Omnia Education Partnerships

In Finland, we say new things emerge like mushrooms on a rainy day. 🍄

Skills gaps work the same way. Except they don't wait for September. ⏱️

A 40-year-old retraining after a redundancy. A company that needs staff upskilled by spring. A graduate who just missed the intake window. All working against a real clock, not an academic one.

Part 2 of our Developing Education series is about timely access. 🌍

In Finland, vocational training runs a rolling admission system year-round. Courses still have their own schedules, so you can't walk in on any random Tuesday. But when you are ready, there is almost always a route in without waiting a year. 📅

It is a design choice every system can make: build around when people need to learn, not when it is convenient to teach them. 🏗️

Who in your context is missing out simply because the door isn't open when they need it? 💬

Reach out if you'd like to think through that together.
oep.fi

Photo: Väinö Alimkhanov / Skills Finland

A good education system does not punish people for changing direction!

People change. Labour markets change. Life changes.

A choice made at 16, 25 or 50 shouldn't permanently define what comes next. A system built around this principle treats every choice as a starting point, not a final ruling — keeping the door open between vocational and academic routes, between sectors, and between education and work.

In Finland, that's one of the guiding principles. Choosing vocational or academic upper secondary at 16 doesn't lock in everything that follows: both routes carry, by law, eligibility for further education, and high-stakes exams can be retaken as many times as necessary, even years later. It shows up in the numbers too: across the OECD, the average vocational student is 21. In Finland, it's 28.

This is the first post in a short series we're calling Developing Education, where we'll be sharing principles we've tried and tested globally as principles to understand, adapt and apply.

For OEP, this is where meaningful education development often begins: not with the question "Can we copy this?", but with "What would make this work in this context?"

Reach out to us if you'd like to discuss these questions together. You can also read about our past work on our website!

Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming a delegation from SENAI Goiás to our office in Finland.
We were happy to exchange perspectives on Problem-Based Learning and how learner-centred, practice-oriented pedagogies can support professional education.

One thing we are especially proud of in Finnish vocational education is how often learners’ work products are created for real use. There is a big difference between producing something only to be graded — and producing something that will be used by a real customer, workplace, community, or end user.

When learners know that their work has a purpose beyond assessment, the motivation, ownership, and quality of learning can change completely.

Thank you to the SENAI Goiás delegation for the visit!

Building a comprehensive career guidance system doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a journey of continuous learning, cross-border collaboration, and shared vision.

June 2nd to 4th, VET educators and job service experts from the Western Balkans joined forces with the EU career guidance experts at CINOP in Den Bosch, Netherlands as part of the second CG International Project study visit. 🇳🇱💼

Building on the lessons we brought from our first study visit to Finland, our Western Balkan partners spent three days looking at on-the-field best practices in international career guidance. Through the support of mobility experts from Uniser Soc. Coop. and Mundus, and utilizing the "Moving Generation" IT platform, our educators are strengthening their capacities to design future mobility actions for their own students.

Together, we explored on-the-field best practices to help build customized Career Guidance Strategies for Western Balkan schools.

By taking tools such as career assessments and mentorship programs to international job context self-projection back to their home organizations, these teachers are becoming the ultimate "compass" for their students. They are returning home equipped to help young people make confident, informed decisions about their futures.

A huge thank you to CINOP for hosting us, and to all the dedicated participants from the Western Balkans, APPK - Employment Promotion Agency Kosovo, Uniser, and Mundus who made these three days so impactful. The momentum from Finland to the Netherlands is real, and we’re just getting started! 🚀

What can VET professionals learn from Finland's approach to career guidance?

Following our study visit in Finland, we have published two new articles exploring the practices, insights, and lessons that make the Finnish model a reference in supporting learners' career development.

🔗 Discover the key takeaways from the CG International study visit: https://careerguidanceinternational.com/cg-international-partners-explore-finlands-lifelong-approach-to-career-guidance/

🔗 Read Uniser's perspective on the Finnish career guidance system: https://uniserblog.net/2026/04/14/what-vet-teachers-and-students-can-learn-from-the-finnish-career-guidance-system/

Mundus (Spain), Uniser (Italy), Omnia Education Partnerships (Finland) CINOP (The Netherlands), APPK - Agjensioni i Përkrahjes së Punësimit Kosovë (Kosovo), SHMT "Lutfi Musiqi" Vushtrri (Kosovo) ЈУ Средња стручна школа Пљевља (Montenegro) Tirana College of Technology (Albania)

As part of the LDC Future Forum in Helsinki, Omnia and Kuninkaantie Upper Secondary School welcomed international guests to experience Finnish vocational and upper secondary education in practice.

The visits opened valuable discussions on inclusion, public-private partnerships, future skills, and on how education providers can equip young people with the competences, confidence and pathways needed for the changing world of work.
International forums like this create space for meaningful exchange, strengthen professional networks, and bring together diverse perspectives to co-create the next generation of education solutions.💡

A warm thank you to all visitors, hosts and partners for the inspiring discussions and shared commitment to building more inclusive and future-oriented education systems.

How do we make vocational education a pathway of opportunity — not a fallback option?

During a recent visit to Finland, a 40-member education delegation from Telangana explored how Finnish VET supports flexible learning, progression, mentorship, and stronger links between vocational and academic pathways.

The programme also included an ex tempore visit to Omnia, hosted and led by OEP. It was a valuable opportunity to see Finnish vocational education in practice and discuss how system-level ideas can be adapted to local priorities.

At OEP, we believe international exchange is most useful when it leads to practical reflection:
What can be adapted?

What needs to be redesigned?

What will genuinely improve learner outcomes?

Thank you to the Telangana delegation for an open and meaningful exchange.

Some highlights from the past weeks!

OEP Experts had the pleasure of supporting Omnia, Espoon seudun koulutuskuntayhtymä in hosting a 13-member delegation from Cambodia in Finland. The internship programme was part of the 36-month EU initiative “Supporting Upper-Secondary Technical Education Reforms in Cambodia”, carried out in collaboration with France, Germany, and Finland. Finland is leading the component on Work-Based Learning, with Omnia, Espoon seudun koulutuskuntayhtymä, playing a key role in showcasing the Finnish approach to vocational education.

The delegation included representatives from the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (Cambodia)
and Cambodian educational institutions. During the programme, participants explored the Finnish education system and cooperation with working life through job shadowing, expert discussions, and company visits.

Over the course of the internship weeks, the delegation visited several Omnia campuses and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences to discuss topics such as work-based learning, career guidance, and fast-track pathways. The delegation also had the opportunity to visit Nokia, ABB, and Fazer to learn more about their operations, collaboration with educational institutions, and internship opportunities.

The programme also included inspiring visits to Opetushallitus | Utbildningsstyrelsen | Finnish National Agency for Education, Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö/Undervisnings- och kulturministeriet/Ministry of Education & Culture, Aalto Design Factory, Yrityskylä, and a local primary school.

A warm thank you to all delegation members for the inspiring discussions, knowledge sharing, and wonderful moments together during these sunny spring weeks in Finland. We would also like to thank all our partner organisations and visit hosts for welcoming us and sharing their expertise.

Special thanks as well to Omnia’s media students, who joined the programme throughout the internship period to capture photos and videos as part of their own work-based learning placement — most of the photos featured in this post were taken by the students. 📸

We look forward to continuing the collaboration and building on everything learned during these meaningful weeks together.

🌳 The Erasmus+ GreenVET project has officially come to an end — but its impact continues.

💡 One of the key outcomes of the project is the open GreenVET platform and resource database, which remain available online for vocational education and training professionals everywhere.

Through the GreenVET database, VET teachers, school leaders, administrators, and other education professionals can:

✔️ Search for sustainability-related resources shared by colleagues around the world
✔️ Access teaching materials, reports, articles, videos, podcasts, best practices, and practical tools
✔️ Explore resources in multiple languages
✔️ Upload their own materials and contribute to the wider GreenVET community

The project has supported VET institutions in taking a Whole Institution Approach to sustainability — looking not only at what is taught, but also at how sustainability is reflected in school culture, leadership, operations, learning environments, and community engagement.

For OEP, GreenVET has been a valuable example of international cooperation that creates something lasting: practical resources, shared knowledge, and a platform that continues to support education professionals beyond the project timeline.

The project has ended, but the platform remains open - and its value will be determined by the people who use it!

We warmly encourage all VET and education professionals to explore the database, use the resources, and share their own examples with colleagues across the world.

Explore the GreenVET database from the link below! 👇

https://green-vet.eu/content/database.php

When your promise is “making global best practice your next practice,” you don’t study excellence from a distance. You go and see it in action.

In January, we were honoured to visit the International Centre for Culinary Arts (ICCA) in Dubai. ICCA is an institution that, over the past 20 years, has continuously redefined what a world-class culinary school can look like.

What impressed us most was not only the polish of the facilities, the strong industry integration, or the clarity of standards across the learning environment. It was the mindset. Despite already operating at a very high level, development has not slowed. New elements are added. Processes are refined. Standards are revisited. Excellence is treated as a moving target, not a fixed destination.

This is what it looks like:
✔ Alignment between vision and practice
✔ Industry relevance embedded in delivery
✔ Infrastructure that supports pedagogy
✔ Continuous renewal, even after success Benchmarking is not about admiration. It is about learning with discipline and translating insight into your own next practice.

Thank you to the ICCA team for the openness and professional exchange.

At this time, we also want to recognise the current situation in Dubai and send our warmest wishes to our colleagues and partners there. We are thinking of you and hope for safety, strength, and calm in the days ahead.