Finland, a top-ranking country in PISA results, aims at becoming better at internationalization in the higher education field. The Finnish Lapland region has two universities, University of Lapland and Lapland University of Applied Sciences. These universities host almost five hundred international students each year.

Resilience has attracted lots of attention in today’s world in various fields. The opportunities offered by the university context may sometimes bring challenges for student, especially for international students.

M.Sc Zübeyde Durna-Flygare focuses in her dissertation on the impact of higher education on international students’ resilience in Lapland.

“International students have high resilience levels, and they think that the university has a positive effect on their resilience,” says Durna-Flygare.

However, some criticism about designing better intervention programs for students emerges.

“Particularly, a need for more extracurricular activities and systems providing more information about legal procedures to study in Finland has been reflected upon,” specifies Durna-Flygare.

In addition, the findings suggest that although the international students have higher resilience levels, it does not positively correlate with their willingness to immigrate to Finland.

“This is due to some social, cultural and economic reasons, such as challenges related to finding a job, learning Finnish language and climate.”

The findings of the research can help policy makers to design more effective interventions regarding higher education and immigration for international students.

Information on the Public Examination

M.Sc Zübeyde Durna-Flygare will be defending her dissertation The Resilience and Willingness to Immigrate to Finland: A Mixed Methods Research Among International Higher Education Students in Lapland with the permission of the Faculty of Education at the University of Lapland on 15 August 2025 at 12.00 (noon) in Auditorium B127 (the main building of the University of Lapland, Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi).

The opponent is Professor Elina Kilpi-Jakonen from the University of Turku, and the custos is Professor Satu Uusiautti from the University of Lapland.

The public examination is in English and can be followed online at https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/ulapland

Coffee will be served in restaurant Felli after the public defense.

Information on the Doctoral Candidate

Zubeyde Dürna-Flygare holds a M.Sc degree in Gender Studies and a B.A. degree in English Language Teaching from Middle East Technical University, Turkiye. She also has a Diploma of English Language Teaching to Adults from Cambridge University.

Further Information

zubeydedurna[at]gmail.com

Information on the Publication

Zubeyde Dürna-Flygare (2025) The Resilience and Willingness to Immigrate to Finland: A Mixed Methods Research Among International Higher Education Students in Lapland. Acta electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 413. ISBN 978-952-337-493-5, ISSN 1796-6310. University of Lapland, Rovaniemi.

Permanent address of the publication https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-493-5