Brain drain hampers Finland’s provinces

Those with academic degrees concentrate in Helsinki, Tampere, and Oulu; South Ostrobothnia struggles to attract university-educated returnees

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An increasing number of Finnish provinces are suffering from brain drain.
      Only six of the country’s 20 provinces kept their balance sheet positive with regard to the internal migration of those with a university degree in 2003-2007.
      The provinces of Uusimaa, East Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme, Pirkanmaa, and Åland Islands were the ones that benefited from the internal movement of the educated population.
      The net migration loss was highest in the provinces of Kainuu, North Karelia, and Lapland. Compared to 2003, the pace of the brain drain had increased in ten of Finland’s provinces.
     
“The migration flows and the know-how are becoming centralised”, says migration researcher Timo Aro from the Satakunta Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.
      “Those with higher degrees move to increasingly small geographic areas. In practice this means within a hundred kilometres from the growth centres of Helsinki, Tampere, and Oulu.”
      According to Aro, remigration no longer works like it did back in the 1970s and 1980s.
      Nowadays, when young people leave their out-of-the-way hometowns to get educated in a big city, the chances are they will not come back.
      “The competence capital has already been unevenly distributed. The internal migration only widens the gap.”
     
The migration statistics do not reveal the truth about brain drain in its entirety.
      Small university towns fail to shine in the statistics, because they educate a lot of young people, some of whom will move away.
      In addition, attention should be paid to how many youngsters go to get educated somewhere else and how many of them come back.
      The fact that the level of education has risen radically in all of the provinces adds some brightness to the total picture.
      Between 1998 and 2008 the number of those with a higher university degree increased by tens of per cents everywhere.
     
The province of South Ostrobothnia has the fewest people in the country educated to the master’s degree level.
      “We do not have a science university of our own”, explains Regional Mayor Asko Peltola.
      In Peltola’s opinion the lack of academically educated individuals is a drawback.
      “This is why we support the polytechnic and develop the university consortium.”
      The Seinäjoki University Consortium is a multidisciplinary scientific community formed by five different universities.
      The consortium’s focus is on scientific research and product development, but it also provides tailor-made education.
     
South Ostrobothnia has campaigned to attract return migrants and thanks to the efforts the migration balance of those with a higher academic degree is now slightly on the plus side.
      The local education structure is affected by the fact that of all the occupations in the province the administrative-type jobs are the rarest.
      South Ostrobothnia is a province of entrepreneurs. Most of the area’s companies are small family businesses, where craftsmanship is more important than an academic degree.
      Vocational schools are popular in the province.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Five large growth centres absorb population from countryside (19.1.2010)

See also:
  University-educated youth prefer Finnish companies (12.10.2006)

Links:
  University Consortium of Seinäjoki

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