Have you ever considered studying in Finland? If not, maybe you should. Finland is a country in the very north of Europe with about 5.5 million inhabitants and a lot of nature. Around 75 percent of its land is covered with forest, and the northern region is famous for romantic, snowy landscapes in winter. According to the World Happiness Report, Finland’s population is the happiest on Earth. Studies assume that happiness also stems from satisfaction with the educational system, which ranks among the best globally. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (UAS), Finland’s biggest university of applied sciences, has now launched a programme to attract Nepali students.

“We are happy that the entrance examinations are finally taking place in Kathmandu,” says Pekko Lindblom, a senior lecturer and project manager at Metropolia. Pekko has travelled to Nepal to see how prospective students are tested and to interview future Information and Communication Technology (ICT) students himself.

Metropolia has around 17,000 students, of whom 1,500 are international students. Its campuses are located in the capital, Helsinki, and in two other nearby cities. The educational institution offers various study programmes in business, culture, health care and social services, as well as technology. For two of their degrees, a bachelor’s in Information and Communication Technology and a bachelor’s in International Business and Logistics, Metropolia is looking to recruit Nepali students.

In November, the Finnish university held examinations for these study programmes in Kathmandu for the first time. Interested individuals could apply via local educational consultancy firms for the assessment process that involved questions of knowledge like maths and tests of problem-solving skills, as well as personal interviews. People who pass the exams and are being selected will have the chance to study in Finland from next year. In ICT, Lindblom reveals that forty of the best applicants will get that chance.

One key feature distinguishing universities of applied sciences from conventional universities is their proximity to the labour market. This is also the case for Metropolia, confirms Pekko Lindblom. Since its inception, the university has been closely associated with the Finnish company Nokia, which, from the late 90s onwards, used to be the global market leader in the mobile phone sector for many years. Nowadays, the ICT campus is located on Nokia’s premises.

The curricula of both degrees involve gaining work experience. “Some projects are done quite closely together with company partners,” explains Lindblom. These co-operations involve companies presenting real problems and students having to develop solutions. Gaining this kind of experience and networking during studies can be advantageous when looking for a job later in life.

The market is also why precisely these two degree programmes are being promoted. Information and Communication Technology, being focused primarily on software knowledge and development, as well as International Business and Logistics, being more business-oriented, are both sectors were there is a high demand for labour force in many countries. Apart from that, it was also business logic for Metropolia. “There is clearly a need for ICT education and our programmes in Nepal. We were delighted by the great demand for organising entrance exams in Kathmandu,” Lindblom explains.

But what is the Finnish university’s incentive to look for students in Nepal? The answer is simple: International students are a business model for Metropolia and many other universities. “Education export is a way of financing the university while the public funding is decreasing,” Lindblom states. While studying is free for locals, international students from outside the European Union, like Nepal, pay around 10,000 Euros per year.

But money is not everything, assures Lindblom, “Education export also means sharing something with the world that Finland is really good at.” To make their educational products accessible to a broader range of people, Lindblom created an online learning platform.

The platform, Digital Career Boost, offers various online courses directed towards people already in the labour market. Lindblom explains that many people have been working for years, and a long time has passed since they were studying as students, but technology is developing rapidly.

With the Digital Career Boost, they can take courses to further their education in a specific area of digitalisation. The course topics range from understanding the basics of Artificial Intelligence over 3-D animation to using tiktok as a marketing tool. People can book several courses or only one specific they are interested in. They are all on bachelor levels; participants receive a certificate when completing a course. And the best part: It is free—at least for now—and you can study from anywhere, anytime. “The courses are filling up quickly, but we still have a certain amount of free places,” Lindblom informs. After this first phase, the courses will be subject to a fee.

Those who do not belong to the target group of the Digital Career Boost or missed this year’s admission test but still would like to study in Finland are likely to get another chance. If everything goes as planned, the examinations of Metropolia UAS will be held regularly in the future, assures Lindblom.