The CIS - Does the Regional Hegemon Facilitate Monetary Integration?

We consider the likely economic impact and prospects for monetary integration among Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as part of the Single Economic Space they have agreed to set up. A monetary union among these countries poses three interesting issues for the structure and process of integration: they have already been members of a wider cur-rency union that collapsed, so it is necessary to handle the problems of his-tory; secondly the union would be of very unequal size with the Russian Federation outweighing the others taken together, so we must consider how the national interests would be balanced; lastly natural resources, particu-larly oil and gas pose problems for dependence and for the determination of the external exchange rate

The CIS – does the regional hegemon facilitate monetary integration?

We consider the likely economic impact and prospects for monetary integration among Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine as part of the Single Economic Space they have agreed to set up. A monetary union among these countries poses three interesting issues for the structure and process of integration: they have already been members of a wider currency union that collapsed, so it is necessary to handle the problems of history; secondly the union would be of very unequal size with the Russian Federation outweighing the others taken together, so we must consider how the national interests would be balanced; lastly natural resources, particularly oil and gas pose problems for dependence and for the determination of the external exchange rate.monetary union; CIS; economic integration

Wissenschafts- und Forschungsorientierung der Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen in Finnland

Finnland werden bezogen auf das Bildungssystem einige Attribute zugeschreiben: die hohe Hochschulquote, der weitestgehend kostenfreie Zugang zum Bildungs­system und das gute Abschneiden bei den PISA-Studien (Programme for International Student Assessment). Vor diesem Hintergrund lohnt sich ein Blick auf die finnische Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen und deren Wissenschafts- und Forschungsorientierung. Lehrpersonen aller Stufen studieren in Finnland auf Universitätsebene und werden als «Teacher-as-Researcher» – als forschende Lehrpersonen – verstanden. Dieser Ansatz kann über den finnischen Kontext hinaus als Prinzip einer tertiären Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung diskutiert werden.The Finnish education system is characterized by attributes like a high rate of tertiary degrees, free-of-charge access to education and excellent PISA-results (Programme for International Student Assessment). Thus, it seems to be worth looking a bit closer at the Finnish teacher education system and its orientation towards science and research. Teacher training for all levels is located within higher education and pursues the «teacher-as-researcher» approach. This rationale of the Finnish setting could be discussed as a general principle of research-based teacher education in other contexts

Adult learners’ career paths – from IT profession to education within two-year study programme in Finnish university context

Higher education and lifelong learning projects aimed at adults have become more widespread and have sparked a debate on how to restructure higher education policies and support lifelong learning. In Finland, a recent initiative in higher education policy is based on the theme of continuous learning. Different supporting structures and practices at the governmental level are being sought. During the academic year 2017–2018, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland funded a project that provided pedagogical studies in teaching for 16 IT professionals. The aim was to enable the participants to focus on the educational field and find new options for their careers. We utilized a narrative research approach to explore the types of adult learners’ storylines and positions that were constructed during these studies, of which we identified three: the storyline of different alternatives, in which participants positioned themselves as a career path builders, the storyline of becoming a teacher, in which participants positioned themselves as a teacherhood reflectors and becoming a teacher was an enriching alternative, and the storyline of looking forward, in which participants positioned themselves as a developers and mainly saw their studies as expanding their ongoing career opportunities.Higher education and lifelong learning projects aimed at adults have become more widespread and have sparked a debate on how to restructure higher education policies and support lifelong learning. In Finland, a recent initiative in higher education policy is based on the theme of continuous learning. Different supporting structures and practices at the governmental level are being sought. During the academic year 2017-2018, the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland funded a project that provided pedagogical studies in teaching for 16 IT professionals. The aim was to enable the participants to focus on the educational field and find new options for their careers. We utilised a narrative research approach to explore the types of adult learners' storylines and positions that were constructed during these studies, of which we identified three: the storyline of different alternatives, in which participants positioned themselves as a career path builders, the storyline of becoming a teacher, in which participants positioned themselves as a teacherhood reflectors and becoming a teacher was an enriching alternative, and the storyline of looking forward, in which participants positioned themselves as a developers and mainly saw their studies as expanding their ongoing career opportunities.Peer reviewe

Ajelehtien kulttuurien välisessä tilassa? Kansainvälisten tutkinto-opiskelijoiden integraatiokokemukset ja odotukset sijoittumisestaan suomalaisille työmarkkinoille

Refereed article In this article, international degree students’ integration experiences into Finnish society and higher education are being examined and what kind of views they have as generalist students for their employment in the Finnish labor market after graduation. Objectives for the internationalization of higher education often mean increasing the number of international students. However, the highly educated immigrants are in front of a great challenge since the labor market in Finland has traditionally been very closed. The higher education diploma does not necessarily guarantee better opportunities for a career engagement. The main result of a research utilizing two different types of data (survey, interviews), is the observation that it is necessary to understand the international degree student’s integration experiences comprehensively and at the same time paying attention to the different aspects of integration experiences: cultural, academic, social and career integration. As the major barriers of employment, they evaluate in particular the Finnish language skills and lack of relevant work experience, as well as, restrictions in necessary social networks. If one wanted to better support international degree students in the cultural, academic and social integration in higher education and beyond, this would undoubtedly improve their chances of career integration and employment to the Finnish labor market.Artikkeli on läpikäynyt referee-menettelyn Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan suomalaiseen yliopistokoulutukseen hakeutuneiden kansainvälisten tutkinto-opiskelijoiden integraatiokokemuksia suomalaiseen yhteiskuntaan ja korkeakoulutukseen ja millaisia näkemyksiä heillä on generalistialojen opiskelijoina työllistymisestään tutkinnon jälkeen suomalaisille työmarkkinoille. Kansainvälisyyttä ja kansainvälisten koulutusohjelmien laajentamista koskevat tavoitteet korkeakoulutuksessa merkitsevät usein kansainvälisten opiskelijoiden määrän lisäämistä. Suomalaisille työmarkkinoille yrittäessään maahanmuuttajataustaiset korkeasti koulutetut ovat kuitenkin suuren haasteen edessä, sillä työmarkkinat Suomessa ovat olleet perinteisesti hyvin suljetut. Korkeakoulututkintokaan ei ole välttämättä taannut parempia mahdollisuuksia uralle kiinnittymiseen. Monimenetelmällisen, kahta erilaista aineistoa (survey, haastattelut) hyödyntävän tutkimuksen päätuloksena on havainto siitä, että kansainvälisen tutkinto-opiskelijan integraatiokokemuksia on tarpeen ymmärtää kokonaisvaltaisesti ja samalla huomiota kiinnittäen integraatiokokemusten eri osa-alueisiin: kulttuuriseen, akateemiseen, sosiaaliseen ja uraintegraatioon. Työllistymistä haittaavina tekijöinä he arvioivat erityisesti suomen kielen taidon ja relevantin työkokemuksen puutteet sekä tarvittavien sosiaalisten verkostojen rajoitukset. Jos kansainvälisiä tutkinto-opiskelijoita voitaisiin paremmin tukea kulttuurisessa, akateemisessa ja sosiaalisessa integroitumisessa korkeakoulutuksessa ja sen ulkopuolella, parantaisi tämä eittämättä heidän mahdollisuuksiaan myös uralle integroitumisessa ja työllistymisessä suomalaisille työmarkkinoille