Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Finland has been preparing for the arrival of Ukrainian war refugees. They can attend education and apply for VET freely once they have been granted a residence permit. The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) has also supplied education and training providers with materials and information about the Ukrainian education system.
Ukrainian war refugees in Finland are free to apply for VET on the same terms as Finnish citizens. VET qualifications are generally provided in Finnish or Swedish but refugees can start their learning process in other languages (e.g. Ukrainian, Russian or English) if instructors fluent in these languages are available. Some VET programmes can also be completed entirely in English. Some training providers also offer preparatory programmes for Finnish VET, up to 6 months. Qualifications can also be completed entirely at the workplace as an apprenticeship.
EDUFI provides data and information
To help education and training providers deal efficiently with arrivals from Ukraine, the Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) compiled information packages about the Ukrainian education system, including the VET system. This information has been distributed to training providers and is also available on the EDUFI website.
The EDUFI also keeps track of the number of Ukrainians in the education system by compiling data from their databases. The data have been published bi-weekly since mid-April. On 18 May there were 129 Ukrainians registered in VET in Finland, with an additional 13 studying in preparatory education programmes for VET. A survey for education and training providers was also conducted in March-April, mapping the initial numbers of Ukrainians in the education system and the preparedness of education and training providers. The survey was repeated in May, and a third round will commence in the beginning of the autumn semester.
In the most recent survey, most VET providers reported that they are very well-prepared or quite well-prepared to take in Ukrainian war refugees. The open answers suggest that VET providers with good preparedness have already experience in training refugees and immigrants, are already organising preparatory education or having training programmes in English. Those who are less well-prepared cite – among others – the lack of resources and inability to hire personnel with the necessary language skills as contributing factors.
Read more
- More than 800 people who have fled Ukraine go to school, study in upper secondary education or are in early childhood education and care in Finland
- Material to help support the education of Ukrainian war refugees (in Finnish)
- VET in Ukraine (in Finnish)
- Information on Ukrainian war refugees in ECEC, education and training (in Finnish)
| Please cite this news item as: ReferNet Finland; Cedefop (2022). Finland: helping Ukrainian war refugees in VET. National news on VET |