Finland Times

 

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The Finnish Lapland is going to double the number of integration training spots for the new asylum seekers who are granted with residence permits.

 

The Lapland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) has set aside 4.4 million euros for immigrant integration for this year. 

 

With the help of the fund, around 350 new asylum seekers who have received residence permits can be enrolled in integration training, in addition to those already in other integration-tailoring programmes.

 

According to the ELY Centre, besides integration of immigrants, the appropriation will be used for initial surveys and other services that support employment.

 

Lapland will be receiving 400,000 euros in supplementary budget from the government, ELY centre sources estimated.

 

The ELY Centre has earmarked the supplementary budget for additional training needs which will arise when municipalities present their municipal placement decisions to the ELY Centre.

 

The training of new asylum seekers with residence permits will be launched in August in Rovaniemi, the Kemi-Tornio area, and Kemijärvi.

 

The ELY Centre has already inked contracts with Rovala-Opisto, Kemi Lyceum Upper Secondary School dealing with immigrant training, and Arffman Consulting Oy regarding the training programme.

 

The training programme is designed so that the ELY Centre invites competitive bids for conducting the training, the Employment Office conducts an assessment of the immigrants’ training needs, and the tendered service providers become responsible for holding the training and implementation of the services.

 

The integration training will be multifaceted and will also be organised online. The teaching will consist of a week of school-going period, when students will familiarise themselves with the online study environment. The students will also be given computers and other necessary facilities.

 

“Within the same study group there may be students from across the provinces down from the northernmost Lapland. For example, the online study group beginning in autumn will begin classes at local schools in Rovaniemi and Kolari,” Lapland Ely Centre Development Manager Satu Tervasmäki told local media .

 

The first online integration training classes were carried out five years ago. Since 2012, online training has been conducted alongside well-established classroom teaching.

 

The experience from the perspective of implementation and learning results has been promising, said Tervasmäki.

 

“The online integration training is expanding to other provinces as the ELY Centres in the eastern part of the country launch training projects in their areas,” Tervasmäki added.

 

Life orientation and personalised counselling also form a part of the integration training.

 

The goal of the revised curriculum is intended to shorten the training period and fast-track the entry of the trainees into the labour market or professional training.

 

Similarly, immigrants interested in entrepreneurship will be supported and guided on the scope of business services.

 

The training is planned for implementation next year and its bidding process will be launched in autumn.