The Finnish population is ageing and our birth rate is insufficient to maintain population growth. We need labor migration in many different sectors that lack experts and operators. Are language requirements decreasing the interest to move to Finland? Some immigrants will come here to stay, but some will continue their way after a few years. Does it make sense for the latter group to learn Finnish? And would more people be interested in staying in Finland if the ability to speak Finnish was less important? Debaters will give real life examples from academia and argue what are the pros and cons in scenarios where it would be easier to live and work in Finland without speaking the language. 

Moderator: Professor Friederike Lüpke (University of Helsinki) 

Debaters: University Teacher Quivine Ndomo (University of Jyväskylä), Dean Timo Korkeamäki (Aalto University School of Business), Professor Sarah Green (University of Helsinki) and Janne Saarikivi