The availability of skilled labour is currently one of the most topical issues in regional development in Finland. The importance of this issue will only increase in the future if current development trends continue, demographic forecasts become reality and the working age population continues to decline. Competition for skilled labour is fierce, and higher education institutions have a role to play in this competition. In the ongoing project, we are studying where people who completed their higher education in Northern Ostrobothnia between 2000 and 2021 have moved to after graduation: how many of them have stayed in the region and where they have settled within the region.
The results show that a total of 67% of higher education graduates have stayed in Northern Ostrobothnia after graduation - around three out of four (76%) graduates with a bachelor's degree in a university of applied sciences and more than half (58%) of graduates with a master's degree in a university. Based on the statistical data of Education Statistics Finland, Vipunen, the share of those who stayed in their region of education is the second highest among all Finnish regions in Northern Ostrobothnia (after Uusimaa), both for university graduates and graduates of universities of applied sciences. Around 70% of those who stayed in the region are originally from Northern Ostrobothnia (home region at the age of 18). In other words, graduates originally from Northern Ostrobothnia who have completed their higher education in their home region remain loyal to their home region after graduation.
Using register-based data, we tracked the residential locations of higher education graduates for ten years after graduation and found that the shares of those who move to different regions within Northern Ostrobothnia are already stable one year after graduation and do not change much thereafter. An exception is the city of Oulu, where more than half of all higher education graduates stay after graduation, for example to continue their studies. Over time, however, some of them move elsewhere, mainly to other regions in Finland.
We also examined how many of the international higher education students in Northern Ostrobothnia stay in the region or elsewhere in Finland after graduation. Our dataset contains about 1800 persons whose first nationality is other than Finnish and whose residential history data after graduation was available. The results show that around 90% of these people are still living in Finland one year after graduation and around 80% still ten years after graduation. This exceeds the Government's employment objective of 75% and at the same time indicates the motivation of international higher education students to stay in Finland.
However, Northern Ostrobothnia is struggling to retain its international higher education graduates. One year after graduation, more than half (58%) of the graduates live in Northern Ostrobothnia, but over time, increasing number of them move either to other regions in Finland or abroad. Ten years after graduation, only 37% of the graduates live in Northern Ostrobothnia, meaning that more than half of those who have stayed in Finland have found employment outside the region. In addition, international higher education graduates are geographically more concentrated than other graduates who have remained in the region, as almost all of them live in Oulu. Only about 3% of them live elsewhere in Northern Ostrobothnia.
The research is part of the project called "Co-learning knowledge management of the changing Northern Ostrobothnia 2030 ". The project is funded by the Council of Oulu Region and the Kerttu Saalasti foundation and implemented by the University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute’s Regional Excellence Research Group. The members of the project team are Research Director Ossi Kotavaara, Project Researcher Niina Kotavaara, Development Manager Eija-Riitta Niinikoski, Project Researcher Marton Magyar and Project Researcher Pauliina Björk.
The results are based on the degree registers of Ylivieska Campus of Centria University of Applied Sciences, Oulu Campus of Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Oulu University of Applied Sciences and University of Oulu for the years 2000-2021 and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s registers of previous addresses and previous municipalities of residence. The data include about 58 800 master’s degrees in a university and bachelor’s degrees in a university of applied sciences completed in Northern Ostrobothnia. The results have been reviewed together with municipalities, sub-regions and other regional authorities in four workshops in Kuusamo, Nivala, Oulu and Raahe, and the analysis of the data will continue during the spring. The project will end in August 2024.
Author: Niina Kotavaara, MSc, Doctoral Researcher, Project Researcher, Regional Excellence Research Group (REx), University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute
Analytics and processing of the register data together with the author:
Ossi Kotavaara, PhD, Associate Professor, Research Director, Regional Excellence Research Group (REx), University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute
Marton Magyar, MSc, Doctoral Researcher, Project Researcher, Regional Excellence Research Group (REx), University of Oulu Kerttu Saalasti Institute
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