News from CIMO

Latin America draws higher education and labour administration to Seinäjoki

A seminar on Finnish–Latin American co-operation in higher education and working life gathered experts of higher education and labour administration in Finland to Seinäjoki on 23–24 March. The seminar was jointly organised by CIMO, the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences and the University of Tampere.

The speakers included Professor Lillian González from the University of La Frontera, Chile, who has a long experience of collaborating with Finnish educational institutions, and the director of the Finnish Institute in Madrid, Professor Martti Pärssinen, who introduced the institute’s recent projects in Latin America. He pointed out that Finns have for a long time neglected co-operating with Latin America.

– This is a huge area with endless opportunities and so far it has been overlooked in the Finnish plans of co-operation outside Europe, confirms International Relations Manager Kirsti Virtanen at the Turku University of Applied Sciences. Virtanen intends to advance collaboration with Latin America at her own institution and to promote Spanish language courses to students and staff alike.

Ten years of CIMO trainees in Latin America

Finnish students have shown increasing interest in Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries in recent years. They are clearly curious about studying in Latin America. For example, there are now some 100 Finnish students in Mexico according to the local Finnish Embassy.

For the last ten years, Finnish students and recent graduates have also had a chance to do a traineeship in Latin American countries through CIMO. The popularity of the traineeship scheme has grown steadily: approximately 40 trainees are now annually sent to countries such as Chile, Argentina or Peru.

The traineeships boost relevant work experience, encourage foreign language use in professional contexts and diversify the Finnish youth’s language skills.

(1 April 2011 / TL)

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