Connecting Technical Education and Finnish Language Learning

The Technology Sector Finnish project develops models for integrating Finnish-language learning into an English-language technology degree program to support international students’ employability in Finland. Its broader aim is to contribute to sustainable, working-life-oriented internationalization—something that cannot be achieved through language courses alone.

Technology Sector Finnish is part of the wider Linguistic Competence Pathways for Immigrants in Labor Shortage Sectors in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area initiative. This initiative is a collaboration among Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and is co-funded by the European Union.

The project combines three connected strands: helping students begin and plan their Finnish-language learning, developing field-specific Finnish instruction, and integrating Finnish-language learning into degree-program courses.

This blog series introduces the project and traces its development from the initial motivation through the design and implementation of its pilots to the lessons learned. Together, the posts describe how language learning can be connected with disciplinary education without replacing technical objectives or making Finnish proficiency a prerequisite for participation.

The series is composed of the following posts:

1. Integrating Finnish into Aalto’s English-Language Technology Degree: From Pilots to a Scalable Model introduces the project’s motivation, its three connected strands, and its broader program-level approach.

2. Connecting Technical Education and Finnish Language Learning: Design Challenges examines the educational questions and principles that guided the design of the technical-course pilot.

3. From Design Principles to Course Implementation shows how the design principles were implemented in ELEC-C7222 Embedded Programming with Communication Devices.