The Unemployment fund for highly educated KOKO and 12 unions advocating for the cause of the highly educated are concerned for the value of education in Finland. The unemployment fund and the unions remind people that investments must be made in higher education to ensure that its quality will remain sufficiently high in the future, too.
In order to raise discussion, the KOKO fund published a video early in the week that seems to start by praising Finland, its nature, civilisation and culture. However, it is revealed at the end that the country in question is Finland’s southern neighbour, Estonia.
“Finland and Estonia are astonishingly similar as countries – all the way to the tune of the national anthem. This gave us a delicious starting point for making Finns wake up and notice that our idealised image of Finland may no longer be true. If people are not ready to invest in higher education, Finland’s competitiveness and number of innovations will be surpassed by many other countries,” says Fund Director Outi Mäki.
The video is a part of the common goal of KOKO and its background organisations to promote the position of highly educated Finns in the labour market and the value of higher education in the society in a wider sense.
“Without higher education of high quality there will be no development and no change, and Finland will come to a halt. Investments must be made in research, and there must not be any more cuts to the funding of higher education. In addition, the position of the highly educated in the labour market must make education worthwhile so that the experts will not run away from Finland and go abroad,” Mäki says.
Participants in the video by the KOKO fund include Akavan Yleinen Ryhmä AYR ry, the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland, Ornamo Art and Design Finland, Rakennusinsinöörit ja -arkkitehdit RIA ry, Finnish Association of Architects SAFA, The Finnish Business School Graduates, Suomen Optometrian Ammattilaiset SOA ry, The Finnish Pharmacists’ Society, Finnish Association of Civil Engineers RIL, Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK, Professionals of Business and Technology, as well as YTY – Association for Managers and Professionals.
The idea and design of the video were created by the marketing agency Ivalo Creative Agency. Link to the video: https://youtu.be/DVySgbTxkkU