Study visit from Jyväskylä in Burgenlandkreis

As the City of Jyväskylä is developing the International House Jyväskylä as a one-stop-shop for internationals gathering multiple services under the same roof, the Burgenlandkreis organized a two days study visit in the German district at the End of November 2024 in order to present their Migration Agency (MiA) and furthermore to learn from each other. Satu Hovisalmi from the City of Jyväskylä, Taneli Minkkinen from the Central Finland ELY Center and Michael Ormshaw from the University Jyväskylä participated in this exchange of experiences.

After a first day within the Migration Agency with several interviews with different departments dealing with migration and integration issues, the Finnish delegation was warmly welcomed to the Integration Network Meeting of the district of Burgenlandkreis with specialist and employers. With simultaneous interpretation and slideshow translated into Finnish they were the guests of honor of the meeting!

A highlight of the visit was the presentation of the project CareerTrips -organized with JAMK University of Applied Sciences- as one of the good practices from Central Finland worth piloting in BLK and surrounding areas. It was followed by a great discussion about the business value of multicultural work community and developing of collaborative ecosystem.

The district of Burgenlandkreis was delighted by the valuable perspectives of the Finnish delegation and the worth of an international cooperation within the MILEstone project. Further steps are being taken already in both partner regions to improve a the sustainable integration.