Skills centers connect immigrants with employers in Espoo and to strengthen work life skills

This article series presents cases of innovations built here in Espoo that strive for a better tomorrow for all.

Finding skilled workforce is crucial for innovation, and offering meaningful work and education is the basis for building a good life in a new country. Part of Omnia technical and vocational education institution (TVET), Omnia Skills Centre tackles both these issues by helping immigrants in Espoo find new employment and education opportunities. The center with 25 professionals offers individual support and confirmation of immigrants’ competencies and working life skills. Started on January 2019, and since then, the service has had 1,932 clients, of which 550 have found employment and 614 have advanced to degree programs.

Currently, in collaboration with public and private partners an institution-wide innovative approach is being scaled up in Finland to inspire other technical and vocational institutions. The Omnia Skills Centre was featured in a UNESCO-UNEVOC case study publication, as an inspirational example of how TVETs can respond to a challenging new mandate from central government to create a completely new TVET service.