Exchange student agencies say they’re having difficulty finding host families throughout Finland this year. A few dozen teens with their hearts set on a high school year in Finland are still waiting for placement. Boys and kids with allergies are facing the biggest problems in finding a family.
The situation in small towns is somewhat better than in urban areas. While there is for example a shortage of families in Tampere, some two dozen exchange students will be arriving in the Pirkanmaa area.
Finland Becoming Exchange Student Magnet
The volume of exchange students wanting to come to Finland has grown significantly in the past decade.
Marika Antikainen of the Finnish chapter of Youth for Understanding (YFU), an international exchange organisation, says that in recent years an increasing number of Asian teens have wanted to come to Finland. This year, most exchange students are from eastern European countries.
”Teens’ growing interest in Finland is partly due to Finnish students’ top scores in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as well as popular Finnish rock bands,” says Antikainen.
