the technological economy of Finland and resulted in the creation of technology driven companies as Nokia. However, Finland has recently experienced a decline in the level of higher education. The objectives of the thesis were to understand the skills demanded by employers, but not addressed in education so far and to form a base knowledge for the adaptive education adjustment, which would raise the level of higher education in Finland. The research approach was qualitative. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with five employers from central Finland. Semi-structured interviews were chosen as primary source of data due to the need of collecting valuable insights from employers. The results of the study implicated that employers demand field related fundamental literacies, competencies and character qualities. Employers decided that all of the skills groups including fundamental literacies, competencies, character qualities have to be developed during the lifelong learning course. Opinions were split on the topic of online and offline instructions delivery and assessment. Recommendations based on the study were to include digital metrics in courses to track the ongoing progress of students, organize meetings between students, employers and teacher tutors based on the internship success of the student, form a council which would consist of university, student, and employer representatives which will modify online offering of Open studies according to gathered data. The main limitations of the study were caused by COVID-19 pandemic situation which limited the choice of company representatives.