Laurea aims to find solutions to the challenging internship placement situation

According to a survey conducted by Arene in November 2025 among universities of applied sciences, 90 percent of the institutions believe that the internship placement situation has deteriorated in recent years. In many of the comments, the situation was described as worrying or critical, and it is most difficult in Southern Finland.

In terms of workforce needs, forecasts indicate a growing demand for skilled professionals in the coming years. Therefore, it is important that students’ studies progress as planned and that they graduate, says Salla Seppänen, Director of Social and Health Care at Laurea.

The situation is particularly challenging in nursing and public health nursing education, where the number of clinical practice weeks is regulated by the EU Professional Qualifications Directive. Nursing students must complete at least 50 weeks of clinical training during their studies.

“The directive also regulates the training environments, requiring students to gain experience in different specializations,” Seppänen says.

In 2025, there were more than 21,000 nursing students in universities of applied sciences across Finland, all of whom required internship placements. At Laurea, nursing and public health nursing students completed more than 3,000 internship periods in 2025.

Laurea actively seeks solutions

At Laurea, efforts have been made to develop internships through projects, recruitment, and peer-based training models.

One way to improve the availability of internship placements is to strengthen the conditions for offering them within social and health care organizations. In the ProHarkka – Southern Finland project coordinated by Laurea University of Applied Sciences, the language- and culture-aware competencies of clinical supervisors are strengthened and practical tools are provided for supervising international students. This lowers the threshold for workplaces to accept multilingual trainees and increases the number of available placements.

In addition, at the beginning of this year Laurea appointed an internship placement coordinator who anticipates quantitative and qualitative placement needs and plans internship periods in cooperation with working life partners.

Laurea also employs a Development Manager responsible for the overall coordination and quality development of social and health care internships, working closely with teacher groups focused on internship development. These groups support supervising teachers and, together with working life partners, model new solutions for implementing internships.

For example, together with the Wellbeing Services County of Vantaa and Kerava, Laurea has introduced a team-based internship model in which several students at different stages of their studies complete their internship simultaneously in the same unit.

“In this model, students support each other’s learning during the internship, and the workplace supervisor’s role is to coordinate the students’ work and ensure the quality and safety of care,” Seppänen says.

The situation requires national and structural changes

The weakened staffing situation in workplaces also affects the availability of internship placements.

Seppänen commented on the internship placement situation on MTV, noting that the higher education institution’s own measures alone are not sufficient to resolve a nationwide problem.

“Social and health care professionals are needed, and therefore we must together, education providers and working life, build an internship model that ensures students develop the competencies required in the profession and have a good internship experience. Resolving the issue also requires political will and support,” Seppänen says.

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