NordenBladet — Finland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. In connection with the Presidency, Finland launched a project at the start of the year entitled ‘World’s smoothest cross-border mobility and daily life through digitalisation’.

Its aim is to improve the cross-border mobility and cross-border daily activities of people and businesses by promoting information exchange between public authorities in the Nordic countries. The project will create an operational framework and good practices for stronger and more effective cross-border exchange of information. The project will run for three years, from 2021 to 2023. According to the shared vision adopted by the Nordic Prime Ministers in 2019, the Nordic countries will become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The achievement of this objective will be furthered through cooperation conducted within the Nordic Council of Ministers. In the project launched by Finland’s Presidency, an operational framework for information exchange will be developed with the aid of inputs on services and data for situations and events associated with cross-border mobility. One of the project’s aims is that e-prescriptions issued in Finland could in future also be obtained from pharmacies in the other Nordic countries.

“Promoting smooth information exchange between the Nordic countries and the EU countries is essential to facilitate cross-border economic activity and free movement of people, for work, study and leisure. According to the Government Programme, the Nordic countries must become the best integrated region in the world and Finland aims to further facilitate the movement of citizens between the Nordic countries,” says Minister of Local Government Sirpa Paatero.

Measures currently being taken to combat the coronavirus epidemic are severely restricting the movement of people between the Nordic countries. However, the project mainly focuses on the period beyond the virus crisis. Furthering the cross-border exchange of information is something that will help people’s daily activities not only in normal circumstances but during any future crisis.The project will examine the exchange of information and everyday cross-border activity by focusing on three key aspects: Studying in other Nordic countries and the three Baltic countries

Using healthcare services in another Nordic country or the Baltic countries
A search engine for statutes covering the Nordic and Baltic countries’ legislation.The project will begin with a study of the current situation, which will create a picture of people’s everyday cross-border life. The main output of the project will be a joint frame-work for stronger and more effective cross-border exchange of information.

The Ministry of Finance will implement the project in cooperation with the Ministry of So-cial Affairs and Health, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Justice, together with their administrative branches. All the Nordic countries and the three Baltic countries are participating in the project, which is entitled ‘World’s smoothest cross-border mobility and daily life through digitalisation’.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The group of ministers from digitally advanced EU countries (D9+) will discuss the European Commission’s goal of making the 2020s a Digital Decade. The virtual meeting will be held on 27 January 2021 and chaired by Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

A discussion paper prepared by Finland will be used as a basis of the meeting on Europe’s competitiveness and the objectives of the Digital Decade. According to Finland, the main factors affecting technological competitiveness include artificial intelligence, quantum technologies as well as 5G and 6G technologies.

The European Commission’s viewpoints will be presented by the Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager. Pekka Ala-Pietilä, who chaired the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence in 2018–2020, will give an introductory speech on technological competitiveness in Europe. Eeva Raita, Head of Strategy and Culture at Futurice, will speak about artificial intelligence as a catalyst for competitiveness.

D9+ countries focus on digitalisationD9+ is a ministerial group of digitally advanced EU countries that promotes the utilisation, implementation and sharing of best practices of digitalisation. The meeting will be attended by the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic and Estonia.

All of the countries rank high in the Commission’s DESI index, which measures digital capacity and its development among the EU member states. DESI monitors digitalisation in the EU countries in five areas: connectivity, human capital (including digital skills), use of internet services by citizens, integration of digital technology by businesses, and digital public services.

NordenBladet — The generic skills, also known as general skills, of nearly 60% of students in higher education were at most at a satisfactory level and about 40% at least at a good level. These are the results of the final report by the Finnish Institute for Educational Research of the University of Jyväskylä and the Kappas! project of the Centre for University Teaching and Learning of Helsinki University.

The goal was to determine the level of the generic skills of students in higher education and to see how their skills develop over the course of their studies. The generic skills that were studied consisted of analytical deduction and assessment; problem solving; argumentative writing; language proficiency; critical literacy and assessment; scientific and quantitative reasoning, and analysis of argumentation.

The results show that there were differences between the undergraduate students, which were explained by factors related to the educational and socio-economic background of the students. The level of generic skills was clearly better among undergraduate students who had completed the matriculation examination than among those who had not. According to the study, general skills would seem to improve over the course of studies, but further research is needed.

To lay the foundation for continuous learning, the development suggestions proposed by the project include the need to focus on generic skills already at lower levels of education and in learning environments outside the school environment. Studies should be made into how general skills are taken into account in student admissions and generic skills should be developed in alignment with the educational objectives of universities and universities of applied sciences. In addition, the learning of generic skills needs to be supported in a purposeful way in higher education teaching.

The Kappas! project, funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, has shed light on how important generic skills are and provides higher education institutions with tools for developing their teaching. Approximately 2,400 Bachelor’s degree students in universities and universities of applied sciences in the early and final stages of their degree programmes participated in the assessment of skills. Eleven universities and seven universities of applied sciences were involved.

Assessment of undergraduate students’ generic skills – Findings of the Kappas! project

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — On 20 January 2020, the Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy supported the guidelines for promoting the investment in the eastern rail transport link.In line with the guidelines advocated by the Ministerial Committee, the Ministry of Transport and Communications will continue the negotiations with the municipalities benefiting from the eastern rail transport investment and possible other publicly-owned bodies on setting up a project company. The project company would be responsible for the project-related planning and its funding until the construction phase.

Negotiations to continue on the basis of the Airport line–Porvoo–Kouvola routeThe project company to be set up for promoting the fast rail line in the eastern direction would be tasked with designing one new rail link. The project company negotiations will continue on the basis of the Airport–Porvoo–Kouvola route. According to a preliminary estimate, the planning costs for the route would be around EUR 70 million.The conditions for setting up the project company would be on an equal footing with the Finland Railway (Finland’s main railway line) and One Hour Train (fast rail link between Helsinki and Turku) companies.  At the initial stages, the state would own at least 51 per cent of the project company. The establishment of the project company would require that the other shareholders would commit themselves to providing capital to the company covering approximately 49% of the planning costs incurred until the construction can be launched and other costs required for the operation of the project company.

The party responsible for the ownership steering of the project company would be the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Final decision to be taken by Parliament
However, the decision on the central government’s financial contribution and the use of the appropriation for capitalising the project company would be made by Parliament. The result of the negotiations and the shareholder agreement would be later discussed separately at the Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy.

The guidelines on the project company for the eastern rail link do not exclude the future development of other transport connections in the eastern direction. The Ministerial Committee is aware of the need to improve the accessibility of Eastern Uusimaa and Southeast Finland as well as the conditions for industrial transport. The Ministry of Transport and Communications will carry out a study on the development of transport services for the business and industry in Eastern Uusimaa and Southeast Finland and on strengthening the competitiveness of the business sector.

NordenBladet — According to Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Krista Kiuru, the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines should stick to their promise to deliver the agreed batches of vaccines to the Member States. The Commission continues to play an essential role in putting pressure on the manufacturers. Minister Kiuru discussed the situation regarding vaccines with Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, on 20 January.

During their discussion, Minister Kiuru emphasised how important it is to stick to the agreed deliveries of vaccine batches and their steady delivery schedule and smooth distribution to the EU Member States in order to combat the COVID-19 epidemic. The Minister thanked the Commissioner for the Commission’s efforts to put more pressure on the vaccine manufacturers so that they would increase their production capacity.

According to Minister Kiuru, the EU’s joint procurement procedure has proved to be a good and necessary procedure for Finland as the situation in the market for COVID-19 vaccines is difficult. The procedure has made it possible to conclude comprehensive agreements with several vaccine manufactures.

NordenBladet — The working group set up by the Ministry of Education and Culture proposes policies and measures to enable Finland’s arts and culture policy to take better account of cultural diversity based on immigration and to make arts and cultural life a more equitable and equal in the future. The working group was commissioned to focus especially on using arts and culture to strengthen the inclusion and participation of those with a foreign background in arts and cultural life, and to promote intercultural dialogue by means of arts and culture. The working group submitted its final report to State Secretary Tuomo Puumala on Wednesday 20 January.

The increasing diversity of the Finnish population needs to be mainstreamed into the planning and decision-making procedures in arts and cultural policy. Key cross-cutting principles in promoting cultural diversity include the realisation of equity and equality, increasing intercultural interaction and enabling broad-based inclusion and participation. The working group’s proposals for measures relate to aspects such as public funding for arts and culture, skills development, employment and career prospects, and the content of arts and culture. Most of the proposals were discussed in workshops and web brainstorming organised by the working group, and in various networks.

The working group’s final report underscores that, to achieve both the cross-cutting and sectoral and thematic cultural policy objectives, all actors will need to develop their competence. By increasing competence, it is possible to identify the opportunities offered by cultural diversity and related cultural development needs in all activities. “I would like to thank the working group for its meaningful and far-reaching work. The actors in arts and cultural life play an important role in promoting cultural diversity and strengthening equity. We can all increase our own competence in matters related to cultural diversity,” said State Secretary Tuomo Puumala.

Cultural actors need to make a conscious effort to diversify their programmes and foster contents arising from different cultural heritages and aesthetic concepts. Art and cultural services need to be more easily accessible by lowering the threshold for participation in the planning, communication and implementation of activities. It is also a joint task to create conditions for those with a foreign background to improve the knowledge and skills they need for working in Finland and advancing their careers. This can be done, for example, by providing more opportunities to learn Finnish and Swedish, by supporting the creation of professional networks and by providing information on Finnish cultural life and cultural policy. The working group proposes that more attention should be paid to the opportunities offered by arts and cultural life in the integration services offered to immigrants. Arts and cultural life can be used to provide information about Finland and Finns, to increase people-to-people encounters and to promote intercultural dialogue. This will increase understanding of the new country of residence, reduce the emergence of racism and build a more equitable and equal Finland. Pasi Saukkonen, chair of the working group, deems it important to have reliable information available on cultural diversity and on ways to implement and promote it. “We need to boost our knowledge base systematically on a broad base. The diversity barometer for arts and culture proposed by the working group is one good tool for monitoring and evaluating how well the objectives are met.”

The working group proposes that a programme be drawn up at the Ministry of Education and Culture to take account of the working group’s policies and proposals for action, which, through concrete measures, promote cultural diversity from the point of view of immigration in cultural policy and in Finnish arts and cultural life. We will use indicators, studies and analysis to monitor the implementation of the programme as part of the guidance and management processes.

The working group consisted of experts whose host organisations included Ateneum Art Gallery, the Finnish National Gallery, Globe Art Point ry, Luckan Integration, Cultura Foundation, Tuglas Society, the Association of Finnish Theatres, Art and Culture Professionals’ Trade Union TAKU, Helsinki City Executive Office, Espoo Library Services and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, as well as independent artists and cultural professionals as well as experts from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Justice.

Art, culture and a diverse Finland. Final report of the Working Group for Cultural Policy, Immigrants and Promotion of Cultural Diversity

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi