No jobs, aid or hope: Foreign students face uncertain future in Finland

Image collected
Disrupted classes, a dire shortage of jobs and an uncertain future - pupils in Finland are grappling with the debilitating effects of the pandemic on the lives.

Some of the worst-hit are international students struggling to sustain themselves with limited funds. Summer and part-time jobs tend to be crucial to help go over expenses, but such opportunities have largely disappeared this year.

"I have been let go from my cleaning task in March. I couldn’t afford to give my rent for the month, fortunately, the student housing board explained I could delay payments by a month or two. Most jobs I requested expect me to know Finnish," Mohammad Hasan from Bangladesh, students in the Expert´s Degree Programme in Knowledge at the University of Turku.

Left without other option, Hasan explained he has applied for a pea-picking job at a good farm, 16 kilometres from Turku. Seasonal farm workers often end up producing long commutes and undertaking hours of back-breaking job for low wages.

According to the Finnish National Organization for Education, by 2017, there were above 20,000 foreign pupils learning a complete degree course in Finland, 75 percent of these from non-EU/EEA countries.

While Finnish college students get grants, housing allowance and government-backed loans, these so-called "third country" students need to fund their living costs and fork out hefty tuition fees.

"It will be a tough summer"
The uncertain situation is going for a toll on all students, according to a Helsinki University student union (HYY) survey which found 28 percent of students said they feared their subsistence- study grant and general housing allowance and loans - will be in risk. Around 16 percent explained their finances have already been threatened.

"This is a significant situation for a number of college students. Financial support from Kela is not always enough and many count on the summertime jobs that are not obtainable anymore. While some college students have moved back to their father and mother’ homes, many cannot because they still have to pay rents. It really is surely going to be a tough summer for learners," HYY consultant Tiia Niemi said.

Niemi admitted that the situation could possibly be particularly harsh on international students.

"Unfortunately, since international college students don’t receive any benefits or aid from Kela and also have to shell out tuition here, they must count on their savings."

Byzantine benefit system
International students approaching the byzantine Finnish benefit system may be eligible for help, but accessing it is not easy. There are three key unemployment benefits in Finland: labour market subsidy, income-linked unemployment profit, and basic unemployment gain.

To get labour market subsidy or earnings-related unemployment benefits, you should be permanently resident in Finland for do the job. Most college students fail this test, nonetheless they may be entitled to basic unemployment benefits after Kela released a non permanent relief measure in-may that allows students who've been laid off to get unemployment benefits.

But there's a capture: they must have worked at least 18 hours weekly for six months.

"I probably worked 15-16 hours weekly," said Hasan, who moved to Finland found in September 2019.

There is one final resort in the sort of income support payments or 'basic social assistance', that could be accessible to students who do not get housing benefits or unemployment benefits, however the criteria to gain access to those payments are unclear.

Several students even reached away to Kela wishing to apply for the social assistance but to no avail.

"The Kela officers weren’t sure if we were eligible for financial aid. Many of us have shed summer job offers as a result of pandemic and cannot travel to big cities where there will be possibly more careers for English speakers," Niharika Anand, students of IT at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences XAMK said.

Kela authorities said they have factors just like the nature and amount of the applicant’s stay and possible family members ties into account before deciding on granting aid.

"Students are in least entitled to important emergency social assistance (e.g. food and important medicines). There's no record of foreign pupils trying to get social assistance during this coronavirus period," Kela rewards manager Marja-Leena Valkonen stated.

No changes to tuition fees
There is one significant line item in lots of foreign students' budgets that universities could reduce substantially: tuition fees. Finnish and EU college students don't pay them, but those from different countries can shell out up to 20,000 euros for a course which has for months been mainly taught online.

As a final resort, a group of international students from XAMK signed a petition urging university authorities to provide some kind of rest from tuition fees, said Phong Tran, an it student from Vietnam.

"Most of us possess either lost jobs or opportunities. Because the lockdown, we don’t have access to the school construction and facilities like labs and equipment that is a disadvantage," Tran said.

However, according to XAMK President Heikki Saastamoinen, although transition to remote teaching has been a considerable change, work are being designed to ensure studies don’t get disrupted.

"We have processed student appeals and conclude that XAMK possesses been able to arrange teaching in these excellent circumstances. We also remember that students’ studies possess progressed. Therefore, there happen to be no grounds for reducing the tuition fee," Saastamoinen said.

Left with little choice, many students like Tran possess travelled back to their home countries after sacrificing summer careers or opportunities early found in the lockdown.

"Those people who are still found in Finland happen to be resorting to applying for berry-picking jobs. But they happen to be remotely located, not simple to get through with thousands of men and women applying simultaneously, plus they don’t start until late June," Tran said.

Even learners who moved to Helsinki in the hope of greener pastures are desperate for anything worthwhile.

"I moved in this article from Kokkola hoping to discover a summer job, but nothing appears to be training. I am living off my savings. My school waived 1,000 euros from my subsequent tuition fee, but I don’t know how long I am in a position to sustain this," explained Hang Thuy, a student of Centria University of SYSTEMS.
Source: https://yle.fi

Tags :

Share this news on:

Previous Story

Trending Topics

Archive