A record 51 500-plus study places are available in the joint application to higher education this spring, despite shrinking age groups. Higher education institutions have modified their admissions criteria so that first-time applicants have a better chance of being selected both based on their matriculation examination and the entrance exam. Companies and other entities play an important role in encouraging young people, boys and girls to pursue careers in technology – to build a more sustainable world.
Helsingin Sanomat (13 March 2024) listed the study programmes offered by universities in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area that were the hardest and the easiest to get into last year. At Aalto University, information technology and chemical engineering were fields that had less applicants than places available. Let’s see if things will be different this spring. We need every single tech professional and natural scientist, as we navigate digitalization and the green transition.
Finland aims to double its clean energy production and to produce one tenth of the European hydrogen by the 2030s. The electrification of society also increases the need to process and use minerals. Europe is currently consuming up to 20 per cent and producing only three per cent of the world’s critical minerals. In the future, the EU aims to produce 10 per cent and process 40 per cent of these critical minerals. Eyes are now turning towards Finland and the other Nordics.
We need talent. That is another reason why it is important to focus not only on higher education, but also on the numerical and literacy skills of children in primary school and the doctoral education pilots of universities.
The article was published as a column in TEK Magazine 2/2024.
