From ideas to implementation: How to strengthen students’ working life opportunities in Oulu

Following the CityLabs Model, UNIC Oulu organized a three parts event on the theme of How to strengthen students' working life opportunities in Oulu. The first part was a Panel discussion in collaboration with UNIC RUB with the main aim of identifying challenges and building solutions on the topic of making post-industrial cities more attractive for graduated students and preventing brain drain. The second part was an Idea Competition for students at the University of Oulu with the aim of understanding what is preventing students from making working-life connections during their studies and coming up with potential solutions to solve this challenge. Out of the 10 finalists that pitched their ideas, the top 3 winners were chosen by the jury.

The last part of the event was a follow-up session during UNIC CityLabs Festival with the aim of sharing how some of the Idea Competition ideas are already implemented and look for other implementation ideas within the local business ecosystem and UNIC community. The two-hour session started with a short presentation of the Idea Competition event and an overview of the findings. This continued with students' perspectives where the 3 winners of the competition shortly presented their ideas followed by a panel discussion. Four different stakeholders were part of the panel discussion with the purpose of sharing what can each organization do to help with the implementation of Idea competition ideas. The last part of the session involved the audience in a brainstorming exercise to build upon the implementation ideas/ initiatives presented by the 4 organizations. The outcome of this exercise was to have tangible steps for the four stakeholders to move forward with their ideas.