Finnish education expertise to international markets

The Minister for Education and Science, Henna Virkkunen, wants to turn Finnish education expertise into an export item. A taskforce, whose responsibility is to prepare the export strategy, has already been established. The strategy will be presented to the cabinet by the end of 2009.

Ms. Virkkunen said on Tuesday that Finland has excellent chances in providing significant expertise on the internationally competitive market. This could lead into generating new jobs and successful business operations.

Virkkunen believes that Finland's excellent ranking in the PISA-research will enhance the demand on Finnish services. Finland's high position in the research in 2001, 2004 and 2007 has attracted thousands of visitors into the country with the interest of familiarizing themselves with the Finnish education system.

The taskforce has been assigned to survey the strengths and weaknesses of the Finnish actors exporting education expertise. It should also identify the current support services, which could be utilized in exporting Finnish education expertise. Another aim of the project is to establish a specific cluster dealing with the export of Finnish education.

According to the Director for International Relations at the Ministry of Education, Jaana Palojärvi, the focus of the export strategy will be on institutions of higher learning for instance in the form of chargeable commissioned training.

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