International students gained boost for employment from the IMIB network

The IMIB network, built by three universities of applied sciences, Haaga-Helia, Laurea, and Metropolia, has supported the employment and entrepreneurship of international students in Finland for nearly one and a half years. Oluwafemi Adekola, Tatiana Mikheeva, and Shivani Shree participated in the network's activities during the 2024–2025 academic year, thus accelerating their progress on their career paths.

Finland needs international experts. According to the latest forecast from the Statistics Finland (2024), the proportion of working-age individuals in the population would only remain at the current level until the early 2050s if net immigration also stays at the current level.

According to the education administration's statistical reporting portal Vipunen, over 30,000 international students are studying in Finnish higher education institutions. Students who have completed their degrees in Finland have gotten to know Finnish society and working life during their studies, developed expertise in their field, and perhaps even learned the Finnish language. They possess diverse skills that can support Finnish companies’ business development and internationalisation.

However, finding employment is often quite challenging. According to Vipunen, only about 55 % of foreign students who graduate in Finland find work in the country.

Language skills may be one reason for the challenges in employment, but there are also issues for those who have basic or even good knowledge of Finnish. Therefore, it is important to help international students network and create professional connections already during their studies. It is also beneficial to influence employers' attitudes so that the barrier to recruiting international talent is lower.

Networking and job opportunities

More than 20 organisations and over 80 international students have participated in the activities of the IMIB network so far. According to Haaga-Helia's project manager Maija Suonpää, career coaches working for and representatives of companies participating in the Business Mentoring Model have succeeded in strengthening the confidence of many international students in their own skills and provided hope for finding work in Finland.

Feedback from participants also indicates that 80 % rated their experience of participating in the Business Mentoring Model as good or excellent. This reflects the quality of the activities and their significance for the participants.

Getting a job without sending a CV

Tatiana Mikheeva spent the spring semester of 2025 simultaneously on student exchange in South Korea and working remotely at Entrylab. She says that participating in the IMIB network's Business Mentoring Model in autumn 2024 was like a trial period at Entrylab: she got to know the employer, and the employer saw how she performed on the project's assignment. Exceptionally, Tatiana carried out the assignment without other students, but she took the task seriously and says that good communication with the employer helped her a lot.

- I could also have participated in the career coaching workshops, but studying at Metropolia took up so much time at that point that I preferred to focus on completing the assignment well for Entrylab. It's actually quite funny that I didn't send a job application or CV to Entrylab, but I got the job, Tatiana describes.

New perspectives for starting a business

Oluwafemi Adekola participated in the entrepreneurship workshops in autumn 2024 and the following spring in the Business Mentoring Model, where he worked on an assignment prepared by the Finnish-Arab Chamber of Commerce SAKY ry. In spring 2025, he was also completing his Master’s degree studies in Laurea's Leading Transformational Change programme.

Oluwafemi's goal is to start his own business in the coming months. The business idea is to support companies in expanding their operations in Africa. An important step towards starting the business has been finding suitable partners. In the entrepreneurship workshops, Oluwafemi heard others' experiences about starting a business, which helped him understand the importance of collaboration.

Networking and collaborative learning play a crucial role in the entrepreneurship workshops. Participants network with each other, but there are also entrepreneurs with an immigrant background from various fields, who share their entrepreneurship stories with the participants in the workshops. Oluwafemi highlights networking as one of the best aspects of the workshops.

- In the workshops, I met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I have kept in touch with them and have also received help from them when needed. Hearing the stories of immigrant entrepreneurs was also encouraging because I am interested in entrepreneurship myself, Oluwafemi says.

Work experience in one’s own field of study

Shivani Shree worked as a temporary intern at One Click LCA in spring 2025, developing benchmark values for measuring the carbon footprint of companies in the construction sector. She is doing her thesis on the same topic at Metropolia.

- This is my field, but I had only studied the basics before, and now I am learning more and more about sustainable construction. I also learned more about my field when I carried out a project for Bluet in the IMIB network last autumn, Shivani says. 

Bluet manufactures floating structures, and the project was related to the development of industry standards. Shivani praises her work partner, who had no industry experience but had a strong desire to learn new things. Together they successfully completed the project. Shivani believes that the project in the IMIB network helped her secure her internship position. She mentions that she got to know about One Click LCA about a year and a half ago and had been following their work. At the time, there wasn’t a relevant position available, but after contacting them for thesis collaboration a few months back, she was hired as an intern for four months.

Get connected – IMIB is waiting for you!

The Immigrants as Business Mentors project is now halfway through, which means there is still plenty of time to get involved. Tatiana, Shivani, and Oluwafemi all emphasise the importance of active networking. It is good to take advantage of all the often-free opportunities available specifically for students and to bring up job hunting in all relevant situations. In addition, by participating in the network’s activities, students strengthen their own skills and gain new perspectives from others' experiences. Networking and enhancing one's skills are important steps towards employment.

How to participate in the IMIB network?

In the IMIB network's Business Mentoring Model, teams of international students work on projects for companies and other organisations for about three months and, at the end of the teamwork period, present the results of their work. This allows them to demonstrate their skills and become acquainted with Finnish working life. Career coaches from Haaga-Helia and Metropolia support teamwork and provide participants with personal coaching. Meanwhile, the organisations gain new perspectives on developing their business. After the assignment, cooperation can continue in the form of internships or theses related to their studies. A reference from a Finnish company can also be a valuable addition for an international student seeking for employment.

The aim of the entrepreneurship workshops is to encourage international students towards entrepreneurship. In the workshops that utilise creative and interactive methods, participants learn to identify and strengthen their skills, gain tools for developing their business ideas, learn how to pitch their business ideas, and receive information about entrepreneurship in Finland. Laurea is responsible for the entrepreneurship workshops.

In the career workshops, skills necessary for job seeking and working life are practised under the guidance of career coaches from Haaga-Helia and Metropolia. In addition, the network organises joint workshops for international students and companies. In the workshops, company representatives and international students meet and discuss the recruitment of international talents and share experiences and good practices. The goal is to strengthen the structures and operating models through which unconscious discrimination in companies is reduced.

Learn more about the IMIB project

Registration links for students

Business Mentoring Model

Entrepreneurship Track

The activities of the IMIB network are part of the Immigrants as Business Mentors project, which is cofunded by the European Social Fund (ESF+). Project partners are Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

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