Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen (Cen) has announced his department will finalise a draft proposal during this term of office which seeks to incentivise highly educated workers to move to sparsely populated areas of Finland.
The scheme, which is based on a similar model in Norway, would offer full or partial student debt relief to graduates of courses such as medicine or teaching if they move to a rural area.
"The aim is to complete the legislation during this parliamentary term. I hope that we will also start this reimbursement model during this term of office," Kurvinen said.
The credit scheme could also be used to attract psychologists and social workers to move out of the cities, he added.
"Getting access to critical workers within the welfare system is beginning to become more difficult in many rural areas. It threatens our promise of providing the same level of services to the elderly in both the Jakomäki region [of Helsinki] and Sevettijärvi [a village in Finnish Lapland]," Kurvinen said.
Students are sceptical
However, student teachers at the University of Lapland told Yle that they had doubts whether the incentive would be enough to convince them to move to smaller municipalities.
Student Roosa Mäkelä said that the scheme may work for some, but not for everyone.
"It's a real advantage and a bonus for those who want to stay in smaller cities anyway," Mäkelä said.
Story continues after the photo.
Katri Mure, from Sodankylä in Finnish Lapland, said she would not move back to her home village even if given a financial incentive.
"It's a little too far up north and too small," she said. "Maybe if I went to a small locality in the south, the incentive could support that decision."
Kainuu Regional Director Pentti Malinen told Yle that while he welcomes the incentive scheme, at this stage its effectiveness can only be guessed at.
The Kainuu region has suffered from severe labour shortages in recent years, Malinen added, and in particular there is a lack of nurses, doctors as well as information and communications technology (ICT) professionals.
"We have noticed in recent years that very few students from Kainuu who have studied at universities have returned [to the region]. It is definitely worth trying the incentive," he said.
Malinen's counterpart in Lapland, Mika Riipi, said he will be happy if the long-awaited introduction of the model finally progresses from words to actions.
"This alone is not enough to solve anything, but it would be an important part of the palette of tools to attract and hold on [to professionals]. We have a labour shortage in the tourism sector, but it is equally important to secure public services," Riipi said.
Boosting return migration to remote areas
Kurvinen said he believes that the Norwegian model could tackle the issue of a lack of return migration, as cited by Malinen, and also make it easier for the spouse of a returning migrant to find work in a remote area.
"This would offer a carrot to highly educated couples and young families to return and move from other areas to Lapland," Kurvinen said. "It is clear that higher education creates vitality and a positive buzz in a region. University graduates have many skills, even to become business owners."
The debt forgiveness proposal is one of a series of measures currently being drafted by a parliamentary working group established specifically to promote the development of remote regions. The draft proposes that graduates who take up the offer could see up to 2,600 euros per year removed from their student loans, but they would still be liable to pay the interest on their loans.
Kurvinen added that the exact details of the draft proposal are still being clarified within the Ministry of Education and Culture, such as whether a pilot project will be carried out first or a permanent change made to the law.
"I cannot comment on any details," he said. "For example, which regions would be included and whether it would apply to all fields of education or only to healthcare and education professionals."