Finnish graduating students expect to work fewer hours than other Europeans

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The results of the European Student Barometer 2007 show that Finnish graduating students expect to have to work fewer working hours per week than other European students.
      European graduating students who are about to finish their degrees expect that they will have to work about 43 hours per week on average in their first jobs, while Finnish students believe that they can manage on 41 hours work a week.
     
The Finnish students of engineering, physics, and computer science deviate from the European average most clearly. Among 18 European countries, the Finnish engineers’ expected weekly working hours are the lowest, barely more than 40 hours per week. Finnish students of economics and management-related subjects are also found towards the tail end of the list.
      German, Austrian, and Swiss graduating students are the most diligent workers, believing that they will work 46 hours per week.
     
Another variable that shows the expectations of graduating students is the amount they expect to earn.
      Previously the expected salary of Finnish graduating students was somewhat lower than that of their Western European counterparts. However, the results from this year’s edition of the Student Barometer show that today this disparity appears to be less prevalent.
      On average, Finnish students of engineering who are about to finish their degrees expect that they will earn an annual salary of EUR 31,900 in their first jobs, while students of business expect an annual starting salary of EUR 31,200.
      Belgian, Dutch, Swedish, French, Irish, and British students expressed similar expectations, while the expected salaries of Danish, Norwegian, German, and Swiss graduating students were a good deal more than EUR 40,000.
      On the other hand, the salary expectations of graduating students in Eastern Europe were in a class of their own. Hungarian students believed that they will have to be content with an annual salary of less than EUR 10,000 in their first jobs, while Czech and Polish students did not expect much more than EUR 10,000 per year.
     
The European Student Barometer is a yearly study conducted amongst students who are about to finish their degrees and potentially enter the workforce. About 40,000 students studying business or engineering at more than 800 universities in 18 European countries and in the final 2 years of their degrees completed the survey this year. The number of Finnish respondents was 550.
      The barometer was conducted by Berlin-based Trendence Institute over the internet, and the students were invited to participate via e-mail. The research involved the cooperation of universities and institutes of higher learning within the participating countries.


Links:
  Trendence Institute

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