Education Minister Meets Fulbright Finland Alumni in California

How to adjust education to changing demographics in classrooms? This and other current challenges in improving education systems were in the focus when a group of American Fulbright alumni met with Finnish Minister of Education Sanni Grahn-Laasonen at the Nordic Innovation House in Palo Alto, California. As a part of her visit in the area in October, Minister Grahn-Laasonen also requested to meet local Fulbright Finland alumni living in the San Francisco and Palo Alto area. Several of these are education experts who have researched Finnish education on a Fulbright Finland scholarship.

Minister Grahn-Laasonen had many questions for the alumni. Fulbright Distinguished Teacher alumna Martha Infante was impressed by the Minister’s keen interest to learn how to improve the Finnish education system and her inquisitive questions to the alumni with regards to suggestions for improvements. “When you are already at the top of your game, and you want to keep learning and growing, this is what successful countries do,” Infante points out. The Minister recommended keeping the conversation going and encouraged the alumni to continue sending in more suggestions afterwards. “I am so proud to be a part of the conversation,” says Martha Infante.

Friends of Fulbright Finland (FoFF) is the Fulbright Finland Foundation’s alumni network in the United States and is comprised of over 650 active American alumni across all 50 states. The network makes it possible to easily gather together a group of alumni to meet visitors from Finland and to connect Finnish and American experts in specific fields with each other.

Photo: Stefan Lindström, Consul General of Finland, Maya Kaul, U.S. Fulbright Fellow 2017–2018; David Tow, Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2015–2016; Tiffany Larson, Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2016–2017; Minister of Education Sanni Grahn-Laasonen; Janet English, Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2012–2013; Heikki Kuutti Uusitalo, Special Adviser of the Minister; Martha Infante, Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2017–2018; Julene Johnson, Mid-Career Professional Development Grantee 2010–2011.

Read the whole Fulbright Finland News magazine 2/2018!